Swallows don’t eat fish: English teaching and the University Entrance Examination
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5433/2237-4876.2001v4n1p133Keywords:
University Entrance Examination, English teaching, Washback effect.Abstract
The potential impact of the State University of Londrina English entrance examination, i.e. its washback effect on state school teaching, was the object of a research project whose partial results are now discussed. In this article two contexts are compared: a secondary school course and a test preparation course. The purpose was to identify the views on language and teaching as observed in classrooms, as well as through interviews with the teachers. Although no evidence of attempts to prepare students to take the test was observed in the secondary school and the opposite was seen in a course especially designed to prepare candidates for the University examination, similarities between both contexts were found. Those similarities related to the teaching materials used and the teachers’ perceptions about the potential success of their students.