摘要：High stake tests are known to drive curricula and affect teachers and learners in
numerous ways. In applied linguistics, this has come to be known as test washback.
Thus far, almost all washback studies have focused on national or international
language proficiency tests. There are scarce, if any, research studies addressing the
washback of high stakes tests of English literature. The current study examined the
washback effect of the English Literature Module of the Admission Test of English
Literature (ATEL) on test takers’ learning and attitudes as well as on test
preparation materials. For this purpose, 100 graduate students of English literature
from Iranian state universities completed a questionnaire designed to measure the
washback of ATEL. The collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics
and t-test. The results revealed that the test significantly influenced both test takers'
attitudes and their learning of English literature. More specifically, it was found
that the test, being beyond the zone of proximal challenge, causes most test takers
to forsake the entire English literature module in favour of the general proficiency
module and to hold negative attitudes towards the test.
关键词：washback; literary competence; construct ambiguity; test difficulty; English
literature
