【摘要】 2005年英语专业八级考试(TEM-8)改革到现在已实施了4年,其中的一项重大调整——新增人文知识测试(语言学、文学、英美国家概况)尤为引人注目。此项改革目的明确:充实学生文化知识,提高其交际能力。但笔者发现不少学生为应付人文测试,靠突击的方式取得了不错的成绩,而其人文水平是否真正达到要求令人担忧。为了解人文测试这项改革对学生的影响,笔者以Alderson and Wall提出的15条后效假设为理论基础,对2005、2006、2007及2008年参加改革后专八部分考生做了定量定性相结合的调查分析,研究发现:人文测试的增加总体上对学生学习存在着很强的后效作用,但后效作用在学生学习时间和重视度上却在逐年减弱;人文测试的新增对学生产生的后效作用有差异,学生知识面越广此改革后效作用反而越小;此外,笔者还发现人文测试的题型——多项选择,是制约该测试积极后效作用发挥的一个重要因素,由此笔者对人文测试进一步改革提出了建议。更多还原

【Abstract】 The reform of TEM-8 has already been carried out for 4 years since 2005.And one measure of the reform is adding general knowledge including linguistics,literature and the knowledge about English-speaking countries to the test,which has attracted much attention.The reform is to enrich students’ such knowledge therefore to improve their communication abilities.However,quite a number of students have managed to get high marks in the newly-added test by purely reciting a large number of knowledge points within just several months before the exam.Whether the reform can improve students’ abilities to reach the goals is doubtable.An experimental study has been made to find out the effect of the reform on students.15 washback hypothesis raised by Alderson and Wall have been used as the theoretical basis,and the students taking part in the exams in 2005,2006,2007 and 2008 respectively were selected as the subjects.A combination of quantitative and qualitative study has been conducted,which has found that the newly-added general knowledge in the test has a strong effect on students.But the washback effect on the span of students’ study and the attention on study becomes weaker as time goes on.Besides,it shows that the broader the students knowledge,the weaker the effect.It is also found that the test pattern—multiple choice is a big obstacle for the exerting of its positive washback effect.Therefore,some suggestions are given for the further improvement of the newly-added test.更多还原