Washback effects from a high-stakes examination on out-of-class English learning: insights from possible self theories

There is still limited understanding of the impact of high-stakes examinations on students’ out-of-class learning. The current study attempts to fill this research gap by addressing this issue in the context of tertiary education in Mainland China. The study examines how far the revised College English Test Band 4 (CET-4) actually influenced Chinese non-English-major undergraduates’ out-of-class learning by following three cases in one university from the day when they began their college English study to the day when they sat the examination. A total of 106 diary entries and 30 post-diary interview recordings were collected in the study. The data analysis shows that, under the influence of the target test, the informants were more likely to change what they learnt than how they learnt. Furthermore, the types of washback seemed to be closely related to how individuals imagined their possible CET-4 selves.