深圳大学学科英语0196.pdfVIP

Variousaspectsofhigh-stakesschooltests:Acloselookatthephenomenonof

washback

HadiSalehi(UnivrsitiKebangsaanMalaysia)

ParisaNaseriKarimvand(TehranPayamNurUniversity)

SaraKashefianNaeeini(UnivrsitiKebangsaanMalaysia)

Abstract

High-stakestestsaredefinedastestswhoseresultsareseenbystudents,teachers,

administrators,parents,orthegeneralpublicasthebasisuponwhichimportantdecisions

aremadethatimmediatelyanddirectlyaffectthem.Thesetestssuchasschool-leaving

examinations,employmentexams,oruniversity-entranceexams,candirectlyor

indirectlyinfluencetheeducationalsystems,andthereasonprobablyliesinthefactthat

theyusuallyinvolveasetofdeterminingfunctionsintestees’liferangingfrom

employmentandpromotiontoplacementandachievement.Thereisalsoacleartendency

forstudentstostudyforatestbyreviewingpasttestsandconcentratingtheireffortson

thetypesoflanguageandtestitemsthatareknowntoappearonsuchtests.Theterm

washbackorbackwashreferstotheinfluenceofthesehigh-stakesexamsontheprocess

ofteachingandlearning,whichcanbeeitherpositiveornegative.Thispaperexamines

thenotionofwashback,introducessomestudiesonthewashbackofhigh-stakestestsin

variouscountries,andfocusesonthepedagogicalimplicationsforEFLteachers.

1.Definitionsofwashback

Ithaswidelybeenacknowledgedthattests,especiallyhigh-stakesoneslikeschool-

leavingexaminations,employmentexams,oruniversity-entranceexams,candirectlyor

indirectlyinfluencetheeducationalsystems(Mohammadi,2009).Thereasonprobably

liesinthefactthattheyusually