An investigation of washback at english private schools in Goiania-Go, Brazil

As an English teacher in Goiania-Brazil, I have witnessed a considerable mismatch between English Teaching and English Testing at English private schools. It is noticeable that English classes tend to follow Communicative Language Teaching but tests still follow a traditional approach that focuses on discrete-point grammar-based items. For these reasons, the purpose of this research was to investigate the influence of written English tests on teaching in Goiania, a phenomenon recognized as Washback. Class observations, interviews, a survey and an analysis of the exams were used as instruments of data collection. The results revealed that the exams contributed to a little negative washback on teaching and they did not seem to have contributed to positive washback at all. The study also showed three other interesting findings: (a) a considerable high percentage of teachers who lack preparation for test design (b) grammar has a significant role in these EFL classes; (c) tests are not the only factor that influences teaching; teachers· beliefs seem to be more influential than testing. The study suggests that the mismatch between teaching and testing seems to be a result of lack of test design preparation. It implies that collaborative work on testing among all professionals involved in teaching should be taken into consideration as one way to work out the problem. Simply changing the tests might not I make much difference unless teachers believe and participate into the process of change.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Division of English as a Second Language

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2003

Author dc:creator

• Mello, Katia Silene Ferreira De

Contributors dc:contributor

• Davidson, Fred

• Teaching English as Second Language
• English Testing Communicative Language Teaching
• Test Design

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright by Katia Silene Ferreira De Mello, 2003

Language dc:language

eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125908

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/125908