چکیده:
Washback refers to the influence of a test on teaching and learning. This study was an attempt to compare the influence of IELTS and TOEFL iBT on the expectations the students brought to their courses and to investigate how these expectations were fulfilled. To this end, 100 IELTS and 120 TOEFL iBT students attending preparation courses took a questionnaire survey, and a sample of their ten classes was observed as a part of validation process of triangulation research. The data gathered were subjected to quantitative and qualitative analyses. The results of the study indicated that the IELTS students’ expectations of the courses were higher than those of the TOEFL iBT students. On the other hand, both the IELTS and the TOEFL iBT students had higher expectations of the courses than what they had during their class activities; however, the IELTS students’ expectations were fulfilled to a greater extent. The study also concluded that the students of both IELTS and TOEFL iBT adjusted their expectations mostly to accommodate to the demands made by test tasks. Generally, the class activities and the expectations of both groups were more influenced by negative washback of the tests. However, IELTS seemed to promote more positive washback on students’ expectations and class activities.
خلاصه ماشینی:
"A Comparative Study of Class Activities and Students’ Expectations of IELTS and TOEFL iBT Preparation Courses: A Methodological Triangulation Washback Study Shiva Erfani Islamic Azad University, Roudehen Branch Washback refers to the influence of a test on teaching and learning.
Since both IELTS and TOEFL iBT, focusing on communicative competence, are anticipated to have a positive washback effect on how English is taught and learned, this study was carried out to investigate how much students’ expectations and class activities in preparation courses of IELTS and TOEFL iBT were diverted from mainstream, well-designed language proficiency classes built around communicative competence into unproductive test taking strategies and sample test exercises.
(B) The Results of the Students’ Comments Analysis The analysis of the students’ comments about their preparation courses at the end of the questionnaires showed that both the IELTS and the TOEFL iBT students mostly believed that the courses did not help them to become proficient in the English language and what they learned was a number of strategies used for test taking.
As revealed by the students’ expectations and class observations, the amount of interactions among students, working on interactive language practice and communication strategies as indicators of positive washback (Watanabe, 2000) was considerably more in the IELTS classes than in the TOEFL iBT courses although these activities did not play a substantial part in any of the courses."