TESTING TEST VALIDITY AND RETENTION THROUGH THE WASHBACK EFFECT: A CASE STUDY
TESTING TEST VALIDITY AND RETENTION THROUGH THE WASHBACK EFFECT: A CASE STUDY

Summary/Abstract: The teaching process consists of many different components, from planning and design to teaching, assessment and feedback. The whole process goes hand in hand with the methodology and the sequence of activities that are presented and a huge part of the process lies in the effectiveness of the teaching i.e. students results at the end. This paper elaborates the issues of teaching, assessment and the ongoing process of learning. The crucial components of the process lie in the effectiveness of our teaching methodology, theory and of course, the average grade points that students achieve. The overall success achieved by students is the reflection of how well all was managed and of course, how much was in fact learned. In order to test the validity of the teaching methodology and assessment compared to the knowledge acquired, the washback effect was used. Namely, the process included 23 third year BA students of English language teaching at IBU. The case study tested test validity, student knowledge and the washback effect after an approximate 6 weeks of lectures, in the form of a Quiz. The Quiz contained 10 essay-form questions related to the topics which were previously discussed. The total time needed for the case study was 9 weeks, including 6 weeks of instructional teaching, the Quiz week, Retention week and the Washback effect week. Research questions include: “Do teachers teach to the test, and if so, are the obtained results better?” “Does score consistency prove retention of knowledge?”“Can test validity be tested through the washback effect? The procedure in fact, proved that there was a discrepancy in the results, namely, some students did better, some gained less points and only a few remained the same in their average score i.e. half of the students received the same group of the Quiz during washback week, while half of the students received a different version of the Quiz (compared to the prior). The main aim was to identify the issue of retention and mechanical learning i.e. the extent to which information was remembered or the extent to which learners reflected on both Quiz versions after the actual procedure (they had one week of retention to do so).The overall results, discussion, limitations and future recommendations will be provided further in the paper.

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