Students' perception of the CET4 listening and test preparation practices: Implications for washback

The paper reports the findings of a qualitative study exploring relations between students' perceptions of CET4 listening and their test preparation practices. Data were collected through an open-ended questionnaire and follow-up small group discussions. Sixty-two students in 12 groups participated in this study. Both intended and unintended constructs were identified in students' perceptions, indicating that CET4 listening paper assesses a wider spectrum of constructs than what are intended. Perceptions of unintended and irrelevant constructs have clear influence on some students' test preparation practices. While perceived overall importance of CET-4 relates to students' approach to test preparation, weight of individual sections and perceived difficulty interact to affect test preparation. In conclusion, a set of relations is proposed to be verified statistically. Copyright © 2008 Office of Research, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong.