王建民和我的碩士論文－shinyshine的部落格

It is only the matter of hours that the opening of 2008 season for Major League Baseball starts; that is to say, it is the time for us to enjoy Cheng-Ming Wang’s marvellous performance in the pitcher’s mound, contending with the first-level baseball players gathering from all over the world. In addition to blogging and local travelling, watching live baseball games on-line has been a part of my daily life.

再過幾小時，美國職棒大聯盟的新球季就要開始；也就是說，該是來看王建民在投手丘上精彩表現，力抗來自全世界第一流棒球球員的時候囉。除了寫寫部落格，到英格蘭附近走走，在網路上看即時棒球轉播已經成為我生活中的一部份了。

It is also interesting to say that my dissertation has something to do with Wang. If my memory severs me well, it is the game where he pitched against Red Socks and obtained a win last year that inspired me to reflect over my teaching. Observing that Wang has been students’ everyday topic for chatting around, I represented an article downloaded directly from Yankees’ website commentating Wang’s performance in his win. It is very authentic material and I assume students may find it interesting.

有趣的是，我的論文和王建民有一些關係。如果我記的沒錯的話，就是王建民去年擊敗紅襪隊的那場比賽激發我對自己英語教學的省思。看到學生們每天在聊王建民，我就在上課時提供一篇從網路下載評論那場比賽的文章。那篇文章呈現非常道地的美式英語，我想說學生應該會有興趣。

To my disappointment, however, students didn’t show much interest and some of them even complained about the material I chose. “It’s so authentic in American daily life, but it also means that it can’t be the text for test. Why should we spend time on something that can be contained as test materials?” One of the most outstanding students in my homeroom class mentioned.

然而令我沮喪的是，學生們並沒有展現太多興趣，有些人甚至抱怨我選的文章。有一個班上成績相當不錯的學生反映提到這篇文章，”這實在是太美式生活了，就表示這不會考。為什麼我們要要花時間在一些不會考的東西上？”

This phenomenon reminded me of the backwash effect brought about by tests, assessments as well as exams, especially those high-stake tests, which may determine language learners’ welfare of life. The assessments are so influential that students overemphasize the preparation for them, solely paying attention to what is going to be assessed. Pragmatic, useful, practical and “down-to-earth” materials are left behind because they can’t be evaluated by tests. The influence resulting from tests are referred to as the backwash effect.

這個現象提醒我們考試所帶來的回波效應，尤其是相當重要，重要到會影響學生一生前途的考試。這些考試如此有影響力，以至於學生過份強調準備考試，只注意要考的東西。實際的、有用的、真實的反應日常生活的題材他們就毫不在意了，因為不會考。考試所帶來的影響就是回波效應。

As a result of the myth and backwash of tests, the truth that most Taiwanese language learners cannot lead their life smoothly overseas raises few English teachers’ eyebrows, even though they have spent years of learning. Heeding only accuracy rather than fluency, they don’t know how to address everyday issue happening around them with the English they have learnt because it is not going to be assessed. They have to turn to Chinese website such as Yahoo for ensuring whether Wang wins or not because they cannot realise what is going on in the English-written websites.

因為這種回波效應帶來的迷思，許多台灣語言學習者儘管花了許多年學習英語，還是沒辦法平順在國外生活的事實就令我們感到司空見慣了。因為考試不考，只注意語言正確度而不在意語言流暢度，使的他們不知道如何用所學到的英語解決發生在日常生活周遭的問題。他們甚至只能上中文網站去看王建民是否贏球，因為實在不知道英語網站上的內容。

To make good use of the backwash effect, some linguistics and language teaching experts suggest that test-designers adopt these authentic materials as test texts so that students can transfer their focus swiftly. My study for dissertation is going to discuss the pros and cons about it. Anyway, Wang inspired me to take a further look into the backwash effect of tests. We do hope that Wang can outperform what he has done last year and lead the Yankees into the post-season series. Wish him the best luck!

為了善加利用考試所帶來的回波效應，有些語言學和英語教學專家建議考試設計者可以採取這些生活化的材料做為考試題材；如此，學生們就會很快的轉移焦點到實用的英語。我的論文研究就是要討論關於如此做的優缺點。不管如何，王建民激發我進一步探討考試回波效應，我們也希望他今年可以表現得比去年更好，把洋基帶進季後賽。助他好運囉！