A Critical Study of the Impact of High-Stakes Testing Practice on the Teaching-Learning Process

This impact study aimed to explore one facet of the consequential validity of the nationwide high-stakes testing practice for matriculation purposes in Iran (named ‘Konkoor’) in terms of (i) the impact of the test on the mismatch between students’ preferred L2 learning styles and their EFL teachers’ employed teaching styles, and (ii) the impact of both the test and the resultant teaching-learning ‘style war’ (Oxford, et al. 1991) on students’ ‘learning to learn’ ability. The participants were 32 EFL teachers and a random sample of 70 high school students in Tehran. A triangular approach utilizing two L2 teaching-learning style instruments, an impact survey instrument, and semi-structured interviews was adopted to collect the data. The results of the quantitative and interpretive analyses of the data indicated that there was a hazardous teaching-learning style mismatch in the L2 classroom. That is, the students mostly preferred to learn English through participating interactively in hands-on, collaborative activities and using audio-visual materials that directly bear a resemblance to the real-life language use. In contrast, the EFL teachers employed individual-activity-oriented teaching styles, made students study textbooks alone, and made no use of audio-visual aids. Moreover, almost all participants agreed that the nationwide test has adversely impacted every aspect of the teaching-learning process, especially the style mismatch in the L2 classroom, and deteriorates students’ motivation and ability for effective lifelong learning. It is then suggested that L2 practitioners rethink educational assessment in the form of ‘assessment for learning’ as an integral part of the teaching-learning process.