Study On Washback Effect Of The New CET-4

With the development of China's modernization, more and more qualified personnel who are communicatively competent are required to meet the social needs. Hence, improving learners'English proficiency has become a primary task of CE education. In order to guarantee the implementation of such a teaching objective, the Designing Committee of National College English Test has reformed CET-4 in June, 2005. The present study attempts to explore the washback effect of the new CET-4 on CE teaching and learning.Data, collected by means of questionnaire, classroom observations and interviews administered to 200 CE learners and 80 CE teachers, have shown that the new CET-4 has a positive washback effect on CE teaching as well as CE learning. The results suggest that the new CET-4 has produced a strong washback effect on CE teachers'/learners'attitudes, teaching objectives/ learning motivations. On the other hand, the findings indicate that the new CET-4 has exerted a certain positive washback effect on CE teaching/learning activities. However, the extent to which CE teachers/learners attach importance to practicing learners'communicative language abilities is not as great as we expect.