This paper is a report of an empirical study of the 'washback' effects of CET-4 on College English teaching and learning in three ordinary teachers' colleges. The results of the study show that, in the fir...This paper is a report of an empirical study of the 'washback' effects of CET-4 on College English teaching and learning in three ordinary teachers' colleges. The results of the study show that, in the first three and half terms, college English teachers can basically develop students' competence in listening, speaking, reading and writing under the guidance of College English Curriculum Requirements (2004), and the influence of CET-4 on College English teaching is not very great; that, in test preparation classes, the skills trained, activities conducted and materials used are solely consistent with those required in CET-4 and the normal teaching is broken; that the nature of the impact of CET-4 on a variety of aspects of College English teaching and learning is both positive and negative, but there are more positive than negative effects; that CET-4 can, to some degree, promote the teaching and learning of College English; and that, according to the implementation of College English Curriculum Requirements (2004) and CET reform, there is an obvious increase in the time spent on listening, speaking, reading and writing in classes, especially listening and speaking.展开更多
More often than not, criterion-referenced tests (CRTs) are defined in conjunction with norm-referenced tests (NRTs), and are viewed as a scoring-referencing framework. As more attention has been directed to the impact...More often than not, criterion-referenced tests (CRTs) are defined in conjunction with norm-referenced tests (NRTs), and are viewed as a scoring-referencing framework. As more attention has been directed to the impact that tests may exert on language teaching and learning, namely washback effect, a further look into the roles and functions of CRTs in language assessment is worth our efforts. The roles and functions of CRTs should not be restricted to scoring referencing; instead, they should be examined in a broad sense. CRTs are closely associated with the implementation of language curriculums and, for that matter, with washback effects. The following diagram shows the relationship between them. In view of the role of CRTs in promoting positive washback effects, attempts should be made to establish links between objectives and tests, between texts and tests, and between methods and tests. This paper argues that as school/university-based language tests are most likely to be CRTs, language teachers should be given opportunities to participate in the process of CR test construction. To this end, a teacher-centred approach to test development is proposed in this paper. A complete test development process generally consists of the following phases: identifying test purpose/selecting test domain, writing test specifications, constructing items/tasks, administering pilot tests, and completing final operational versions. The proposed approach to test development in this paper places the teacher at the very center of the process, which consists of collaboration, reflection, and negotiation. The paper concludes that the roles and functions of CRTs cannot be overemphasized, and teachers should involve themselves in developing CRTs so as to realize desirable washback effects on language teaching and learning.展开更多
基金The work has been sponsored by the Project of Anhui University Top-quality Courses -College English( No.JIAOMIGAO[2004] 70) .
文摘This paper is a report of an empirical study of the 'washback' effects of CET-4 on College English teaching and learning in three ordinary teachers' colleges. The results of the study show that, in the first three and half terms, college English teachers can basically develop students' competence in listening, speaking, reading and writing under the guidance of College English Curriculum Requirements (2004), and the influence of CET-4 on College English teaching is not very great; that, in test preparation classes, the skills trained, activities conducted and materials used are solely consistent with those required in CET-4 and the normal teaching is broken; that the nature of the impact of CET-4 on a variety of aspects of College English teaching and learning is both positive and negative, but there are more positive than negative effects; that CET-4 can, to some degree, promote the teaching and learning of College English; and that, according to the implementation of College English Curriculum Requirements (2004) and CET reform, there is an obvious increase in the time spent on listening, speaking, reading and writing in classes, especially listening and speaking.
文摘More often than not, criterion-referenced tests (CRTs) are defined in conjunction with norm-referenced tests (NRTs), and are viewed as a scoring-referencing framework. As more attention has been directed to the impact that tests may exert on language teaching and learning, namely washback effect, a further look into the roles and functions of CRTs in language assessment is worth our efforts. The roles and functions of CRTs should not be restricted to scoring referencing; instead, they should be examined in a broad sense. CRTs are closely associated with the implementation of language curriculums and, for that matter, with washback effects. The following diagram shows the relationship between them. In view of the role of CRTs in promoting positive washback effects, attempts should be made to establish links between objectives and tests, between texts and tests, and between methods and tests. This paper argues that as school/university-based language tests are most likely to be CRTs, language teachers should be given opportunities to participate in the process of CR test construction. To this end, a teacher-centred approach to test development is proposed in this paper. A complete test development process generally consists of the following phases: identifying test purpose/selecting test domain, writing test specifications, constructing items/tasks, administering pilot tests, and completing final operational versions. The proposed approach to test development in this paper places the teacher at the very center of the process, which consists of collaboration, reflection, and negotiation. The paper concludes that the roles and functions of CRTs cannot be overemphasized, and teachers should involve themselves in developing CRTs so as to realize desirable washback effects on language teaching and learning.
