A Study On The Washback Effect Of Passage Dictation In TEM4 On Listening Teaching And Learning

Washback regularly refers to the impact of a test both on teaching and learning. Itis one of six qualities of test usefulness, which has drawn a lot of attention at homeand abroad since 1990s. Until now, there is much theoretical and empirical research togain insights into this complicated phenomenon. These studies have broadenedpeople’s understanding of washback and promoted the reform and innovation inlanguage testing and teaching.Listening, speaking, reading and writing are the four important skills in languagelearning. In China, because of the Examination-orientated Education System, Englishteaching and learning focus on reading and writing while pay little attention tolistening and speaking. However, listening should be treated more seriously than theother three skills. As a receptive skill, listening is the basis for other skills, so peoplealways put listening at the first place among the four skills when they mention them.That is one of the key reasons why listening takes up a large amount of score in manyimportant tests such as College English Test (CET) and Test for English Majors(TEM). However, teachers have been used to lying emphasis on listeningcomprehension and ignoring the importance of English dictation. Thus, most studentsdon’t do very well in the dictation part of the tests mentioned above, the average scoreof dictation was about 7-9 (the full score 15). What’s worse, in TEM4 of 2003 and2010, the average score of dictation has fallen to 4, which was really far away fromthe full score. Researchers have found the problem and they have been studying on it.But most of their researches were based on students’dictation errors; few of themtreated the problem on the side of the washback of dictation. That why this researchwas done in this area.In this thesis, the author will study the following questions: does dictation make apositive washback or negative washback on learners’learning and teachers’teaching;what detail effect does dictation make on learning and teaching;The purpose of this study is to test the washback of dictation on English listening,learning and teaching so as to put forward some suggestions to promote positive washback effect and reduce or avoid the negative washback.This research has been carried out by adopting three kinds of instruments:questionnaire, classroom observations and interviews. To investigate the nature ofdictation in TEM4, the author carried out the study on the English majors in gradethree of Shandong Normal University. The results of the study show that dictationexerts not only positive washback but also negative washback on listening, learningand teaching. Then questionnaires and interviews were carried out; it was found thatthe dictation did yield more positive washback on listening, learning and teaching.Based on the findings, the author proposes some ways to enhance positivewashback. First, authenticity should be built in the test and. Second; teacher’sfunction should not be neglected when it comes to enhance positive washback of thedictation. Third, in terms of English majors, besides the clearness in learningobjectives, fostering the learning autonomy and self-assessment are believed to beable to bring great positive washback.In the end, the thesis pointes out the limitations of this study and some suggestionsfor further research.