CAMBRIDGE ESOL : RESEARCH NOTES : ISSUE 47 / FEBRUARY 2012 | 27 © UCLES 2012 – The contents of this publication may not be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright holder. The attitudes of teachers and students towards a PET- based curriculum at a Japanese university JUN NAGAO, TORU TADAKI, MAKIKO TAKEDA AND PAUL WICKING, MEIJO UNIVERSITY, NAGOYA, JAPAN Introduction As the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR; Council of Europe 2001) extends its influence worldwide, curriculum developers will be looking for ways to incorporate this framework into their courses. The Cambridge English exam suite is one option, aligned to the CEFR levels, around which an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) program can be structured. This article reports on a study that looks at a university in Japan which did exactly this. While the university program incorporates KET, PET and FCE- based curricula, the focus of this research is the PET exam. The attitudes and perceptions of 31 first-year Japanese university students towards the PET are documented and analysed, as well as their performance in the test over the course of one academic year. Likewise, teacher beliefs and opinions of the PET are presented and examined. Japan has achieved somewhat of a reputation internationally as a nation of test-takers. There is very high prestige placed on the ability to score well on tests, and especially so on tests of English ability. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese students take general English tests every year, most notably TOEIC 1 (Test of English for International Communication) and EIKEN 2 (Test in Practical English Proficiency). However, despite being internationally recognised and being widely taken elsewhere, the uptake and performance of students taking Cambridge ESOL’s Preliminary English Test (PET) has been relatively low within Japan to date (for example, the total pass rate at B1 Level for PET in 2009 was 26.3%, the second-lowest pass rate worldwide, see Cambridge ESOL 2011a). Previous studies of the washback efect of tests have had mixed findings. Watanabe (2000) found a significant amount of negative washback on teachers, as did Shohamy, Donitsa-Schmidt and Ferman (1996). Some studies have noted that teachers felt that they were ‘teaching to the test’ (Alderson and Hamp-Lyons 1996, Read and Hayes 2003), while other researchers have found that teachers often worry that students will be overly focused on passing the test rather than the goal of actually learning a language (Buck 1988, Raimes 1990, Shohamy 1992). Torikai (2010) notes that despite the increasing importance of the TOEIC test for businesses in Japan, there are some serious limitations as to what conclusions can be drawn from individual results. Washback is also found to have some positive efects. Lewthwaite (2007) documents the positive washback of the IELTS writing tasks on both students and teachers at a university in the Gulf. Both teachers and students alike found it to be a reasonable and appropriate communicative test of writing performance, and relevant to real-world skills. Concerning the area of Cambridge ESOL exam washback in the Japanese classroom, it appears that only a single (unpublished) study has been completed. Harwood (2007) looked at the washback of the Key English Test (KET) on a Japanese high school. While there were both negative and positive aspects of washback, Harwood found both teachers’ and students’ perceptions about teaching and learning toward the KET were heterogeneous and often contradictory. The test preparation textbook used in this school, Objective KET (Capel and Sharp 2005) was felt to be appropriate. However, teachers believed the KET was ‘Eurocentric’ and needed more topic areas related to the Asian context. Informal comments from teachers at the university beforehand suggested that this study would find similar results. Research questions The main objective of this research was to examine the attitudes and perceptions of teachers and students at a Japanese university toward PET and a PET-based curriculum. As such, there were two ultimate goals. The first was to chart the changing perceptions of Japanese university students toward the PET over the course of one academic year. In particular, attention was paid to the needs of those students and to the extent in which a program of study based around the PET meets those needs. The second was to assess teacher attitudes towards the PET and the program designed around it. Therefore, this study addresses the following four research questions: 1. Is PET an appropriate target for the needs of students at this university? If not, how is it being or should it be changed to fit this context? 2. How do students themselves feel about the format and content of the test? 3. Are teachers positively or negatively disposed towards the PET exam, and what are the reasons for this? 4. How do teachers feel about the program and the materials provided? Cambridge ESOL’s Preliminary English Test corresponds to Level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). There are three sections. The Reading and Writing paper is worth 50% of the final grade, and candidates are allowed 90 minutes to complete it. The Listening paper is worth 25%, and lasts about 30 minutes. The Speaking test is also worth 25%, and candidates take the test in pairs. The focus of the exam is everyday written 1 See http://ets.org/toeic 2 See http://stepeiken.org