The impact of a national examination in foreign language on teaching, learning and the work of schools

Abstract

In 1999 Poland began reform of the education system. The structure of the system of schools changed, which created a new type of school for years 7 to 9, for young people between the ages of 13 and 16, the lower secondary school, or gimnazjum. Alongside the structural reform came a new national core curriculum and new legislation for schools. For the first time a national system of examinations was introduced and a network of dedicated institutions created, led by the Central Examination Board, which were responsible for them. The first cohort of learners who completed the new lower secondary school sat the first national examinations in 2002 in arts subjects, mathematics and natural sciences. In 2009 papers in foreign languages were added to the suite. Prior to this event foreign languages had been tested only in the school-leaving examination, for learners in year 12, so this new examination presented a new challenge for schools and learners. The first part of the book provides a theoretical and contextual background for the research project. Chapter One gives an introduction to the concepts of washback and impact, presents and discusses models and examines, through a review of the literature in both mainstream education and foreign language assessment, how understanding of the concepts has developed and changed as the field has grown. In Chapter Two the focus moves to discover how tests are used in society by studying how test scores are used. The opening section gives an overview of the concept of validity and shows how the impact and consequences of a test are seen as an important part of this. Examinations are used for many purposes in society, as a means of control, for selection, but also to better social equity. Chapter Three traces the recent history of national examinations in Poland, placing them within the context of reform of organization of the school system and implementation of a new national core curriculum. The situation that prevailed at that time in foreign language education in schools is presented, with the aim of clarifying certain policy decisions which were made. Part Two of the book presents a longitudinal study of the impact of the new national examination in English at the end of lower secondary school. Chapter Four explains the rationale behind the study, and traces the methodology used to investigate washback and impact. As a large part of the data is qualitative from interviews, the specific challenges this poses are considered. The design of the study is then explained and a description given of its three phases and the relationships between them. Chapter Five presents the data from each of the three stages of the project, with a focus on Phase Three, the Impact Study. Where possible, qualitative data is corroborated with data from other instruments which obtain quantitative results. In some places the qualitative data is initially treated quantitatively and then illustrated with excerpts of text. The chapter ends with a critical analysis of the limitations of the study. Chapter Six takes the research questions from each phase of the study and discusses them, where appropriate comparing findings between respondents and across the phases. As evidence of both washback and impact were noted, the next sections use the findings to attempt to explain how the mechanisms of washback and impact work. For some aspects there is empirical evidence, while others allow for the formulation of hypotheses. Implications are made for the different stakeholders affected by the examination. At the micro-level of school these are teachers, school principals, learners and their families, while in the macro-context these include institutions providing teacher education, local education authorities, the inspectorate and educational policy makers.