Chapter Six: Achieving Beneficial Backwash

Testing should and could have beneficial backwash on teaching and learning.

1.Test the abilities whose development you want to encourage

It is important that certain abilities should be tested but also should be given sufficient weight in
relation to other skills. There is tendency to test what is easiest to test rather than what is
important to test example the oral skills. The reasons are that high reliability and practicality
cannot be obtained when a form of testing requires subjective scoring.

2. Sample widely and unpredictably

A test sample should represent as far as possible the full scope of the test specifications. If the
sample is restricted to an area of the specifications, the backwash effect will tend to be felt only
in that area. For example, restricting the TOEFL writing exam to compare and contrast might
limit the preparation to this type of task. The backwash effect may not be as beneficial as it
might have been had a wider range of tasks been used.
Whenever the content of the xam becomes highly predictable, teaching and learning concentrate
on what can be predicted rather on what is important.

3.Use direct testing

Direct testing implies the testing of performance skills with as authentic tasks as possible.
Testing skills directly leads to fostering, motivating and practicing those skills. Testing writing
essays require teaching and practicing this type of writing.

4.Make testing criterion-referenced

If test specifications make clear what candidates have to be able to do and with what degree to
succeed then they will have a clear picture of what they have to achieve. They will also know
that if they perform the tasks at the criterial level they will succeed regardless of other students
performance. This helps to motivate the students and seek to achieve a certain standard.

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5.Base achievement tests on objectives
Base achievement tests on objectives rather than on teaching and textbook content to provide a
truer picture of what has been achieved. Teaching and learning tend to be evaluated against those
objectives, consequently pressure to achieve them will be constant.

6.Ensure test is known and understood by students and teachers

If the students and the teachers do not know and understand the test demands the potential
backwash effect of the test will not be fully realized. This is why, the sample items, test
specifications should be available to everyone concerned with the preparation for the test
especially if the test incorporates novel testing methods. Also, supplying information on the test
increases the test reliability.

7.Where necessary provide assistance to teachers

The introduction of a new test may make demands on teachers to which they are not equal, so
they may need guidance and training. If these are not given the test will not achieve the intended
effect and may cause chaos and disaffection. Thus, support has to be given to help effect the
change.

8.Counting the cost

Practicality is another desirable quality after reliability and validity. A test should be easy and
cheap to construct, administer, score and interpret. Tests cost money and time for production,
distribution, training especially in direct tests and which might be argued to be impractical. Thus,
testers should compare the cost of the exam to the cost of not achieving beneficial backwash.