【Abstract】This paper describes the definition of washback and brief development of washback studies. Based on theoretical frameworks and methodologies of washback study， some suggestions are provided for language testing washback research and language teachers’ teaching.
　　【Key words】washback； language teaching
　　The term “washback” particular refers to the effect or reaction of testing on teaching and learning in the field of education. Linguists hold that washback is the influence that an exam has on the way in which students are taught both positive and negative. It is an important concept in applied linguistics and means the direction of teachers’ teaching and students’ learning to some extent.
　　1. Suggestions in methodologies of washback
　　Among theoretical studies on washback， it’s easy to find that there are two major research directions， high-stake examination. In addition， there are three common instruments used in the research： interview， classroom observation and questionnaire. There are three most widely used theoretical models of washback， which are Alderson and Wall’s washback hypotheses， Hughes’ PPP washback model and Gu’s PPPP model. Based on these theoretical frameworks and methodologies of washback study， following are three suggestions of washback research.
　　First of all， classroom observation is mainly investigates the actual situation of classroom activities. In the process of observation， attention is focused on some variables of classroom activities， such as teachers’ behavior， students’ behavior， teachers’ language and classroom interaction. There are two kinds of classroom observation， pre-observation and post-observation. The pre-observation is based on the research purpose to finds out new questions in order to design interview and questionnaire and ensure the validity. The post-observation mainly focus on whether the subjects’ behavior could match what they described， and then guarantee the validity of research.
　　Secondly， inquiry concludes questionnaire and interview in the research. Interview is a kind of qualitative research and has good validity. So based on the interview， the validity of questionnaire could be improved and the results could be generalized. Therefore， questionnaire and interview naturally complement each other and promote research quality improvement. Hence，， in the further research of washback， it’s important to consider validity and reliability of research according to the facts of the situation.