A Study On Washback Effects Of NMET Continuation Task On Senior High School English Writing Teaching And Learning In Zhejiang Province

It is generally acknowledged that tests,mainly “high-stake” tests or large-scale tests,have profound influence on teaching and learning.In China,National Matriculation Test(NMT)as one of the strictest and fairest high-stake tests,has a far-reaching influence on senior high school teaching and learning.In 2016,Zhejiang,took the lead to conduct a reform in National Matriculation English Test(NMET).One of the remarkable features of Zhejiang NMET is the introduction of Continuation Task.With the change of the writing test form and the examination requirements,there is a powerful impact on English writing teaching and learning in Zhejiang province,which forms a so-called washback.Therefore,through the investigation of washback effects of Zhejiang NMET Continuation Task on senior high school writing teaching and learning based on the theory of washback,some positive and negative washback of the Continuation Task would be revealed and it can provide a reference for present English teaching,which has theoretical and practical significance.This study aims to explore the washback effects of Zhejiang NMET Continuation Task on senior high school writing teaching and learning from teachers' and students' perspectives based on Alderson & Wall Washback Hypotheses,Hughes' Basic Model.It means to investigate: 1)How does the NMET Continuation Task influence senior high school English writing teaching? Specifically,how and in what aspects dose it influence teachers' conceptions and behaviors? 2)How does the NMET Continuation Task influence senior high school English writing learning? Specifically,how and in what aspects does it influence students' conceptions and behaviors? 3)What are the positive and negative washback effects of NMET Continuation Task on Englishwriting teaching and learning?In this study,the author adopts mixed research methods which include documentary analysis,qualitative and quantitative research methods.Through documentary analysis,the author explores relative key theories and concepts and summarizes the relevant research both at home and abroad.For the main stage of the study,the author carries out the research in a high school of Zhejiang province with18 senior high English teachers and 150 students joining in by means of questionnaires,interviews and classroom observations.Then the author uses Statistics Package for Social Science(SPSS 16.0)to do descriptive analysis and grounded analysis of the data which is obtained from research instruments.Based on above research,the results show that: 1)The NMET Continuation Task do influence teachers' conceptions and behaviors in different aspects at different levels,which can be specifically reflected in teaching motivation,teaching content and teaching methods.2)The NMET Continuation Task do influence students' conceptions and behaviors in different aspects at different levels,which can be specifically reflected in learning motivation and learning methods.3)The positive washback of NMET Continuation Task on teaching and learning is revealed in the perspectives of thinking training,shift of teaching focus,diversification of writing evaluation,cultivation of learning habits,improvement of the awareness of communicative competence,the relationship between teachers and students.There is also some negative washback on teaching and learning.Based on the findings,some factors leading to the negative influence are also figured out and some relative teaching suggestions are put forward consequently.