Washback of English national exams at ninth-grade level in Thailand and Indonesia

Abstract

Washback refers to influences of testing on teaching and learning. In Thailand and Indonesia, washback of the Ordinary National Educational Test (O-NET) and Ujian Nasional (UN) inevitably occurs on teaching and learning in classrooms at every level. This present study aims to explore and compare the washback effects of the O-NET and UN on English language learning as perceived by Thai and Indonesian ninth-grade students. It is a multi-case study (Thailand case and Indonesia case) by using triangulation design as the research design. The questionnaires concerning washback effects of national exams on English language learning were distributed to 200 ninth-graders in the two cases. In addition, six students from each case were interviewed. The results reveal that in both cases, the participants focus to learn on contents and skills that were likely to appear in the national exams. The participants learned English harder to perform well in the tests rather than to improve their English ability. Moreover, the students had high anxiety during the test preparations and feared for low O-NET and UN scores. The results of the study contribute to future washback study and improvement of English language teaching and learning at ninth-grade in Thailand and Indonesia.

Students’ apologizing in Arabic and English: An interlanguage pragmatic case study at an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia

“…In these boarding schools, the students acquire the pragmatic competence of the Arabic and English languages as two international languages. Thus, based on previous observations, "the school students in Indonesia work hard to pass national exams but do not perform well in the Illocutionary force indicating device" (Sundayana et al, 2018), and students of boarding schools lack an interlanguage model for developing their pragmatic competence in those two languages, for example, in terms of the acquisition and development of the speech acts of apologizing. This issue is essential because of the fact that the students of the Islamic boarding schools are taught to perceive a high degree of politeness based on Islamic values.…”

Washback of Microteaching Test on EFL Students’ Overseas Teaching Practice

“…Further, the research on washback is determined as an empirical study because it is related to the actual experiences and activities of the teachers and the students in the classroom. Washback of a test is worth studying since it inevitably occurs and affects teachers and students in a myriad of ways (Sundayana et al, 2018)…”

Readability of Reading Passages in English Textbooks and the Thai National Education English Test: A Comparative Study

“…Negative effects from high-stakes testing are not limited to Thailand. A study conducted by Sundayana, Meekaeo, Purnawarman, and Sukyadi (2018) found that schools in Thailand and Indonesia set up special test preparation programs to enhance students' test-taking skills before the actual test. Further evidence was obtained in the study of Lunrasri (2014), who determined that school principals in one province of Thailand directed teachers to conduct special classes to go over old test exams, as well as tutor and train students to cope with the actual test.…”