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1、The Washback Effect of a High-stakes Oral Test第8卷第5期2OO6年1O月基础英语教育JournalofBasicEnglishFAucafionVo1.8.No.5Oct.,2OO6TheWashbackEffectofaHigh?stakesOralTestHUANGLiyan(黄丽燕)Abstract:In2OO4,GnaouEducationBureauintroducedallEnglishoraltestintoitsexistingclJauSeniorSecondarySchoolEntranceExarnation(hereaft
2、er,SSSEE)withtheintentionofshiftingfrom-basedEnglishteachingatjuniorsecondaryschooltoacommunication-basedteachingapproach.Thispaperpmntspreliminaryresearchfindingsrelatedtothewashbackeffectsoftheoraltestonteaching.Thedatawerecollatedviafocusgroupsandquestionnaires.ThenatureofthewashbackeffectsoftheS
3、SSEEEnglishoraltestisdiscusedfromsixdimensions.Thestudyshowsthatwashbackisacomplexphenomenonanditcanbeeoneeptualisedviaamuhidimensionalmode1.Keywords:washback;Englishteaching;highstakesoraltest1.IntroductionVariousdefinitio璐ofwashbackcallbefoundinliterature.AccordingtoHughes(1989:1),Theeffectoftesti
4、ngonteachingandlearningisknownasbackwash.MdersonandWall(1993)useadifferenttermwashbackratherthanbackwashtorefertothesanlephenomenon.Theydefinewashbackastheinfluenceoftestingoffteachingandlearning.Messick(1996:241)statesthatwashbackreferstotheextenttowhichtheintroductionanduseofatestinfluenceslanguag
5、eteachersandlearnerstodothingstheywouldnototherwisedothatpromoteorinhibitlanguagelearning.InMdition,Messickclaimsthatwashbackisoneaspectrelevanttotheconsequentialvalidity.Apparently,althoughthelabelsofwashbackaredifferent,theyareactuallysimilarinmeaning.Inlanguageeducation,anumberofstudiesinvestigat
6、ingtestinfluencesonteachinghavebeencarriedouttodate.WallandAlderson(1996)investigatedtheimpactofanewtextbookandacorrespondingexaminationoffELTinsecondaryschoolsinSfilanka.Theresearchersconcludedthattherewasevidenceofwashbackollthecontentofteachingandwaysofassessing,however,therewasnoevidenceofwashba
7、ckonteachingmethodology.Withregardtorewearehmethods,theysuggestedthatobservationsandinterviews/questionnaires/discussionsnecessarilycomplementeachotherinstudiesofthistype(1993).Chengs(1999)studyaimedtoexplorewashbackonteachersperceptionsandactionsinthecontextofHongK0I1gCertificateofEducationExaminat
8、ion(HKCEE)inEnglish.TheresultsindicatedthatmoleactivitytypesandstudentactivitiescouldbefoundinclassroomteachingafterthechangeintheHKCEE,buttheinteractionpatternofteachersteachingdidnotchangemuchevenaftertheexaminationreform.LikeWallandA1derson(1996),Chengconcludedthatthetestinnovationsomehowhadchang
9、edwhatteacherstaughtbutnothowtheytaught.AldemonandHamp-Lyons(1996)observedbothIOEFLandnon-TOEFLpreparationclassesandhadimerviewswithteachersandstudents,andfoundthattheIOEFLhadanimpactonwhatandhowteacherstaughtbuttheintensityofwashhackwasdifferentfromteachertoteacher.rhestudycarriedoutbyShohamyeta1.(
10、1996)focusedontwotests,oneinArabicasasecondlanguageandtheotherinEnglishasaforeignlanguage,andindicatedwashbackeffectsvariedovertime.Qi(2005)conductedastudyintheChineseEFLcontextandshefoundthattheintendedwashbackoftheNationalMatriculatl0nEnglishTestfailedtomaterialisebecauseoftheconflictbetweentwomaj
11、orfunctionsofthetest,theselectionfunctionandtheinnovationfunction.AIlthestudiesmentionedabovehaverevealedthecomplexityofthephenomenonofwashhackfromdifferentperspectives.Butnoneoftheresearchersdiscussedthewashhackeffectssynthetically.I1lefindingsfromtheempiricalstudiestodatehaverevealedwashhackisacom
12、plexphenomenonanditneedstobediscussedfromdifferentdimensions.Inthecurrentstudv,IseektoidentifytheareasaffectedbytheSSSEEEnglishoraltestandproduceamultidimensionalmodeltoconceptualisewashback.2.BackgroundandresearchquestionsELTplaysanimportantroleinGuangzhousbasiceducati0ncurriculum.Likemostoftheciti
13、esinChina,therealtwoexaminationsofgate-keepingvalueforsecondaryschoolstudentsinthecity.OneistheSSSEE,andtheotheristheGuangdongUniversityEntranceExamination.BothexaminationsincludeEnglishasacomponentandbothalelargescalehigh-stakes.AccordingtoGuangzhouExaminationsAuthorities,inJuly2OO6,120,623Year9stu
14、dentssattheSSSEEandamongthem57,728students,orabouthalfofthecandidateswereexcludedfromseniorsecondaryschooonthebasisoftheirgeneralperformanceintheexaminationsofsixdifferentsubjects.AnoraltestisacomponentoftheSSSEEEnglishexaminationintroducedrecendy.2006wasthethirdyearthehigh-stakesoraltesthadbeenadmi
15、nistered.Thetestwasasemi-directone.Thetestingprocedurewereincomputersandrecordingswereusedasstimulus.Studentswereaskedtoprovideresponsesaccordingtowhattheyhadheard.Therewerethreetasksinthetest.Firstly,studentswereaskedtoreadoutashortpassage;secondly,theywereaskedtoanswerfivequestions,whichwererelatedtotheireverydaylifeandlastly,studentswereprovidedwithareallifesituationandaskedtospeakbrieflyonthatsubject.Twospecificresearchquestionswereaddressedinthepresentstudy:1.HastheadditionofanoralcomponenttotheSSSEEinfluencedEnglishteaching?2.Ifthewashbacke
