This study investigated the washback of the General English Proficiency Test on English learning in Taiwan. The research sites were the applied foreign language departments of a university of technology and an institute of technology. The latter required day-division students to pass the first stage of the test's intermediate level or the school-administered make-up examination, whereas the former did not prescribe any General English Proficiency Test requirement. Department documents and records were reviewed, and the department chair, teachers, students, and parents or spouses of participating students were interviewed. One of the courses taught by each interviewed teacher, as well as activities in the self-study centre, were observed. Findings indicated that existing theories did not fully explain the washback of this test on educational context, so a new, tentative washback model is proposed.

Within the context of Taiwan, where growing numbers of universities seek teaching excellence and better English learning outcomes, passing a designated English test has been imposed on thousands of university students as one of their degree requirements. This educational policy has become feasible only after the debut of the indigenous General English Proficiency Test (GEPT). Very few studies, however, have examined the impact of the GEPT on universities' policies. This research elicited empirical data from two applied foreign language departments of technological universities. One department did not lay down any English test as a degree requirement, whereas the other required its daytime students to pass the listening and reading tests of the GEPT's intermediate level. In each department, the department chair and two or three teachers were interviewed; in addition, departmental documents and records were reviewed. Results showed that teachers had to consider social and educational factors, school factors, and parental and student factors before they decided if they would implement their English requirement. Finally, a model is provided to portray the complexity of the GEPT's washback on departmental and school policies.

Although it has been argued that knowledge

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