The washback effect of Iranian high school final examinations on students’ test-taking and test-preparation strategies

• The study examines the students’ test taking strategies affected by different types of tests.
• In addition to test taking strategies, test preparation strategies are also studied.
• Rather than collecting the data by questionnaires, verbal protocol analysis is used.
• The study is done in an EFL context, rarely investigated in washback studies.

During the past decades, the washback effect has attracted the attention of many testing specialists. Numerous studies attempted to explore the effects tests may have on teachers and teaching. There are, however, few empirical studies on the washback effect of tests on learners and learning. The current study investigated the effect of high school final examinations on students’ test-taking and test-preparation strategy use. Analysis of the verbal protocols obtained from the high school learners revealed that these examinations made students employ some strategies which seemed to exert a negative influence on their learning by directing them toward a measurement-driven approach to learning. The strategies, nevertheless, were not all negative; some seemed to foster the students’ mental and linguistic abilities.