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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 6

Publication Date: June 25, 2023

DOI:10.14738/assrj.106.14881.

Wang, C. (2023). Washback Effects of the New CET4 Listening Test on College English Listening Teaching and Learning. Advances

in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(6). 328-348.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Washback Effects of the New CET4 Listening Test on College

English Listening Teaching and Learning

Chao Wang

Zhiyuan School of Liberal Arts,

Beijing Institute of Petrolchemical Technology, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT

As a high-stake and criterion-related norm-referenced test which is intended to

supervise the implementation of Syllabus and diagnose the strength and weakness

in college English teaching and learning, CET4 (College English Test Band-4) exerts

both beneficial and harmful effects on English education. Conducted respectively

from the perspectives of teaching and learning attitude, materials and strategies,

the study is mainly aimed to explore the possible washback effects of the new CET4

listening subtest on college English teaching and learning. A combination of both

qualitative and quantitative approaches was adopted to research on 10 English

teachers and 50 students from Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology. The

findings reveal that the new CET-LT has made satisfactory innovations in test

format and input materials, and it has more beneficial washback effects on college

English teaching and learning. However, the phenomenon of “teaching and learning

to test” still exists in our educational practice, which affects the efficiency of EFL

teaching and learning in China.

Keywords: listening subtest, the new CET-4, washback effects

INTRODUCTION

Research Background

CET 4 is a “criterion-related norm-referenced test” (Yang & Weir 1998) which is intended to

supervise the implementation of Syllabus and diagnose the strength and weakness in college

English teaching and learning.

With the process of China’s modernization, more and more qualified personnel with English

proficiency are required to meet the social needs. The revised syllabus (2004) stated the goal

as: “College English teaching aims to develop the students’ overall ability to use English,

especially listening and speaking ability, so that the students are capable of effectively

exchanging information in both verbal and written forms of the target language...” It can be

clearly seen from the new edition of syllabus that the emphasis of college English teaching has

been shifted from “linguistic knowledge” to “communicative ability”. To guarantee the

implementation of such a teaching objective, the Designing Committee of National College

English Test (DCNCET) has reformed CET 4 in June, 2005.

The new CET 4 had been put into practice in only 180 chosen universities since June of 2006,

and then spread to all universities and colleges in 2007. It has been implemented for 15 years

so far. Compared with the traditional CET 4, it has been improved in various aspects. The most

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Wang, C. (2023). Washback Effects of the New CET4 Listening Test on College English Listening Teaching and Learning. Advances in Social Sciences

Research Journal, 10(6). 328-348.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.106.14881

eminent innovation is made in the component of listening comprehension, which embraces

varieties of test tasks, including the listening of short conversation, long conversation, short

passage and compound dictation. In addition, the weight of the listening comprehension test of

CET 4 becomes more and more significant, increasing to 35% of the total weight. Since the

communicative language competence has been attached with great importance, assessment of

listening comprehension has become more communication-oriented, which is naturally

reflected in the classroom listening teaching. What is assessed becomes what is valued, which

becomes what is taught, which is regarded as washback in the field of education.

Washback, the influence of test on language teaching and learning, has been realized by the

experts on testing for a long time, but the empirical studies of washback haven’t been conducted

until in recent decades. The research of washback in the mainland of China is mainly

concentrated on CET except a few articles introducing overseas theories of washback in

language testing, and others researching into the washback of TEM and NMET. Though College

English teaching reform and CET reform have been undergoing over ten years, and there have

been some empirical researches about the washback effect of old CET4, few researches have

been done about the washback effect of the new CET4, which is of great importance to test

innovators.

Research Significance and Purpose

The study was undertaken to identify the negative and positive effects of the new CET4 listening

subtest and to find out the way to foster positive washback effects and reduce negative

washback effects to some extent. The research questions to be addressed in the study are as

follows:

a. To what extent does the new CET4 listening test influence the goals of teachers’ teaching

and students’ learning?

b. To what extent does the new CET4 listening test influence what teachers teach and

students learn?

c. To what extent does the new CET4 listening test influence how teachers teach and

students learn?

The methodological techniques employed in the investigation are questionnaires, classroom

observations, and interviews. Analysis, findings and implications are based on the data arising

from these research methods.

THEORETICAL FOUNDATION AND LITERATURE REVIEW

Definitions of Washback

It’s a commonplace phenomenon in education that testing influences teaching and learning

(Anderson & Wall, 1993). This is referred to as washback in the language testing theory. Many

linguists have explained this term in their works. Buck (1988) gives his definition to washback

as the influence of tests on classroom activities. He mentions that both teachers and students

tend to tailor their teaching and learning activities to the demands of tests, especially for high- stakes tests, because the scores of such tests usually make a decisive effect on the lives of

students along with their teachers.

Differing from Buck, Hughes (1989)’ explanation of washback stresses whether the washback

is beneficial or harmful and in what conditions they occur respectively. He defines washback as