Impacts of the Test of English Listening Comprehension (TELC) on teachers and teaching in Taiwan

Mu-Hsuan Chou

doi:10.1186/s40862-017-0028-9

Abstract

High-stakes testing has frequently exerted a strong influence on teaching and learning in educational contexts. In 2012, the Ministry of Education passed legislation that made the new Test of English Listening Comprehension a requirement for the University Entrance Examination. The present study investigated how far the launch of the new English listening test has impacted on English teachers and their instructional practices in senior high school. This research involved a semi-structured interview with 20 senior high school English teachers in Taiwan. The findings revealed a complicated entanglement of external and internal factors that influenced the degree and intensity of test impact on teachers and teaching. The new national English listening test was found to have both positive and negative effects on teachers. While how the listening instruction was delivered was affected by teachers’ pedagogic knowledge and past experiences in teaching and learning, the frequency of instructional practice was constrained by the key stakeholders, such as parents’ and students’ expectations.

Highlights

The effect of testing on teaching and learning has long been known as ‘washback’, and this can be harmful, beneficial, or both (Alderson and Wall 1993; Hughes 2003; Shohamy et al 1996)
The University Entrance Examination (UEE) for senior high school students in Taiwan consists of three tests: the General Scholastic Ability Test (GSAT), the Advanced Subjects Test (AST), and the Test of English Listening Comprehension (TELC)
The teachers believed that listening skills are as essential as reading, speaking, and writing skills, that they are a requisite for the development of communicative competence, and that the test should have been launched earlier

Summary

Introduction

The effect of testing on teaching and learning has long been known as ‘washback’, and this can be harmful, beneficial, or both (Alderson and Wall 1993; Hughes 2003; Shohamy et al 1996). The University Entrance Examination (UEE) for senior high school students in Taiwan consists of three tests: the General Scholastic Ability Test (GSAT), the Advanced Subjects Test (AST), and the Test of English Listening Comprehension (TELC). Similar in form to the English test part of the JCEE, the GSAT and AST consist of discrete-point grammar and vocabulary tests, reading comprehension tests, Chinese-English translation, and a 120-word composition. The TELC, is a new test, whose policy was set out by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in 2012, and it has been used for school recommendations, for personal applications, and as a public examination from 2015. The contents of the TELC follow the official English language curriculum for senior high school education. ‘picture identification’ tests candidates’ listening comprehension of high frequency words (4500 English vocabulary; see College Entrance Examination Center, CEEC, 2016a) and sentence structures. Sample test items are provided on the official website (College Entrance Examination Center, CEEC, 2016b)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion