Washback Effect Research Articles

SPEAKING CLASS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

In recent years the process of reform and innovation in higher education has been witnessed. Indonesia has also implemented the problem of based assessment almost throughout college in the fatherland, focusing on human resource development. Methods adopted to follow the qualitative study principle against ten students at one of the schools in Bogor. This research is limited to the students without even seeing the washback effect on the teachers. The objective of this report was to observe the washback effect during teaching activities in a spoken English class. The study proved that a student's point of view assessment affects the teaching process and the speaking skills in the classroom.

Hong Kong secondary students’ perspectives on selecting test difficulty level and learner washback: Effects of a graded approach to assessment

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.

A Review of Studies on the Washback Effect of National Matriculation English Test (NMET) in China (2011-2020)

<p>This paper reviews the washback studies in National Matriculation English Test (NMET) in the past decade (2011-2020). There are 36 Chinese works of literature collected from CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), all of which are searched by keywords "National Matriculation English Test "(NMET) and "washback effect". And This literature is divided into two levels: micro level and macro level. The micro-level includes 5 categories, and the macro-level includes 3 categories. After analyzing and discussing, the researcher finds that: (1) The research has increased sharply before 2018 and is greatly influenced by policies; (2) The proportion of empirical research is equal to that of non-material research, which is dominated by empirical research at present; (3) The research mainly involves the washback effect of NMET, its reform and test typesetting at the macro level; Micro-level listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammar filling washback. Through the analysis, it is found that the main problems of the research on the washback effect of NMET include lack of innovation, neglect of listening and speaking skills, lack of depth of research, little attention to students -the subject of the test, and neglect of the long-term effect of the washback. Finally, some suggestions are put forward based on the above problems.</p>

The washback effect of TOEFL iBT and a local English Proficiency Exam on students' motivation, autonomy and language learning strategies

This study aimed to investigate the washback effect of two high stakes tests, a global language proficiency test (i.e., TOEFL iBT) and a local English Proficiency Exam (developed and administered by a state university) on students' motivation and their autonomy. The study also examined whether proficiency level moderated the potential washback effect among the two groups of test takers. Additionally, the study tried to find out the language leaning strategies used by both groups and explore the reasons behind their preferences. The study was conducted with two English language preparatory programs offered at a state university in Turkey: University Preparatory Program (UPP) and Dual Degree Program (DDP). At the end of the UPP program, the students are required to take the university's proficiency test while as for the UPP, they need to take a valid TOEFL iBT. Data were collected from 152 preparatory students (N = 65 for DDP; N = 87 for UPP) whose proficiency levels were based on the CEFR Framework ranging from A2 (upper elementary) to B1 (pre-intermediate) to B2 (intermediate). In addition to the above proficiency tests, data were gathered via motivation questionnaire, autonomous learning scale and student interviews. The results revealed no washback of TOEFL iBT exam on students' motivation regardless of their proficiency level. No washback was also observed on students' autonomy except for A2 level DDP students who had higher level of autonomy than the A2 level UPP students. Finally, the two groups used more similar than different language learning strategies while practicing the four language skills. The findings afford pedagogical implications for the use of high-stakes tests in English preparatory programs.

Washback Effect of High-Stakes English Language Tests on the Learning Behaviours of Ghanaian ESL Learners

The term washback or backwash is used in Applied Linguistics to refer to the impact of second/foreign language testing on learning behaviours, teaching practices, and curriculum design. The Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) English language tests administered by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) are high-stakes tests which have very important consequences for the junior and senior high school leavers. The English language syllabus for both junior high school and senior high school levels has listening , reading , writing , and speaking components. Unfortunately, the BECE and WASSCE English language tests do not assess students on all the language skills. Although the WASSCE English language test has oral English component (which was introduced in 1999), it assesses candidates on listening comprehension only. Since teachers and students are likely to concentrate on what is going to be assessed, there may be negative washback effect on teaching and learning of English language in junior and senior high schools in Ghana. This paper reports on the washback effect of high-stakes English language tests on the learning behaviours of Ghanaian ESL learners. A total of 344 students from 3 junior high and 5 senior high schools were purposively sampled for the study. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of data revealed that the BECE/WASSCE influenced how students learnt English, and that they wanted their teachers to concentrate on language areas that would only make them perform well in the high-stakes tests. This confirms the Alderson and Wall’s washback hypotheses that a test will influence what and how learners learn. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-30-10 Publication date: October 31 st 2021

High School Teachers’ Perceptions of the Intercultural Communicative Language Teaching (ICLT) Model Applied in Language Classrooms- A Case Study of a Vietnamese High School

This study exemplifies itself as an attempt to bridge theory and practice in developing high school learners’ intercultural communicative competence (ICC) through language teaching. In particular, it aims to introduce the Intercultural Communicative Language Teaching (ICLT) model to teachers through seminars for teaching practice in a high school context. Teachers’ perceptions of the model were investigated via two rounds of interviews and classroom observations. Ten teachers in a high school in the Mekong Delta Region participated in the first stage of seminars and round-one interviews and three continued to proceed to the second phase of lesson planning and teaching practice. Findings from the study revealed a high level of awareness the teachers had regarding the need to integrate cultural aspects and develop students’ ICC. The teachers perceived contextual conditions in their school as favourable for integrating cultural contents in their English lessons. Yet, the urge to abide by the prescribed curriculum and textbooks, and the exam backwash effects appeared to discourage them to confidently adopt a more language-culture balanced approach in teaching. The teachers were also found to wholeheartedly welcome the ICLT model for its values in promoting more weight on cultural aspects and bringing more motivation to learners. The model was perceived as teacher-friendly and highly feasible in their context thanks to its resemblance to the CLT teaching approach that they were familiar with. Heavy workload in lesson preparation, time restriction in the curriculum and teachers’ lack of confidence in their own cultural and intercultural knowledge and skills were found to be key challenges to the teachers’ practice when the ICLT model was applied.

WASHBACK EFFECT OF YEMENI GENERAL SECONDARY SCHOOL CERTIFICATE ENGLISH EXAMINATION ON TEACHERS' TEACHING PRACTICES AND CLASSROOM TESTING

The new trends in language testing towards the effect of testing in language learning and teaching helped in emerging a new concept ''washback'' or ''backwash'' to reflect the vital role that tests play, positively or negatively, in language learning and teaching. This study aims to investigate the washback effect of Yemeni General Secondary School Certificate English Examination (YGSSCEE) on teachers' teaching practices and classroom testing. The research methodology was quantitative approach design. Interview was used as a research instrument. The population of this study was 21 of English language teachers at Yemeni secondary schools namely: Aden, Abyan and Lahj. The study used purposive sampling method. The findings of the study revealed that teachers' teaching practices and classroom testing were, negatively, influenced by YGSSCEE. Most of the teachers used grammar translation method instead of implementation of communicative language teaching that was emphasized by Crescent English Course 6 for Yemen (CEC6Ym). Most of the teachers adapted the classroom tests from the past YGSSCEE papers. Reading, writing and grammar were given more emphasis; while listening skill was totally skipped in language teaching and testing. Most of the teachers considered the YGSSCEE as a role model in language teaching and testing in classrooms.

Washback Impact of the MUET: The Before and After Effect of a High-stake University English Test in Malaysia

This study seeks to explore the washback effect of the Malaysian University English Test (MUET), a high-stakes compulsory university entry test in the context of Malaysia. As simple and linear as it commonly appears, washback has been found to be far more complex than simply looking at the impact that a test might or might not have on the stakeholders. Therefore, this study aims to fill in this knowledge gap by systematically re-examining the beliefs on washback by investigating the relationship between the students’ perceptions of the MUET in terms of its importance and difficulty, with their language learning strategies whilst preparing for the test and after sitting the test. Using a mixed methods approach, a student questionnaire and student interview were utilised to elicit data from 30 male and 46 female students. The students were further divided into two groups, specifically those who were preparing for the MUET and those who had already sat the MUET. The findings suggest that preparing for the MUET encouraged the students to utilise a certain language learning strategy more compared to the others, specifically focusing on language skills that had not been formally tested before. Although the students’ perception did not significantly shape the students’ course of action when preparing for the test, it still had an impact on their overall view of the whole test-taking matter. This study is intended to add more insights to the less explored areas of washback, specifically the students’ perceptions and washback over time.

A study of English Writing Test in Senior High School Entrance Examination on English Writing Teaching

Writing plays a more and more important role in the English test of senior high school entrance examination, and teachers pay more and more attention to the teaching of writing. This paper attempts to start with the backwash effect of English writing test on English writing teaching, and further think about its enlightenment to English writing teaching, so as to give full play to the positive backwash effect of English writing test and minimize the negative backwash effect. Theoretical Significance: It provides a feasible teaching model and implementable design process for the current English writing teaching that pursues high scores. The integration of reading and writing based on the development of thinking quality is an important way to realize the cultivation goals mentioned in the English subject key competence, and it is a key direction to implement and deepen the concept of instrumental and humanistic courses. Through this teaching mode, students will be given a learning atmosphere of overall learning and positive thinking, and at the same time, the educational goal of developing quality education will continue to advance. Practical significance: It provides a new connection point for junior high school English teachers to teach in the reading-to-write method, and also provides a certain reference for the teaching design involved in each link part of teaching process. Through the research methods such as questionnaires, interviews and tests, we can compare the students’ classroom feedback and performance before and after, analyze and demonstrate their effectiveness in improving students’ writing ability and writing attitude. Then hope to provide a practical paths and teaching references for the future teaching.

UV assisted backwashing for fouling control in membrane bioreactor operation

Membrane fouling is a major bottleneck to cost effective application of membrane bioreactor (MBR) for wastewater treatment. This study evaluated a novel fouling control strategy of using UV irradiation to enhance the effectiveness of backwashing. Coupling UV irradiation with NaClO backwashing resulted in significantly lower membrane fouling, suggesting a higher fouling control efficacy than only NaClO backwashing. The signal molecule (C8-HSL) monitoring results suggested the NaClO backwashing could remove the foulants but lead to bacterial stress and thus resulted in more signal molecule being secreted by the microorganisms in the MBR. In contrast, UV irradiation in the mixed liquor constantly suppressed the signal molecule levels and thereby inhibited the fouling development. The confocal laser scanning microscopy analysis suggested that the significant formation of large bacterial aggregates on the membrane surface were avoided after UV assisted backwashing compared to permeate or NaClO backwashing without UV irradiation. Besides, the UV assisted backwashing did not significantly affect the microbial community structure and compromise the water treatment performance of the MBR.

Authentic Assessment Implementation on Curriculum 2013: Types and Its Washback

A significant change in education instructional goals effects assessment techniques used to evaluate students’ progress. The root of this phenomenon highly offers to authentic assessment as an alternative assessment. This study deals with authentic assessment implementation and its effects within teaching and learning in the context of Year 7 English students. It employs case study to get a in-depth understanding of the case. Data of the study were gained from deep-interview, observation, and document analysis. While, the data were analyzed by using Interactive model involving data reduction, data displays and conclusions: drawing/verification. The study finds that the relevance of implementation of authentic assessment becomes the main factor of determining its washbacks. Since most the authentic assessment stages undertaken by teachers are in line with National Regulation on how the assessment is designed and implemented, it provides more positive washbacks for both teachers and students such as motivated to be more creative and innovative in teaching and learning process. Nevertheless, the administration of assessment as guided by the government had a negative effect to teachers since it makes them feel overburdened and stressed.
 Keywords: authentic assessment, curriculum, washback Effect

Application of ARCS Motivation Model in CET-SET Examination

Based on Guangzhou Songtian Vocational College under the China Education Group, with the guidance of ARCS (attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction) motivational model, the scientific examination should not only be before the examination but also after the examination which can produce positive and negative factors for examinees. Through the data collected in the recent three years, it can be drawn that the CET-SET (College English Test-Spoken English Test) has a backwash effect on the examinees especially on the learning concepts, learning motivations, as well as guiding students to develop good oral learning strategies and habits.

Stakeholders’ test perceptions on test reform

The success of test reform relies considerably on how stakeholders understand and accept the revised test (Green & Andrade, 2010). This study provided an opportunity for students and teachers to share their perceptions of a recently revised English test in China, the Test for English Majors Grade Four (TEM4). In addition, this study examined how stakeholders’ perceptions of the test varied across institutions of different academic rankings. Survey data were collected from 496 students and 79 teachers, of whom 32 students and 12 teachers participated in a post-survey interview. Findings indicate that although stakeholders were overall positive about the revised TEM4, their perceptions were qualified by concerns with content representation and test difficulty. In addition, the data suggest that the revised TEM4 was associated with context-varying washback effects and negative psychological impacts. These findings highlight the important contribution that students' and teachers' perceptions may have in the test reform process.

WASHBACK AND THE ASSESSMENT PRACTICES OF ESL INSTRUCTORS AT JAPANESE UNIVERSITY

This study investigated awareness among native-English instructors teaching English to first year freshman students studying English at a university in Japan, and the potential effects of their chosen methods of oral evaluation on washback. Washback effect refers to the impact of testing – whether positive or negative - on teaching practices, curriculum design, and learning behaviors. Oral washback, in particular, in evaluation has seen increased importance in recent years, with more consideration given to how to provide positive oral washback in evaluations to ensure that they are as effective as possible in improving English levels. A mixed methods approach was used – a survey and interviews – with five instructors to find out about how they assess their students and how aware and how much attention they gave to possible washback effects of their chosen methods of evaluation. It was found that there is quite a variance among different instructors and knowing more about how to promote more positive oral washback to be useful in improving evaluation methods used.

İNGİLİZCE ÖĞRENEN TÜRK ÜNİVERSİTE ÖĞRENCİLERİNİN DİNLEME BECERİSİ STRATEJİLERİ

Listening has been defined as a receptive skill so far, but seeing that English language learners in Turkey expend considerable effort to understand listening texts, it may be misleading to view listening as passive on part of learners. By means of using listening strategies, it may become an active skill in which learners orchestrate several cognitive processes. Therefore, this study was carried out to look into Turkish students’ use of listening strategies at the preparatory school of a public university in Turkey. With this purpose in mind, The Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (Goh, 2008; Vandergrift et al., 2006) and retrospective accounts were used to collect data from intermediate-level students. The results indicate that out of four subcategories of listening strategies, learners appeared to prefer two of them, namely directed attention and mental translation more than planning-evaluation and problem solving strategies. In addition, they were found to have more difficulty in answering implicit listening questions and verbalizing how they answered them than explicit listening questions. Possible reasons behind these findings might be lack of systematic strategy training for both teachers and learners and backwash effects of listening tests in Turkey. Therefore, familiarizing teachers and learners with listening strategies and improving listening tasks and tests are suggested.

AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING: A CASE IN SMP NEGERI 6 SEMARANG

The Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture published the 2013 Curriculum which demands teachers to apply authentic assessment as the method of assessing the students’ competence. Point to that, the implementation of authentic assessment as well as its washback should be investigated. For that reason, this study is trying to investigate: (1) authentic assessments applied in English teaching and learning, (2) the types of authentic assessment used, (3) the teachers’ difficulties in applying authentic assessment, (4) washback effect of the use of authentic assessment. This study applied qualitative design to capture the implementation of authentic assessment. Observation, documentation, questionnaire, and interview were carried out to get the data. The subject are English teachers and the students. The results showed that the authentic assessment applied in English teacher class of SMP N 6 Semarang, especially in eighth grade is in the level good. The teachers had applied authentic assessments in the teaching and learning process. The types of the authentic assessments were oral interview (in speaking test), story or text retelling (in speaking), writing sample (in writing test), and experiment or demonstration. Furthermore, relating to the washback of authentic assessment, it has been confirmed by the teachers that its implementation can improves the student’s English learning achievement. On the other hand, teachers also faced some difficulties in applying authentic assessment due to their lack of knowledge of authentic assessment.

IELTS Washback Effect and Instructional Planning: The Role of IELTS-Related Experiences of Iranian EFL Teachers (Research Article)

High-stakes tests exert impacts on teachers’ perceptions, methodology, practices, and materials used in the classroom. However, previous research studies have overlooked the role of teachers’ past experiences in the tests and their instructional planning prior to, during, and after the preparation courses. This study inspected the washback effect of IELTS examination on Iranian EFL teachers’ instructional planning considering their IELTS related experiences. Through a mixed-methods research design, two sets of questionnaires were distributed among 120 Iranian IELTS instructors to examine the IELTS washback effect on their perceptions of instructional planning. Afterward, a semi-structured interview was held with 15 instructors, selected from among 120 initial participants, to supplement the previously collected data. The results of one sample t-test and Wilcoxon signed-ranks test indicated that the current level of Instructional planning at item and total score level was beyond average. Likewise, the results of Spearman rho indicated a positive and significant relationship between instructors’ instructional planning and their past IELTS related experiences. It was also found that the IELTS examination made the instructors develop exam-oriented plans by focusing on the students’ test performance. The results are invaluable for IELTS instructors in that they can raise their knowledge and awareness about the nature and scope of IELTS washback effect and ways to develop exam-oriented plans.

