The Retroactive Effect of an Entrance Examination on English Instruction

This paper is based on my master's dissertation, in which I investigated the washback effect of a university entrance exam on the teaching of the English language in four different high schools in Brazil. The methodology of the study, which focused on the practice of six English teachers, triangulates data from classroom observations, interviews with teachers & their responses to questionnaires, analyses of exam samples & the exam program. The results show that there is a slight washback effect on the course content & lesson planning, classroom materials & evaluation procedures. Evidence of washback effect is not found on either the language teaching approach or methodological procedures. 1 Table, 1 Appendix, 27 References. Adapted from the source document