A REVIEW OF ANTHONY GREEN’S (2007) PAPER ON WASHBACK AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The work is an attempt to review an important paper on washback studies, an important effect of tests, especially high stake tests, which leads to a phenomenon we call “teaching to the tests”. Green (2007) investigated the effectiveness of test preparation classes in preparing students for the IELTS writing section. The combined use of qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection strengthens the design of the test, although variables like motivation, anxiety, attitudes towards host culture and study, perceptual learning style, perceived outcomes, self-analysis gains, etc. can be approached better using other data-collection techniques or a mixed use of them. On the whole, the study deepens our understanding of how washback affects the learning processes and outcomes, especially by providing us with a resourceful insight and a comprehensive list of factors affecting the participants’ learning each of which can be a departure point for new studies.