The term 'Washback' designates therefers to the way in which a test affects teaching materials and classroom management (Hughes 1989). I will try to analyze itthis concept from athe dual perspective of Positive Washback (beneficial) or Negative Washback (harmful). Let's start with the Negative Washback.

As a preamble, I want to consider thean absurd situation of havingin which schools in Portugal that do not prepare students for Cambridge international exams but choose a coursebook for exam preparation. I have tried to explain numerous times and in multiple contexts that such a decision does not make any sense, but it is clearly a washbackWashback onto materials and teacher's attitudes. Of course, there are other factors to take into account that we will not address here and now.