A Study On The Washback Effect Of TEM4 On Teaching And Learning In Yulin Normal University

Language Testing is an independent field of study which has three major functions:for education purpose (recruiting students, assessing academic study and teaching); for promotion purpose; for washback effects. Washback is defined as the influence of language testing on teaching and learning. It can be either positive or negative, beneficial or harmful. Foreign and domestic researchers of language testing have done a huge bulk of theoretical and empirical researches on the washback effects since the 1980s. These studies aim to promote the reform and innovation in language testing and teaching.Test for English Majors Grade Four (TEM4) is one of the large-scale and high-stakes foreign language tests in China, which is supposed to exert profound influence on English majors'teaching and learning. And the test is very difficult to fulfill for the students of English major in Yulin Normal University, with underdeveloped economy and education. Referring to the current literature on washback both at home and abroad, combining quantitative and qualitative methods together, triangulating data through questionnaire, classroom observation and interview, present study aims at investigating the washback effect of TEM4 on teaching and learning at the foundation stage, taking Yulin Normal University as the sample to find the answers to the three broad research questions:1. What are the TEM4 washback effects on teachers? Are they positive or negative? 2. What are the TEM4 washback effects on students? Are they positive or negative? 3. What are the causes of the washback effects on teaching and learning? Research subjects include 32 teachers of English,106 freshmen,186 sophomores and 89 junior students. Based on the self-evaluation of their own language foundation and their score in TEM4, students selected from the third grade are divided into Junior Group 1 and Group 2. Their responses are compared and analyzed for the investigation of TEM4 washback influence on students with different language foundations.The research results show that the influences are mainly positive on teachers, but the intensity of TEM4 washback varies from teacher to teacher; and influences on students and their learning are mainly negative, but to those students with good language foundation, positive washback effect is the leading reaction. TEM4 provides guidance, motivation and referential teaching and learning assessment to teachers. However, TEM4 makes most students focus on test-taking drills and test-taking skills, not centering on developing their comprehensive language ability and practical talent. To those students, learning-for-test exists in large scale, especially in the learning of reading and writing. Aiming to promote the positive washback of TEM4 and to balance the development between ability-orientation and test-orientation, based on the research results, present study provides implications for the TEM4 designers, the school authorities, teachers and students.