反拨作用（Washback）指语言测试对语言教学的影响。有关反拨作用的理论和实证研究在20世纪80年代得以迅速发展，进入90年代反拨作用的研究更加深入和系统化。语言测试的反拨作用既有积极的一面，又有消极的一面；积极的反拨作用是指测试或考试对教学和学习产生有利影响，而消极的反拨作用是指测试或考试对教学和学习会产生不利影响。随着我国各类考试的逐渐增多，测试对教学的反拨作用日益成为人们关注的焦点。

下面是Lynda Taylor教授对“反拨作用及其影响”的介绍，不要错过哟~~

The term ‘backwash’ has been used to refer to the way a test affects teaching materials and classroom management (Hughes 1989), although within the applied linguistics and language testing community the term ‘washback’ is more widely used today (Weir 1990; Alderson and Wall 1993; Alderson 2004).

Washback is generally perceived as being either negative (harmful) or positive (beneficial). Negative washback is said to occur when a test’s content or format is based on a narrow definition of language ability, and so constrains the teaching/learning context. Davies et al. (1999:225) offer the following illustration: ‘If, for example, the skill of writing is tested only by multiple choice items then there is great pressure to practise such items rather than to practise the skill of writing itself’. Positive washback is said to result when a testing procedure encourages ‘good’ teaching practice; for example, an oral proficiency test is introduced in the expectation that it will promote the teaching of speaking skills.

The past ten years have seen a growing awareness that testing can have consequences beyond just the classroom. Tests and test results have a significant impact on the career or life chances of individual test takers (e.g. access to educational/employment opportunities). They also impact on educational systems, and on society more widely: for example, test results are used to make decisions about school curriculum planning, immigration policy, or professional registration for doctors; and the growth of a test may lead publishers and institutions to produce test preparation materials and run test preparation courses. The term ‘impact’ is generally used to describe these consequences of tests (Bachman 1990; Bachman and Palmer 1996). Some language testers consider washback as one dimension of impact, describing effects on the educational context (Hamp-Lyons 1997); others see washback and impact as separate concepts relating respectively to ‘micro’ and ‘macro’ effects within society. Most testers locate both concepts within the theoretical notion of ‘consequential validity’ in which the social consequences of testing are part of a broader, unified concept of test validity (Messick 1989, 1996). Consequential validity (along with related themes of fairness and ethics) has been extensively discussed among language testers in recent years (Kunnan 2000). Most testers now acknowledge that washback and impact are highly complex phenomena; some take a stronger view derived from critical theory in which language testing is characterized as the exercise of power by one party over another (Shohamy 2001).

Assertions about the nature, extent, and direction (positive/negative) of impact in language testing have often been based on assumptions rather than on empirical evidence. Alderson and Wall (1993) argued the need for empirical investigation and were among the first to develop appropriate research hypotheses. Since then, language testers have developed various instruments for measuring washback and impact, and evaluating the degree to which they may be considered positive or negative (Saville and Hawkey 2004).Empirical findings from washback and impact studies are now being reported at conferences and published in the literature (see studies reported in Cheng,Watanabe, and Curtis 2004).

Interest in this important area for teachers, learners, and other stakeholders will undoubtedly grow as tests—especially high stakes tests—are used more widely at regional, national, and international level, and as the consequences of testuse—especially the valid and ethical use of test results—come under greater scrutiny in the public domain.

The Author

Lynda Taylor worked as an ELT teacher, teacher trainer, and materials writer before specialising in the field of English language testing. She holds a PhD in applied linguistics and language testing from the University of Cambridge, and is currently Assistant Director of the Research and Validation Group at the Cambridge ESOL, which co-ordinates the research and validation activity underpinning the Cambridge ESOL examinations.

Email: taylor.l@ucles.org.uk

点击此处阅读全文。