Abstract
This sequential mixed-methods study investigates washback on learning in a high-stakes school exit examination by examining learner perceptions and reported behaviours in relation to learners’ beliefs and language learning experience, the role of other stakeholders in the washback mechanism, and socio-educational forces. The focus is the graded approach of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education English Language Examination (HKDSE-English), incorporated in 2012, that allows test-takers to choose between easier and more difficult sections for reading and listening-integrated skills papers. Inductive coding of focus groups involving 12 secondary students fed into the development of the Washback on Students’ Learning questionnaire, which was administered to another 150 learners. Exploratory factor analyses of identified washback effects revealed four major types straddling different settings (classrooms, tutorial schools, learners’ personal environment), and seven categories of mediating variables pertaining to learners themselves, other stakeholders, and societal influences. Simultaneous multiple regressions identified influential clusters of mediating variables and showed the strongest predictors for each macro-level washback type varied. At least one intrinsic and one extrinsic factor category significantly contributed to all types, reaffirming learner washback as a socially situated, negotiated construct. Implications related to the consequences, use, and fairness of the graded approach are discussed.
Highlights
This sequential mixed-methods study investigates washback on learning in a high-stakes school exit examination by examining learner perceptions and reported behaviours in relation to learners’ beliefs and language learning experience, the role of other stakeholders in the washback mechanism, and socio-educational forces
To address research question one on the washback effects learners identify following the introduction of the graded approach, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed on learners’ perceptions of their attitude, motivation, and behaviour regarding their preparatory work for the graded approach
We investigated learners’ perceived washback effects, self-reported mediating factors, and the predictors of each identified washback type
Summary
This sequential mixed-methods study investigates washback on learning in a high-stakes school exit examination by examining learner perceptions and reported behaviours in relation to learners’ beliefs and language learning experience, the role of other stakeholders in the washback mechanism, and socio-educational forces. The focus is the graded approach of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education English Language Examination (HKDSE-English), incorporated in 2012, that allows test-takers to choose between easier and more difficult sections for reading and listeningintegrated skills papers. There is a need to examine how students’ learning is mediated by agents and factors in micro contexts related to their personal sphere (e.g., home environment, classes, courses, school) and the overarching macro context (i.e., the social reality where learners and the test are situated), and to identify the consequences of such effects for learners. Since 2012, HKDSE-English has adopted a graded approach in the reading paper and the listening-integrated skills paper This requires test-takers to choose between an easier and a more difficult section within each of these two papers. We investigated the different actors and forces at play through the lens of the test-taker, probing their perceptions of the introduction of the graded approach in HKDSE-English
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