The Washback Effects Of TBR In NMET Jiangsu On Reading Teaching In Senior High Schools

Testing has an influence on teaching and learning,and the influence has always raised concern of language educators.In the past decades,with the development of new curriculum reform,an increasing number of provinces have introduced new items in NMET.In 2008,TBR was first adopted into NMETJ.But up to now,whether and how the subtest has influenced senior high school reading teaching hasn’t been reported.The paper reports on a study of the washback effects of the TBR subtest of NMETJ.The researcher compares the intended washback and actual washback of the subtest on reading teaching in senior high schools,finds out the differences and also figures out the reasons for the differences.The research questions are as follows:1.What are the test constructors’ intentions of introducing TBR into NMETJ?2.What actual effects does TBR in NMETJ have on the teaching of senior high school English reading?3.Are the actual washback effects consistent with the intended washback of the test constructors?Why or why not?Data were collected in three schools of different levels through a questionnaire for teachers,interviews with one test constructor and two English inspectors and also interviews with 6 English teachers as well as classroom observation.Below are the major findings:1.The introduction of the subtest aims to improve reading teaching and also make the teachers as well as the students aware of the different purposes that the subtest and the traditional reading comprehension carry.The subtest lays emphasis on improving students’ thinking quality and thinking ability.2.Generally speaking,the subtest has positive effects on reading teaching objectives,teaching approaches and contents.However,the subtest has little or no influence on reading teaching allotment.But we also notice from the data that the subtest has some negative effects on reading teaching.3.The subtest has some positive and negative effects on different aspects of reading teaching,though differing in degree.Teachers pay more attention to discourse mode information and stylistic knowledge and also the enlightenment of TBR to writing.These definitely are what the test constructors expect.But some teachers fail to understand the test constructors’ intention of introducing the subject.Furthermore,reading teaching in senior high schools is somewhat test-oriented.The reasons are as follows:firstly,teachers lack the reading teaching and testing theories.Besides,the test itself is too difficult,leading to teachers’ different attitudes towards it.The researcher also comes up with some suggestions for NMET policymakers and senior high school English reading teaching.