National Examination in Indonesia and Its Backwash Effects: Teachers' Perspectives

摘要

The change of national examination's status from high-stake testing, of which backwash has a greater impact, to low-stake testing, influences the practice of teaching and learning of English. This study is geared toward investigating teachers' perspectives on national examination and unearthing how it influences the way teachers give their instructions. Using qualitative descriptive method and interview to gain the data, the findings show that a private school teacher has a negative perspective on national examination. Meanwhile, a teacher teaching at language course has a relatively neutral attitude toward national examination. Their perspectives influence the way they teach English at their institutions. The private school teacher teaches English based on students' needs. However, in teaching 9th graders, she teaches her students how to answer English questions in national examination. Likewise, the language course teacher teaches her students how to answer English questions in national examination. Thus, it is recommended for the test makers to be wiser in determining what kind of test that can cover all English skills.