| Education relies heavily on testing to make predictions about learner achievement, skill level, and future success. Tests are also a means to hold learners accountable. In recent years, the matter of accountability has become the focus of educational concerns which has only placed further emphasis on the importance of testing in America's educational institutions. Although educators frequently claim that they do not want to teach to a test, the reality is that every educator wants his/her students to be successful. Decision makers, teachers, and students equate this success in large part with high test scores, resulting in classroom instruction that is reflective of test practices and/or expectations.; The effect that testing has on teaching and instruction is a phenomenon referred to as washback. The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the washback behaviors of teachers, and to a lesser extent, students, in the low stakes testing environment of an intermediate level Spanish class. The study followed a group of five teachers over a period of two quarters, teaching an intermediate level Spanish course. The results detail washback behaviors exhibited by these teachers during the first quarter of teaching Spanish 104 for the first time, and then in the subsequent quarter teaching the course for the second time. Teachers' instructional behaviors changed during the second time teaching the course as a result of increased knowledge of the test. Factors such as past teaching experience and teacher beliefs were also found to influence changes in teachers' instructional behaviors.; Secondary factors of interest such as student study habits, student perceptions of their teacher's behaviors, and the effect of tests were also investigated. The students' study and classroom behaviors appeared to change to correspond to changed behaviors exhibited by the students' teacher. The student data serves as a potential source for further investigation into the washback phenomenon. |
