The Washback Effect of Konkoor on Teachers� Attitudes toward Their Teaching (original) (raw)
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The Washback Effect Of The Iranian Universities Entrance Exam: Teachers’ Insights
The Entrance Exam of the Universities (EEU) in Iran is a multiple-choice high-stakes test which clearly affects its stakeholders. This effect, generally known as washback, can be considered negative or positive depending on the test and its intended use. The EEU is designed to screen the high school graduates for admission into higher education. This study aimed to investigate the washback effect of this high-stakes test on the Iranian high school English teachers. To achieve the aim of the study, a validated survey questionnaire was administered to stratified random sample of 132 high school English teachers who were teaching in the five main educational districts in the city of Isfahan, Iran. The data analysis revealed that the EEU negatively and implicitly influences English teachers to teach to the content and format of the test. Additionally, little attention was given to three language skills of speaking, writing, and listening in the classroom as these skills are not tested in the EEU.
The Entrance Exam of the Universities (EEU) in Iran is a multiple-choice high-stakes test that affects the teachers, students, parents and other stakeholders. The EEU is designed to screen the high school graduates for admission into higher education. This study aimed to explore the impact of this high-stakes test on the Iranian high school English teachers. To achieve the aim of the study, a validated survey questionnaire was administered to stratified random sample of 132 high school English teachers who were teaching in the five main educational districts in the city of Isfahan, Iran. The data analysis revealed that little attention was given to three language skills of speaking, writing, and listening in the classroom as these skills are not tested in the EEU. Moreover, the EEU negatively and implicitly influences English teachers to teach to the test format.
High-Stakes Testing Washback: A Survey on the Effect of Iranian MA Entrance Examination on Teaching
faculty.ksu.edu.sa
High-stakes tests work efficiently to bring about changes. They affect the participants as well as process and product of an educational system. MA Entrance Examination in Iran is a case in point. It is primarily designed to screen the candidates for postgraduate studies. Nevertheless, its changes in the classroom, generally known as “washback” in applied linguistics, are often more than what the designers expect. This paper aimed at conducting a survey about the washback effect of MA Entrance Examination on teachers’ methodology and testing. 45 subjects, all of whom university professors, were selected using convenience random sampling. Then, a validated researcher-made questionnaire was administered. To have more reliable data, some were randomly selected to be interviewed so as to cross-check the data collected through questionnaire. The data analysis revealed that the majority of the subjects were positively, as they claimed, affected by the examination. Moreover, they were fully aware that their methodology and attitudes were gradually set to the demands of the examination.
Teachers‟ Perceptions of High-Stakes Tests: A Washback Study
—The study of high-stakes tests and various effects of such tests is an educational need and it is recommended by curriculum planners and educational researchers. This paper, therefore, aimed to explore the effects of the Iranian universities entrance exam on the high school English teachers. The Entrance Exam of the Universities (EEU) in Iran is a multiple-choice competitive high-stakes test that affects the teachers, students, parents and even other stakeholders. This negative or positive effect, generally known as washback, depends on the test itself, the curriculum, the stakeholders, and even the aim and scope of the test. To investigate the teachers' perceptions of the EEU washback effect, a validated survey questionnaire was administered to stratified random sample of 132 high school English teachers who were teaching in the five main educational districts in the city of Isfahan, Iran. The descriptive data analysis revealed that little attention was given to three language skills of speaking, writing, and listening in the classroom as these skills are not tested in the EEU. Moreover, the EEU negatively and implicitly influences English teachers to teach to the test format.
Test takers' perspectives on an English language test in Iranian higher education: A washback study
Issues in Educational Research, 2020
Over the last three decades, the study of test preparation and test washback has emerged as an indispensable area of inquiry in language assessment. Yet, how test takers' motivation and perceptions of test design and content might mediate test preparation has not been given sufficient attention. Taking the general English module of a high stakes university admission test as its focus, this study explored how test takers’ motivation and perceptions of test uses and design are related to their test preparation practices. To this end, 110 test takers responded to two questionnaires: one on test takers’ motivation and perceptions, and the other on their preparation practices. The collected data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLSSEM) to assess the postulated washback models, informed by expectancy value (EV) motivation theory. It was found that positive perceptions of test content were associated with more intensive test preparation. Also, tes...
Senior High School English Teachers' Perceptions on a High-stakes Test (SBMPTN): A Washback Study
The aim of this research is to explore the washback effect of a high-stakes test on teachers' attitude and teaching methods used. High-stakes tests refer to tests results of which impact the future of the test takers. In this paper, the high-stakes test is the Entrance Exam of Universities (EEU) in the Indonesia context, namely Seleksi Bersama Masuk Perguruan Tinggi Negeri (SBMPTN). The test determines whether students are qualified to be accepted as university students or not. Therefore, SBMPTN is extremely strict and competitive because students all over Indonesia are eager to pass it. The current study explores washback effect of SBMPTN. In order to gain the data of this survey study, an adopted questionnaire was conducted to a number of 30 senior high school teachers. The data analysis using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was then explained into descriptive statistic encompassing mean score and percentages. The findings revealed that SBMPTN, as a high-stakes test, has a positive washback on Senior High School English teachers' attitudes and their teaching methods.
Research Paper , 2014
The effect of language tests on teaching and learning is described in language education as "washback". Highstakes public examinations, thus, are often used as tools of control in the school system. Recently, the Libyan Education Authority adopted major changes into the existing Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in English aiming to promote a positive washback effect on classroom teaching. This paper investigates the kind of relationship between testing and teaching according to teachers' beliefs and perceptions of the introduced exam. To address these issues, the mixed method approach was utilized: questionnaires were distributed to 100 teachers and interviews were conducted with the examination board director and 11 teachers from the same sample surveyed. The study found that teachers expressed negative rather than positive views towards the exam. Teachers criticized the exam especially in terms of practicality and content validity as most teachers declared that congruence between the new exam and the curriculum is tenuous. However, teachers welcomed the policy regarding exam format and style. While some desired aims were achieved through the exam, others were not. Findings showed that the exam did exert washback effect in that teachers experienced and/or implemented changes in their classroom instructional practices. Thus findings indicated that exams did exert washback on teachers' attitudes and beliefs towards their classroom teaching. However, particularly in this study, data was self-reported via questionnaires and interviews, classroom observations would have provided more tangible evidence on teachers' actual classroom teaching practices as a result of exam change.
The Washback and Impact of Test on Language Teaching and Learning
2019
Introduction: For a long time, educational practitioners believed that assessment influence the learning and teaching process in various ways. In some research papers, test impact is considered as the long-term effect or the influence of test educational policy and planning that reflects a higher-level effect. Washback or backwash, however, refers to the immediate or a course-level effect of the test on teaching and learning. Generally harmful (negative) or beneficial (positive) washback is perceived by the learners. Nowadays, educational researches pay significant attention to the assessment and its stakeholders. Still the consequence of the test is not fully communicated to the teachers and learners. Thus, this paper focuses on how washback influence students' learning attitudes through finding the major factors that affect it; teachers' role as agents of promoting washback, and drawing pedagogical implication for teachers. Objective: The study aims to explore the impact o...