The Washback Of Listening Test In NMET (Sichuan) On Senior High School Students' Listening Learning

Teaching and learning need to be assessed by tests,and the test itself and its results also have some impact on teaching and learning,which is called the washback of testing.It can be divided into two parts: positive washback and negative washback.NMT(National Matriculation Test),as the largest test in China,is extremely important for students and their families.Since it became a part of NMT in 1952,English has played an important and indispensable role in NMT.However,the related study is limited.The same happens in the washback study of the listening test in NMET(National Matriculation English Test),which is an important part in NMET.As far as Sichuan is concerned,the listening test in NMET,which has been suspended in 2008 because of Wenchuan earthquake,was resumed in 2016.Therefore,the related researches about the washback of listening test in Sichuan NMET should be needed.Hence,based on the background of the recovery of listening test in Sichuan NMET,this study will aim to investigate the washback of the listening test in NMET on senior one students' learning.Combining the expectancy-value theory,this research examines the washback of the target test by mainly focusing on the following two questions:(1)What is the washback of the listening test in NMET(Sichuan)on senior one students' subjective value,expectancy for success and their listening learning behaviors?(2)How do students' subjective value of listening test in Sichuan NMET andexpectancy for success promote students' listening learning behaviors?In this research,the instruments of interview,questionnaire and classroom observation will be combined for the investigation of research questions.Research subjects here are the 70 senior one students from Sichuan Chengdu Longquan Number One(No.1)High School.The research findings show: Due to the influence of NMET,almost all of these students expect to get a very high score in the target test.At the same time,listening test in NMET has washback on senior one students' subjective value for the target test and their listening learning behaviors,but this kind of washback is not very strong.Moreover,the washback of the target test on students' subjective value and expectancy for success is stronger than students' listening learning behaviors.Students' importance value,utility value,intrinsic value and achievement motivation will influence students' listening learning behaviors,among which students' intrinsic value can maximize the generation of students' listening learning behaviors.Furthermore,the difficulty of English listening test will also affect students' choice of listening learning behaviors.The students' perception that the listening test is too difficult or too easy is not conductive to students' autonomous listening learning behaviors.Based on these research findings,this study suggests that English teachers' daily listening teaching should pay more attention to deepening students' understanding of the importance and the practicability of English listening.Teachers should also tackle the problem of students' lack of motivation due to their different understanding of the difficulty of listening materials.Furthermore,teachers should gradually cultivate students' listening learning interest in their daily English listening teaching so as to lay a foundation for effectively improving students' English listening ability,cultivating students' ability to communicate with others and promoting students' comprehensive language application ability.