Relationships between learning motivations and practices as influenced by a high-stakes language test: The mechanism of washback on learning

Abstract

This study investigated the statistical relationships between four motivational variables (i.e., intrinsic and extrinsic goal orientations, self-efficacy and perceived task value) and three types of learning practices (test drilling, rote learning and normal learning activities) based on the self-reported data of 258 undergraduate English majors preparing for a high-stakes English language test in China. Consistent with previous findings conducted in both washback and non-washback contexts, extrinsic goals geared towards the test significantly positively contributed to students’ test drilling and rote learning activities, while intrinsic goals positively affected their normal learning activities overall. Unexpectedly, intrinsic goals were also found to have a statistically positive, though indirect, effect on test drilling; meanwhile, both intrinsic and extrinsic goal orientations exerted positive influence, through the mediation of perceived task value, on rote learning activities. These findings would help us pinpoint how motivational factors interact with test impact in shaping washback on learning, and thus constitute evidence to underpin possible claims about washback from the target test (Messick, 1996). Implications of these findings for how to address negative washback are also discussed at the end of paper.