A Review of Studies on the Washback Effect of National Matriculation English Test (NMET) in China (2011-2020)

Abstract

This paper reviews the washback studies in National Matriculation English Test (NMET) in the past decade (2011-2020). There are 36 Chinese works of literature collected from CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), all of which are searched by keywords "National Matriculation English Test "(NMET) and "washback effect". And This literature is divided into two levels: micro level and macro level. The micro-level includes 5 categories, and the macro-level includes 3 categories. After analyzing and discussing, the researcher finds that: (1) The research has increased sharply before 2018 and is greatly influenced by policies; (2) The proportion of empirical research is equal to that of non-material research, which is dominated by empirical research at present; (3) The research mainly involves the washback effect of NMET, its reform and test typesetting at the macro level; Micro-level listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammar filling washback. Through the analysis, it is found that the main problems of the research on the washback effect of NMET include lack of innovation, neglect of listening and speaking skills, lack of depth of research, little attention to students -the subject of the test, and neglect of the long-term effect of the washback. Finally, some suggestions are put forward based on the above problems.