| Washback effects refer to examination’s impact on teaching and learning behaviors.This study aims to explore NMET Listening Comprehension Test’s washback effects on listening teaching and learning in the scope of cultural awareness.The washback hypothesis of Alderson & Wall is used as the theoretical foundation,and text analysis,questionnaires,interviews and classroom observation are adopted to conduct a research on 274 students and28 teachers in one school in the city of Nanning.This study attempts to answer these three questions:(1)What is the trend of the examination of cultural awareness in Listening Comprehension Part of NMET III(2017-2021)?(2)What are teachers’ and students’ attitudes to the examination of cultural awareness?(3)What are the washback effects of cultural awareness in NMET from five dimensions on listening teaching and learning?The examination of cultural awareness exerts an impact on teachers’ and students’ attitudes,which in turn influences the behavior on the part of teachers and students.Therefore,NMET Listening Comprehension Part has significant washback effects on the cultivation of cultural awareness.The results show that:(1)In terms of chronological orders,the trend of the examination of cultural awareness is on the rise from 2017 to 2021.Since 2018,it is three to five times that of 2017.Given distribution in five dimensions of cultural awareness,the number of dimensions has increased from only one tested in 2017 to two or three in 2021.(2)Teachers hold a positive attitude towards the effectiveness of the examination of cultural awareness(M=3.54).While the overall satisfaction of students(M=3.29)is lower than 3.50,indicating that students assume the examination of cultural awareness is not effective enough.(3)The examination of cultural awareness has positive washback effects on teachers in four dimensions: cultural comprehension dimension(M=3.56),cultural comparison dimension(M=3.74),cross-cultural communication dimension(3.73)and cultural literacy dimension(M=3.66).However,it has negative washback effects on teachers in cultural acquisition dimension.Through classroom observation,it can be seen that teachers tend to use cultural comprehension dimension,cultural comparison dimension and cross-cultural communication dimension.Only one dimension,cultural comparison dimension(M=3.54),has positive washback effects on students,but negative washback effects in other four dimensions: cultural comprehension dimension(M=2.86),cultural acquisition dimension(M=2.67),cross-cultural communication dimension(M=3.15)and cultural literacy dimension(M=3.00),especially the first two are worthy of researching on.Based on the negative washback effects,this thesis puts forwards some suggestions to cultivate students’ cultural awareness. |
