Washback Of The Reformed NMET (Shanghai) On Senior Middle School Students' English Learning

The effect of testing on teaching and learning is called washback in the field of language testing.Many researches have been done both abroad and in China,but the majority of them have mainly focused on teaching instead of learning.National Matriculation English Test(NMET)is an important test in China,and NMET(Shanghai)has gone through reform since 2017.Thus,it is necessary to find out the washback of the reformed NMET(Shanghai)on senior middle school students' English learning.This research intends to answer two research questions.What kind of washback does the reformed NMET(Shanghai)have on senior middle school students' English learning? What aspects of learning are affected by the reformed NMET(Shanghai)? Questionnaire and interview are used as research instruments in this study.The research was carried out in a senior middle school in Shanghai.240 senior middle school students from grade one to grade three and 3 senior middle school teachers were involved in this research.The results show that the reformed NMET(Shanghai)has very complicated washback on senior middle school students' English learning.It promotes and motivates English learning and has positive washback on students' attitudes towards English and English learning.Students put more time and energy on English learning due to the NMET(Shanghai).Students mainly show positive attitudes towards the implementation of testing English twice,the changes of question types and the introduction of oral test.However,it also gives students pressure and has negative washback on learning activities,learning content,learning strategies and learning materials to some extent.One thing worth noticing is that teachers play an important role in the washback of NMET(Shanghai)on students' English learning.Students' learning benefits from teachers' guidance to a large extent,but some teachers pay too much attention to test-oriented exercises,which causes test-orientation of students' learning.After the analysis,some suggestions are given to promote positive washback of the reformed NMET(Shanghai).Students as well as teachers should put more emphasis on the communicative use of English in real life.Students should develop their interests in English learning and extend their learning activities.Teachers should let students really participate in class activities,and encourage and promote learner autonomy in English learning.