Full Description
This book adopts a multi-method and multi-phase approach to investigate the washback effects of Test for English Majors (TEM) on program administrators, teachers and students, shedding new light on TEM reform and the reform of English teaching and learning in China. TEM, a nationwide test used to measure the language proficiency of undergraduate English majors in China, is a major standardized test taken by nearly 400,000 students every year. The book's key features include: an in-depth discussion of the nature of washback and a framework for investigating it; a multi-method and multi-phase approach, employing both the quantitative method of questionnaire surveys and the qualitative methods of interviews and classroom observations; large-scale questionnaire surveys conducted among experts, program administrators, teachers and students, and involving over 30,000 participants; detailed assessments of TEM's washback effects on stakeholders' perceptions, classroom teaching practice, students learning activities, etc.; and essential insights into testing and teaching reforms.
Contents
Chapter One TEM: A High-Stakes Standardized Test in the Chinese Context.- Chapter Two Washback: Definitions and Dimensions.- Chapter Three Theoretical Framework for Washback Studies.- Chapter Four Research Framework for TEM Washback Study.- Chapter Five Stakeholders' Perceptions of TEM and Its Washback.- Chapter Six Classroom Practice and the Washback of TEM.- Chapter Seven Implications for the Reform of Testing and Teaching.- Bibliography.- APPENDIX I.- APPENDIX II.- APPENDIX III.