USING THE ASSESSMENT SYSTEM AND MODERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PROCESS OF TEACHING ENGLISH

The predominance of English in the media, particularly on the internet, have been responsible for driving change in language education policy and there is a global trend towards introducing English language teaching into the system of education.The introduction of web 2.0 network services in language education is one of the promising areas of informatization of the educational process, which helps to foster a stable communication competence in the students and design formative assessment under the guidance of an experienced teacher. Modern digital technologies with the transition to a more communicative approach offer new forms of assessments that were not available to us even ten years ago. Students have the opportunity to record videos while interacting in groups or even working on a monologue or story. Students often practice uploading podcasts and audio files and creating diary and wiki entries.The article deals with the benefits of digital technology during teaching English, which opens new perspectives on the assessment. The research describes the stages of the organization of assessment in the classroom, emphasizes the importance of feedback on testing, examines some factors that affect the teaching of English in terms of its assessment, gives an overview of the benefits of using washback effect and lists the problems associated with the use of information and communication technologies. The author explores the potential of using formative and summative assessments as well as the feedback to improve students' academic achievement and progress. Digital technology and assessment help us to achieve some of our goals: improved motivation, autonomy or closer cooperation between students, and so on. In addition, feedback can even be provided by students themselves, which contributes to the formation of self-assessment. Consequently, it becomes obvious what should be changed in the course on the basis of the assessment of students’ progress during the learning cycle.There is a lack of professionalism in the use of some information and communication technologies, which negatively affects the effectiveness of assessment systems of English.
 Keywords: formative assessments, summative assessments, information and communication technologies, digital technologies, feedback, self-assessment, motivation, self-reflection, English.

High-speed rail and energy consumption in China: The intermediary roles of industry and technology

Energy saving and emission reduction is largely constrained by industry and technology, and the transportation infrastructure of high-speed rail plays an important role in the development of industry and technology. However, there is still a gap between high-speed rail and energy consumption in extant literature. Using China's prefecture-level panel data, we investigate the impact of high-speed rail on city's energy consumption by Difference-in-Differences method and instrumental variable regressions. The results show that high-speed rail is conductive to reducing total energy consumption and energy consumption intensity through promoting industry agglomeration, industry upgrading and technological innovation. Meanwhile, we observe that the energy consumption reduction induced by high-speed rail is greater in peripheral cities than central cities, indicating that a greater spread effect rather than backwash effect exists in the high-speed rail network. This study fills the gap between high-speed rail and energy consumption, and confirms that high-speed rail has a positive energy-saving effect.

Evaluation of iron and manganese removal effectiveness by treatment plant modules based on water pollution index; a comprehensive approach.

Groundwater is a viable alternative when access to surface water resources is limited. Iron and manganese are known ions in soil and naturally in groundwater sources. However, human activities also are responsible. To identifying the best module for removing manganese and iron in the water treatment plant (WTP) of Mazandaran, 516 samples were taken from raw and treated water. The concentration of manganese, iron, was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry, and turbidity was used with the nephelometry method. The water pollution index (WPI) was applied for categorizing the status of pollution in treated water. The effect of seasonal temperature and backwashing (At flow rates of 3.5, 9.2, and 15.3m h-1) on the sand filter efficiency was also investigated. The highest concentrations of manganese, iron, and turbidity in raw water were 0.744, 6.70mg L-1, and 41.8 NTU, and in treated water were 0.67, 1.09mg L-1, and 5.58 NTU, respectively. The mean concentration of manganese and iron in raw and treated water were 0.24 ± 0.1, 0.93 ± 0.91, 0.105 ± 0.06 and 0.18 ± 0.14mg L-1 respectively. The WPI statuses in drinking water were excellent for manganese and iron in 95.74 and 53.88 % of the samples and very poor in 1.16 and 12.01 % of the samples, respectively, and its classification for drinking water for manganese and iron was excellent ˃ good ˃ extremely polluted ˃ polluted and the concentration of iron was more than manganese in treated water. The study of temperature's effect on sand filters showed that the removal efficiency in warm seasons was higher than in cold seasons. Also, the turbulence in the backwash with the 9.2m h- 1 rates, is lesser than other speeds, and in this flow, after 270s, the turbidity decreases to less than 10 NTU. Spearman correlation comparison showed that the parameters amounts after filtration decreased significantly (p ≤ 0.0001) in comparison to raw water. The results showed that module #1 that used open-aeration and chlorine as oxidations, was most effective in removing iron and manganese. In the end, the WTP couldn't diminish the parameters completely and need subsidiary units.