The Washback Effect of the VietnamSix-Levels of Foreign Language Proficiency Framework (KNLNNVN): The Case of the English Proficiency Graduation Benchmark in Vietnam

Abstract

In educational research, tests have been considered one of the dominant determiners of what happens in classrooms that can influence teaching and learning activities. English foreign language tests in particular are no exception. There is a plethora of empirical research on the impact of high-stakes language tests upon language learning and teaching. To extend this scholarship, this chapter reports a case study that investigates the washback of the Vietnam Six-Levels of Foreign Language Proficiency Framework called the KNLNNVN, a compulsory requirement for the National University of Arts Education (NUAE) graduation. The study reported in this chapter adopts a triangulation of numerous methodologies to investigate how the KNLNNVN affects the teaching and learning of English Foreign Language (EFL) for non-English major students at NUAE in Hanoi, Vietnam. The findings of this study include the domains of test validity including teachers’ KNLNNVN knowledge and abilities, the influence of the KNLNNVN and its English Test on what and how teachers teach, its influence on teachers’ methods of assessment, curriculum, and materials; and its effects on students’ awareness of the KNLNNVN and methods of learning. This study has contributed to the knowledge of the nature of CEFR-adapted washback upon the entire teaching and learning of English situated within an EFL context, such as Vietnam.