Washback Effect of CET on English Teaching and Learning in City Colleges

【Abstract】It is acknowledged language testing has great influence on language study. CET， the national English proficiency test in China， is recognized as an effective measurement of college English level. This essay tries to study the backwash effect of CET on students from Puer University， a city college in the South of Yunnan Province， aiming to find out washback effect of CET on teachers and students alike and seek a way to amplify the positive element and weaken the negative one， balancing students need to pass the test and their real improvement of language proficiency.

【Key Words】CET； Washback effect； City colleges

【作者簡介】陶麗茶（1983-），女，普洱學院外國語學院教師，助教，研究方向：英語教學。

【基金項目】本文系普洱學院校級課題“CET對地方院校大學英語教學反撥效應的實用研究”（課題編號：2016xjkt 02）的研究成果。

Ⅰ. CET and its washback effect study

CET is an English proficiency test administered by the Ministry of Education in China. It can be traced back to 1987. At present， the test has over 10 million participants annually and the result of the test is recognized all over the country. The test grows in magnitude as well as importance over the years. The score of the test can determine whether a student has the chance to get a promising career after graduation， such as state-owned organizations and enterprises with higher pay. Moreover， the score is used to measure how well a college English class fulfills the requirements of the Ministry of Education. Therefore， there is a trend in college to teach what is likely to appear in the examination.

The current CET includes four parts： writing， listening， reading and translation. And listening accounts for 35% of the whole test. After several reforms， now this part includes three pieces of news from VOA and BBC. The translation part focuses mainly on Chinese-to-English translation of Chinese traditional culture. Most students from Puer University do not have high English proficiency， especially poor in listening and speaking. Thus， not many students in the university can pass the test.

And the influence of language testing on language teaching and learning is called backwash or washback. It was first explained by Pearson as follows： “ public examinations influence the attitudes， behaviors and motivations of teachers， learners and parents， and because examinations often come at the end of a course， this influence is seen working in a backward direction， hence the term ‘washback” （Pearson， 1988， P98）. Later， Alderson and Wall （1993） gave its formal definition in their article “Does Washback Exist？” They defined “washback” as the effect of testing on learners as well as teachers to “do things they would not necessarily otherwise do because of the test” （P117）. In addition to these， many a scholar put forward their understanding of the effect.

It is not until the 21st century before Chinese scholars took to apply the theory to classroom language teaching and learning. In recent years， washback effect has been pushed into highlight in China. Professor Gu Xiangdong released a book about the influence of CET upon college English teaching in 2007. In the same year， she published “Characteristics of a College English Class As Well As the Effects of CET on English Teaching”. In the essay， she discussed how teachers reacted to CET in the process of teaching. Shi Xiaojuan spent 3 years following a group of test takers and concluded that CET makes students spend more time on listening， but students differed from each other about the amount of time they spent on the test. She published the result in “The Effect of the New CET Listening on Students” in 2010. Hou Xinmin& Wang Weili studied the influence of CET on students from Xian and concluded that the test had both positive backwash and negative one. But there is no universal truth considering the effect for students with different background may hold different attitude toward the test. Minimal study is conducted in city colleges. This paper is to conduct the effect of CET on teachers and students from Puer University， a city college in the south of Yunnan province， aiming to find out the influence of CET on students with less than solid English foundation.

Ⅱ. Wahback effect of CET on students and teachers from Puer University

The study chose 332 students randomly as the object. After passing out 332 questionnaires， 324 effective ones were collected， including 156 effective ones from male students and 169 ones from female ones.

The questions mainly cover three aspects： the attitude students hold toward CET， males and females respectively； strategies they take for the preparation of the test； material they choose to study for the test.

First comes the result of the attitude of male college students， grouped according to different English scores from Gaokao （a very solid measurement of English proficiency in China）. According to the result， students with better English proficiency hold higher expectation for the test while students with low proficiency do not hold very positive attitude toward it.

Next goes the attitude of female college students， also grouped according to scores of Gaokao. The result presents that girls are more motivated than boys， despite different language proficiency. Results of CET 4 support that the more motivated scholars are more likely to pass the test， that is， more girls （compared to boys with similar Gaokao scores） pass the exam.

Next come the strategies students adopt for the test. Backwash effect occurs when a test changes how students study. Questions include two phases considering this aspect. The first is their routine study； the second mainly covers the period before testing. The result from questionnaire shows that CET also has almost no backwash effect on students during their routine study. They will go with their pace， no evident effort to improve the chance of passing the exam.

Another question in this part covers the time three months before the test， that is， after students sign in to sit for CET. Result goes differently this time. Most students claim they have prepared before the test. Backwash effect mostly occurs during this period of time.

The last is about the materials students choose to study. Students in Puer University share many aspects in English with other less than prominent colleges. Most from the countryside， they began to study English in junior middle school and are not good in English since then， especially in listening. To sit for the exam， many choose to remember a lot of new words that appear frequently in CET. In addition， most choose to go through tests of prior years， trying to familiarize themselves with the pattern. Few think about studying materials other than those closely related to the test itself.

Washback effect on teachers is also studied. According to a face-to-face interview and classroom observation， teachers teaching strategies are mostly consistent with those of students.

Ⅲ. Enlightenment on CE teaching

To conclude， CET has some washback effect on students from city colleges， both positive effect and negative one. On the bright side， the importance of CET compels students and teachers to put a lot of effort into English class. It also provides some universal measurement for the quality of university English teaching. At the same time， it motivates students to learn more. Because Chinese traditional culture and VOA as well as BBC news are parts of CET， those who want to sit for the test have to go through the material carefully.

But the negative part cannot be ignored. According to the result of the questionnaire， most students do not have a high English proficiency， not enough to understand CET tests fully. However， they choose to spend a lot of time on the tests from previous years. There may be a gap between the material they can really understand and the test papers. The gap can bring about frustration， not good for those who try to improve their language proficiency. In addition， although they have studied English for quite a few years， most are quite poor in spoken English. Too much effort in the difficult texts may stand in the way of oral English practice.

All in all， teachers have to take the washback effect into consideration and find a way to weaken the negative one while amplify the positive one. Only in this way can students improve their language level when focusing on the test.

References：

[1]ALDERSON J C， Wall . Does washback exist[J]. Applied Linguistics，1993，14：115- 129.

[2]Alderson J.C & Hamp-Lyons L. TOEFL Preparation Courses： A Study of Washback[J]. Language Testing，1996，13（3）：280-297 .

[3]Bachman， Lyle F. Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing[M]. Oxford University Press，1990.

[4]Hughes， A. Testing for Language Teachers[M]. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press，1989.

[5]辜向東.大學英語四、六級考試對中國大學英語教學的反撥效應實證研究[J].重慶大學學報，2007，4：119-124.

[6]劉潤清.關于英語教學大綱改革[J].外語教學與研究，2002（6）： 403.