Washback Effects of the New Iranian TEFL Ph.D. Program Entrance Exam on EFL Instructors’ Teaching Methodology, Class Assessment, and Syllabus Design: A Qualitative Scrutiny

Subject Areas : Educational Psychology

Reza Rezvani ¹ , Ali Sayyadi ²

1 - Assistant Professor of TEFL, Yasouj University
2 - M. A. Graduate of TEFL, Yasouj University

Received: 2015-12-09 Accepted : 2016-03-15 Published : 2016-05-21

Keywords: Teaching methodology, Washback, university entrance exams, TEFL postgraduate programs, class assessment, Syllabus Design,

Abstract :

Given the significance and sensitivity of the Iranian Ph.D. program entrance exams, such high-stakes exams are assumed to exert considerable influence on Iranian public higher educational curriculums. The present study was motivated to scrutinize the EFL instructors’ insights to explore the potential washback effects of the new Iranian TEFL Ph.D. program entrance exam on their teaching methodology, class assessment, and syllabus design. To this end, the researchers conducted in-depth interviews with ten experienced instructors teaching M.A. courses at four Iranian universities. The results emerging from the close qualitative content analysis of the respondents’ introspection indicated that the new exam, despite its considerable significance, fails to generate substantial effects on the instructors’ teaching methodology and class assessment due to the inconsistency between the objectives supposed to be met by the new exam administration and those expected to be achieved in TEFL M.A. and Ph.D. programs. Further, it was revealed that the new exam, on the contrary, substantially influences the instructors’ syllabus design through conditioning their material and content selection. This study further discusses the implications of the findings in the context of Iranian TEFL higher education

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