Research has reported that the occurrence of washback effects---the impact of high-stakes exams on classroom practice and activity---is often partly attributed to teachers (Cheng, 1997, 2000; Turner, 2001, 2006, 2009). In Japanese secondary schools, due to the strong influence of university entrance exams nationally, it is often argued that in practice, speaking-focused courses entitled Oral Communication (OC) do not focus on interactive language learning activities but on grammar exercises to prepare students for the high-stakes exams (Kikuchi & Browne, 2009). Using mixed methods, this thesis examines the current status of OC courses in relation to the national educational policy from the perspective of Japanese teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL). Quantitative data from a teacher survey ( N = 87), qualitative data from classroom observations and a term exam analysis revealed that washback effects were more evident in the assessment practices of the courses than in teaching, suggesting that classroom teaching and assessment were not congruent with each other or with the course objectives. Thematic analyses of guided interviews with nine teachers provided insights into their grammar-oriented teaching practice. Along with washback, a lack of confidence in assessing students' speaking due to their anxiety as non-native English speakers emerged as an influential factor that hindered teachers from implementing the course objectives. Moreover, the results suggest that the high-stakes exams tend to be more influential than the educational policy in this context, especially in academically-oriented classrooms in which the majority of the students were hoping to go to university (as opposed to vocational-oriented classrooms). Finally, the thesis discusses the need for change in the high-stakes exam system as well as the urgent necessity of teacher training on assessment specifically designed for non-native language teachers, which would contribute to the improvement of EFL pedagogy.
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