| Traditional language tests have been managerial in that they are given as gatekeepers signifying the end and beginning of a lesson or course. Rarely has the learners' input been documented to determine the effect of an exam on the learners. The idea of collecting the learners' input is deemed very important in an increasingly personalized instruction, as is the case in today's classroom where Communicative Language Teaching is used. The present study elicited learners' input with respect to the tasks they encountered in class work and in their examinations. In particular this study addresses four major issues: (1) the recognition of task methods, (2) familiarity with the task methods, (3) learners' ratings of tasks as classroom exercises, and (4) learners' ratings of tasks as exam items. The learners's input was collected in two questionnaires given before and after the students' midterm examination. The pre-midterm examination questionnaire addressed the tasks students encountered in the classroom through classroom materials; whereas the post-midterm questionnaire addressed the tasks that appeared in the midterm exam. The results show that learners, in general, recognized task methods that appeared frequently in class materials, learners became familiar with these task methods, and that learners preferred different tasks for classroom exercises than for exam items, thus raising the question of the washback effect. In other words, what effects having different tasks for classroom exercises and for exam items have on the learners, and how do the learners perceive these tasks? In addition, the results point out that task method and skill domain are not mutually exclusive. In order to further advance the theory of washback and in order to detect the washback effect of a particular test, both the task domain and the task method must be studied together.; The results provide relevant information for the use of certain task methods for classroom work and for the development of L2 tests. |
