Abstract
Since 2005, Indonesia has administered the National Examination (NE), from which the result is used as a basis to decide the students’ exit from secondary schools. As a high stake testing, the NE has caused various washback effects, both positive and negative. Consequently, the existence of the NE has been accompanied by heated debates and controversies. The pros believe that the NE may improve secondary education standards, while the cons argue that the NE will create injustice and unnecessary anxiety among the students. However, both the pros and cons base their arguments on common sense not supported by a sound reasoning. The present study tries to explore the washback effects of the English National Examination (ENE) in Indonesian secondary education context, involving three Secondary Schools categorized based on their NE achievement. The results of the study indicate that English teachers and students from the schools involved have different perceptions on the ENE. The English National Examination has an influential impact on teachers’ teaching in the aspect of: activity/time arrangement, teaching materials, teaching contents, teaching methods, teaching strategies, ways of assessing, and on the feelings and attitudes of the students. The ENE also affects the students’ learning in the classroom in which teachers mainly teach to test, practice the test and develop test-taking strategies. The dimensions of the washback effect of the ENE on both English teachers and students are negative and positive, strong, specific and for a short period time.
Highlights
Based on experiences, the implementation of the National Examination (NE) in one country will cause some impacts on its participants
Shohamy summarizes four key definitions that are useful in understanding the washback concept: 1) Washback effect refers to the impact that tests have on teaching and learning; 2) Measurement driven instruction refers to the notion that tests should drive learning; 3) Curriculum alignment focuses on the connection between testing and the teaching syllabus; and 4) Systemic validity implies the integration of tests into the educational system and the need to demonstrate that the introduction of test can improve learning
The following findings, derived from teachers’ questionnaires, were developed in the form of open-ended questions. These findings confirmed that the tenth, the eleventh and the twelfth grade English teachers’ perceptions of the English National Examination vary
Summary
The implementation of the National Examination (NE) in one country will cause some impacts on its participants. Hughes, 1989; Alderson & Wall, 1993; McNamara, 2000; Brown, 2004; Gates, 1995; Cheng & Curtis, 2004; Cheng, 2005; Fulcher & Davidson, 2007) It can be defined as the effects of language tests on micro-level of language teaching and learning, i.e. inside the classroom (Bachman & Palmer, 1996; Bailey, 1996; Hamp-Lyons as cited in Hawkey, 2006; McNamara, 2000). According to Cheng and Watanabe (2004) there is convincing evidence to suggest that examinations, especially high-stakes tests, have powerful washback effects on teaching and learning within different educational contexts. There are two types of washback which are well-known as the washback direction: negative and positive
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