Abstract:
The main concern of this study was assessing the washback of Amhara Regional State English Examination on teachers‟ and students‟ writing skill classroom practices: Lalo Midir General primary school in focus. The study was done to show the gap of the regional examination in
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teaching and learning of writing skill. The research design of this thesis was descriptive design with case study sub-design with mixed research methods. To attain the study, 97samples were selected systematically (Nth/3rd item from every table/one sample per a desk) started from the right side of first sitting desk and went in zigzag way until 97 samples was got as target population and all English language teachers in that grade level were selected using comprehensive sampling technique from the study area. The researcher used Students‟ questionnaire, teacher interviews, classroom observation, and document analysis/ analysis of the current English syllabuses of grade 8, teacher made classroom tests of the year 2008 – 2010 E.C and regional exam papers of the same years were used as data of the study and its content relation with the textbook/syllabus was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods and the result was explained at the discussion stage for triangulation. The finding reveals that students‟ and teachers‟ writing skill practice in the classroom was negatively affected by the regional English Examination. Teaching writing skill was affected by the exam by narrowing the contents of the curriculum/syllabus to be taught and teachers followed the regional exam format for their classroom test preparation. Classroom testing contents were strongly affected by the contents of regional exam.
