A Study On The Washback Effect Of PEPEC On Flight English Teaching And Learning

In the language testing area, washback refers to the impact tests have on language teaching and learning, which can be positive or negative. PEPEC is considered as the largest-scale test in civil aviation area in China, which is organized and implemented by the Civil Aviation Administration. International Civil Aviation Organization(ICAO)standardized the use of radiotelephony communication English to extinguish the hidden danger of the air-ground communication and ensure the flight safety.So,under the new condition, it's essential to do this research.Referring to the current literature on washback both at home and abroad, the author carried out a preliminary study investigating the washback effect of PEPEC through classroom observations, questionnaire survey and interviews. The subjects are the PEPEC experts, flight English teachers and the student pilots in grade 2009.It intends to know the experts, teachers and the students'perceptions of the test and its washback, to get their proposals, to know the flight English teaching and learning situation and to explore major factors apart from the test exert influence on Flight English teaching and learning.The result of the study shows that PEPEC exerts both positive and negative washback on flight English teaching and learning. In general, the experts, teachers and students think that almost all of the teaching aspects were affected, and it has more influence on the learning goal, methods, content and the choosing of materials. And the effect is mainly positive or totally positive,though there's little negative washback.What's more, the classroom teaching and learning are mainly regular rather than test-oriented,but teachers focus more on the listening and speaking by the effect of PEPEC.In addition, there're many other factors which does not directly relate to PEPEC, such as the administrative measures, teacher factors and student factors.At last, some suggestions were put forward to improve the quality of flight English teaching and the testing way of PEPEC.