In general, English language learners test into general education classes after two years, but they are still counted in that classification for accountability purposes two years after they leave the special language classes.
Young South Korean adolescent learners' testing experiences and their motivation to learn English are discussed in relation to the social consequences of test use and ethical assessment practices.
Washback on learners' test preparation strategies has been investigated within instructed ESL contexts (e.g., Brown 1998; Elder & O'Loughlin 2003; Green 2007; Read & Hayes 2003).
This presumed effect of the condition under which a WAF test is administered (i.e., informed vs. uninformed) on learners' test-taking behaviors might have an impact on their test performance, and more importantly, the psychometric properties of the test.
The questionnaire responses were then cross-analyzed with the learners' test scores, and the relationships between English learning motivation and test performance under different social and educational contexts were compared.
Such four skills tests have the potential to impact learners' test preparation and proficiency development in the near future in Japan, though the mediating factors outlined here must be accounted for to ensure such positive washback can be generated.
An unexpected finding was that IAO learners' test scores actually regressed over the semester compared to their GAO and PO counterparts, with this result only found in the participation groups of instructors 1 and 2, but not the control groups.
*Dronjic and Helms-Park (2014) found from native English speakers' responses to *Qian and Schedl's (2004) DVK that scoring methods moderated how association relationships (paradigmatic vs. syntagmatic) and administration condition (constrained vs. unconstrained) affected learners' test performance.
Given the findings reviewed above, without knowing how learners were instructed to work on the test, it would be difficult to make reasonable comparisons on learners' test performance across studies on the one hand and evaluate the psychometric properties of different WAF tests on the other.
