Examination Preparation or Effective Teaching: Conflicting Priorities in the Implementation of a Pedagogic Innovation

Communicative and task-based teaching hold central places in contemporary language pedagogy, yet their feasibility as pedagogic innovations in Chinese contexts remains open to question. Examinations are generally perceived as a particular factor militating against the implementation of communicative approaches. This study uses four case studies of teachers in two primary schools in China to provide in-depth empirical data, drawn from 55 lesson observations and a series of related interviews, focusing on the impact of examinations on classroom pedagogy. The analysis suggests that the influence of examinations differs from individual to individual, depending on various contextual and participant factors including teachers' beliefs about pedagogy. Implications for the relationship between pedagogic innovations and examination preparation are discussed.