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【Abstract】It is acknowledged language testing has great influence on language study. CET， the national English proficiency test in China， is recognized as an effective measurement of college English level. This essay tries to study the backwash effect of CET on students from Pu’er University， a city college in the South of Yunnan Province， aiming to find out washback effect of CET on teachers and students alike and seek a way to amplify the positive element and weaken the negative one， balancing students’ need to pass the test and their real improvement of language proficiency.
【Key Words】CET； Washback effect； City colleges
【作者簡介】陶丽茶（1983-），女，普洱学院外国语学院教师，助教，研究方向：英语教学。
【基金项目】本文系普洱学院校级课题“CET对地方院校大学英语教学反拨效应的实用研究”（课题编号：2016xjkt 02）的研究成果。
Ⅰ. CET and its washback effect study
CET is an English proficiency test administered by the Ministry of Education in China. It can be traced back to 1987. At present， the test has over 10 million participants annually and the result of the test is recognized all over the country. The test grows in magnitude as well as importance over the years. The score of the test can determine whether a student has the chance to get a promising career after graduation， such as state-owned organizations and enterprises with higher pay. Moreover， the score is used to measure how well a college English class fulfills the requirements of the Ministry of Education. Therefore， there is a trend in college to teach what is likely to appear in the examination.
The current CET includes four parts： writing， listening， reading and translation. And listening accounts for 35% of the whole test. After several reforms， now this part includes three pieces of news from VOA and BBC. The translation part focuses mainly on Chinese-to-English translation of Chinese traditional culture. Most students from Pu’er University do not have high English proficiency， especially poor in listening and speaking. Thus， not many students in the university can pass the test.
And the influence of language testing on language teaching and learning is called backwash or washback. It was first explained by Pearson as follows： “ public examinations influence the attitudes， behaviors and motivations of teachers， learners and parents， and because examinations often come at the end of a course， this influence is seen working in a backward direction， hence the term ‘washback’” （Pearson， 1988， P98）. Later， Alderson and Wall （1993） gave its formal definition in their article “Does Washback Exist？” They defined “washback” as the effect of testing on learners as well as teachers to “do things they would not necessarily otherwise do because of the test” （P117）. In addition to these， many a scholar put forward their understanding of the effect. It is not until the 21st century before Chinese scholars took to apply the theory to classroom language teaching and learning. In recent years， washback effect has been pushed into highlight in China. Professor Gu Xiangdong released a book about the influence of CET upon college English teaching in 2007. In the same year， she published “Characteristics of a College English Class As Well As the Effects of CET on English Teaching”. In the essay， she discussed how teachers reacted to CET in the process of teaching. Shi Xiaojuan spent 3 years following a group of test takers and concluded that CET makes students spend more time on listening， but students differed from each other about the amount of time they spent on the test. She published the result in “The Effect of the New CET Listening on Students” in 2010. Hou Xinmin
【Key Words】CET； Washback effect； City colleges
【作者簡介】陶丽茶（1983-），女，普洱学院外国语学院教师，助教，研究方向：英语教学。
【基金项目】本文系普洱学院校级课题“CET对地方院校大学英语教学反拨效应的实用研究”（课题编号：2016xjkt 02）的研究成果。
Ⅰ. CET and its washback effect study
CET is an English proficiency test administered by the Ministry of Education in China. It can be traced back to 1987. At present， the test has over 10 million participants annually and the result of the test is recognized all over the country. The test grows in magnitude as well as importance over the years. The score of the test can determine whether a student has the chance to get a promising career after graduation， such as state-owned organizations and enterprises with higher pay. Moreover， the score is used to measure how well a college English class fulfills the requirements of the Ministry of Education. Therefore， there is a trend in college to teach what is likely to appear in the examination.
The current CET includes four parts： writing， listening， reading and translation. And listening accounts for 35% of the whole test. After several reforms， now this part includes three pieces of news from VOA and BBC. The translation part focuses mainly on Chinese-to-English translation of Chinese traditional culture. Most students from Pu’er University do not have high English proficiency， especially poor in listening and speaking. Thus， not many students in the university can pass the test.
And the influence of language testing on language teaching and learning is called backwash or washback. It was first explained by Pearson as follows： “ public examinations influence the attitudes， behaviors and motivations of teachers， learners and parents， and because examinations often come at the end of a course， this influence is seen working in a backward direction， hence the term ‘washback’” （Pearson， 1988， P98）. Later， Alderson and Wall （1993） gave its formal definition in their article “Does Washback Exist？” They defined “washback” as the effect of testing on learners as well as teachers to “do things they would not necessarily otherwise do because of the test” （P117）. In addition to these， many a scholar put forward their understanding of the effect. It is not until the 21st century before Chinese scholars took to apply the theory to classroom language teaching and learning. In recent years， washback effect has been pushed into highlight in China. Professor Gu Xiangdong released a book about the influence of CET upon college English teaching in 2007. In the same year， she published “Characteristics of a College English Class As Well As the Effects of CET on English Teaching”. In the essay， she discussed how teachers reacted to CET in the process of teaching. Shi Xiaojuan spent 3 years following a group of test takers and concluded that CET makes students spend more time on listening， but students differed from each other about the amount of time they spent on the test. She published the result in “The Effect of the New CET Listening on Students” in 2010. Hou Xinmin