Investigating preuniversity EFL teachers’ perceived wash-back effects of university entrance exams and teaching materials on students’ learning objectives and teachers’ class performance

Abstract

This study investigated the preuniversity EFL teachers’ perceptions toward the wash-back effects of the University Entrance Exams and the preuniversity students’ textbook (English 1 & 2) on the students’ communicative learning objectives and their teachers’ class performance in Shiraz, Iran. Likewise, to investigate if the two sources are aligned toward the objectives of the educational system in our EFL setting was pursued. To this end, The Teacher Textbook Evaluation Scale questionnaire was administered to 40 preuniversity EFL teachers. Using the SPSS version 17 and a two-way ANOVA, the results of participants’ perceptions showed that although the English textbook was designed to follow the communicative teaching and learning objectives, the teachers were influenced by these types of exams being against the purposes of the syllabus. Also, these tests and the supplementary materials showed negative wash-effects on the students’ learning objectives and teachers’ class practices. Teachers’ different years of experience and their views on the effect of university entrance exams on the education goals and the way teachers use the materials were statistically significant, but their gender distinction was nonsignificant. These results coped with those of the previous studies at different educational levels.

Keywords:

• Wash-back effect
• high-stakes tests
• textbook evaluation
• teaching materials
• communicative goal

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

University Entrance Exams, as high-stakes tests, affect many candidates to be selected from a population registered. The selected candidates continue their studies in a university seeking a BA/BS degree. The case under study in Shiraz, Iran is to find the preuniversity English teachers’ views toward the negative impact of these exams on their students’ communicative goal of learning English. To this end, a questionnaire was given to 40 English teachers seeking their perceptions. Results showed that these teachers were influenced by these types of tests helping their students to be accepted in a university. Thereby, they change their teaching methods and the materials used against the communicative goal of the English textbook to engage the EFL learners in academic activities as expected. This type of study and the like would provide a platform for education authorities, test designers, teachers, students, parents to cooperate and prepare programs and syllabi toward the English learning goal in non-English speaking environments.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no direct funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Shiva Sadighi

Shiva Sadighi I should say that I am working on my PHD dissertation in TEFL at the Islamic Azad University Shiraz center, as the first author of the accepted paper. Members of the committee are Dr Mortaza Yamini and Dr Mohammad Sadegh Bagheri as supervisors and Dr Lotfollah Yarmohammadi as an advisor. They have expertise in teaching and researching in different domains of applied linguistics. The rationale for the selection of the topic by the researcher with the collaboration of the members includes several reasons. The researcher’s interest and experience as a student and a teacher and the way EFL teachers taught English prompted me to conduct this study. Another reasoning is that teachers ignored the stakeholders’ communicative competence while teaching English. The negative wash-back effects of the high-stakes tests on teachers’ class activities and students’ learning conditions as another impetus to investigate this issue. Therefore, the results and their implications might help educational authorities to provide opportunities and facilities to solve such problems facing the stakeholders.