The washback effect of tests on teaching has been studied comprehensively over recent years, but the critical issue of how washback affects learning remains under-explored. On the other hand another aspect of learning that is being concerned these days is learning online that will be generally allocated in a group which is called E-learning. To address the issue of washback, questionnaires relating to the speaking instruction are distributed to learners preparing for General IELTS, studying via e-learning IELTS courses or through non IELTS e-learning courses in Iran. The same questions are given to learners at course entry and at course exit and the results are compared between courses. The results show that learners' expectations and perceptions of course outcomes are affected by the course focus significantly. In this study, test preparation courses, as predicted by washback theory, did appear to cover a relatively narrower range of skills than other types of courses.
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