The Chinese National Matriculation English Test (NMET) has a test purpose of producing beneficial washback to promote senior high school English teaching and learning. This article presents a large-scale nationwide survey research on student perceptions of the NMET's before-test washback on their English learning outcomes in senior high school and…

The Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) aims to assess Korean high school students' scholastic ability required for college readiness. As a high-stakes test, the examination serves as a pivotal hurdle for university admission and exerts a strong washback effect on the educational system in Korea. The present study set out to investigate…

This study aims to present the washback effect of the undergraduate English placement examination in Turkiye on teachers who are considered one of the highest stakeholders of the test. The data were collected through questionnaires from 110 participants and follow-up face-to-face interviews with 24 English language teachers having teaching…

Understanding of the differential washback effects of high-stakes tests on students' learning remains limited. This study attempts to fill this research gap by investigating the differential washback effects of the National Matriculation English Test (NMET) in China on students' English learning process across genders, grades and English…

The main objective of this research was to study challenges of preparing authentic English language tests in Ethiopian six secondary schools. The focus was to assess current challenges in the preparation of authentic and communicative language tests. To this end, interviews and FGD with English language teachers were made and hence, 61 teachers…

The study evaluated a recently postponed national test policy on the use of external agencies' English tests measuring four skills for Japanese university admission purposes. Using Kunnan's principles of fairness and justice, we generated and evaluated three claims regarding the test policy: vocabulary coverage of the tests, the justifiability of…

The reform of National College Entrance Examination in Zhejiang Province, China has aroused widespread attention since it was released in 2014. It is notable that new English writing test types were adopted in the English subtest. The continuation task and summary writing become a challenge as well as a promoter for English writing teaching and…

In this study, we investigated the possible wash-back effect of the university entrance exam as a high-stakes test and the pre-university English textbook. A 16-item teacher's perspective questionnaire was given to 40 female and male teachers teaching at pre-university schools in Education District No. One, Shiraz, Iran. The data obtained were…

Though previous research addresses the negative impact of state-mandated high school exit exams on English language learners' (ELLs) educational experiences, less attention has been given to how college-oriented ELLs, especially those who attended school in their home countries before coming to the US, handle rigorous exams or gain access to…

This study investigates the current situation of English textbooks used in Chinese senior high schools to explore whether the English textbook series provide nonnative accents of English for students, and if they do, to what extent and in what kinds of situations. In addition, this study also looks into the English tests in the National College…

In Taiwan, English language learning in senior high school has predominantly focused on reading, with a heavy emphasis on memorising vocabulary and grammar rules. English listening has been marginalised and is not officially taught until the first year of university. In 2012, the Joint Board of College Recruitment Commission in Taiwan passed…

This study examines how teachers teach English to prepare students for high-stakes English national examination in the Indonesian context. Data were collected from two high-achieving and three low-achieving schools with eleven teachers as the subjects of in-depth interviews and non-participatory classroom observations. The findings reveal that…

Large scale tests have been considered by many scholars in the field of language testing and teaching to influence teaching and learning considerably. The present study looks at the effect of a large scale test (Konkoor) on the attitudes of teachers in high schools. Konkoor is the university entrance examination in Iran which is taken by at least…

This paper reports on a qualitative research study into the test-taking strategies employed in completing two picture prompt writing tasks--Situational Writing and Interpretational Writing in the Beijing Matriculation English Test. Think-aloud and retrospective interview protocols were collected from twelve Chinese students representing two key…