The Washback Effect of Oral English Testing on English Teaching
Abstract:
Language Testing, as the partner of language teaching, can not only serve to check the achievements of language teaching, but also can produce the washback effect. This thesis introduces the interrelationship between the two important aspects concerning language learning and the characteristics of oral English test in recent years, trying to analyze the washback effect of oral English test on English teaching and to provide for some constructive suggestions in order to promote the oral English teaching.

Keywords: Oral English testing, English teaching, washback effect

0. Introduction
Language testing and teaching can be regarded as twins-they are so closely interrelated that it’s impossible to work in either field without the other one. Language testing can serve to check the achievements of language teaching and at the same time it can exert some washback effects on teaching, which may be conducive to language teaching or do harm to it. The relationship between oral English testing and teaching is also the same case. The aim of oral English teaching is to enable the students to obtain the flexible communicative abilities and to deal with all kinds of circumstances involved in using oral English. Oral English testing is a scientific measuring tool. On one hand, it can give the students an objective, accurate and justice judgment of their oral English abilities and on the other hand it can check the effect of oral English teaching and provide the teachers with feedback information, acting as a commanding baton for language teaching.
1. An Overview of Washback Effect
As we all know, language testing influences teaching and learning, this is the very phenomenon what we call “washback” in applied linguistics.
1.1 What is Washback Effect
Different scholars hold various opinions on this