Abstract
The Thanaweya Amma (the Egyptian high school summative assessment) English language test has an immense washback effect. The current study is aimed at investigating this effect both on the students’ learning habits inside and outside the classroom and on the teachers’ teaching practices. To this end, structured interviews were conducted with 78 Thanaweya Amma students and 43 high school English language teachers. Findings confirm that one of the washback effects of the test is relying on the grammar translation method for teaching and learning as well as targeting to achieve declarative knowledge at the expense of procedural knowledge. The study concludes with feasible recommendations to increase the validity of the test to change the direction of the washback effect from negative into positive.
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Hidri, S. (2013). The effectiveness of assessment of learning and assessment for learning in eliciting valid inferences on the test-takers’ listening comprehension ability. In Article published in the Proceedings of the 2013 Nile TESOL Conference Revolutionizing TESOL: Techniques and Strategies (pp. 1–25). Egypt: The American University of Cairo. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6bmHwcjFuVYX2FJZTFndGF0QzA/edit .
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Appendices
Appendix A
Questionnaires for Students
Strongly agree | Agree | Undecided | Disagree | Strongly disagree |
|---|---|---|---|---|
5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Statements | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Why? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. I care for the correct pronunciation of my English language يهمني النطق السليم للغة الإنجليزية | ||||||
2. I don’t care for the meaning of the words in Arabic لا يهمني المعنى باللغة العربية | ||||||
3. I focus on practicing my English language as well as answering practice tests أركز على ممارسة اللغة مثل تركيزي على حل الامتحانات | ||||||
4. I learn English to be able to speak English, not only to score high in the test أتعلم الإنجليزية لأكون قادرا على التواصل باللغة الإنجليزية وليس فقط للحصول على درجة جيدة في الامتحان. | ||||||
5. I like the teacher to use English all the time in the classroom explanation أحب ان يستخدم المدرس اللغة الإنجليزية طوال الوقت معي في الحصة | ||||||
6. I participate actively in the oral activities in the classroom أشارك بفاعلية في الأنشطة الشفوية في الحصة | ||||||
7. I participate actively in the listening activities held in the classroom أشارك بفاعلية في أنشطة السماع التي تتم في الفصل | ||||||
8. I feel my speaking and listening skills have developed due to the English subject أشعر ان السماع والتحدث عندي تقدموا نتيجة لمادة اللغة الانجليزية | ||||||
9. I feel my grammar and vocabulary have developed due to the English subject أشعر ان قواعد النحو والكلمات عندي تتطوروا نتيجة لمادة اللغة الإنجليزية |
Appendix B
Questionnaires for Teachers
Strongly agree | Agree | Undecided | Disagree | Strongly disagree |
|---|---|---|---|---|
5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Statements | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Why? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. I care to teach the correct pronunciation to my students | ||||||
2. I don’t usually present the meaning of vocabulary in Arabic | ||||||
3. my main task is to make learners score best in the final test | ||||||
4. I make sure my students comprehended the listening passages | ||||||
5. I allow learners some oral activities | ||||||
6. I care for making learners practice the rules in interactive activities other than testing items |
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Ibrahim, M. (2019). The Washback Effect of the Thanaweya Amma English Test: Drawbacks and Solutions. In: Hidri, S. (eds) English Language Teaching Research in the Middle East and North Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98533-6_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98533-6_4
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