T hi s study in vestigates th e wash back effec t of th e ESLC Eng lis h langu age exa minat io n 0 nrnw hat ha pp e ns in seco nda ry sc hool la ng u age c lass r ooms .rnT he study empl oyed vari ous meth o d o logical techn iqu es suc h as qu es ti onnai re, inte rviewsrnw it h Gr ade 12 Eng lis h teacher s, wi th the E ng li s h Curri culum Desig ner, and w ith the Sen iorrnExpert in Eng li sh La nguage Exa min ation Developm ent, an d classroom Ob servati on .rnBesides, to exami ne w hether or not th e ES LC E ng li s h la ng uage examin at ion mi r ro rs t hernseco ndary sc hool Engli sh textbooks, the co nte nts and me th o ds of th e tex tbooks and t he 1997,rn1998 a nd 1999 ESLC English la nguage examinat io n papers were analyze d and compared .rnThe resu lts of the study revealed that ESLC Eng li sh la nguage exami nation ha s an impact o nrnthe secondary sc hool Engl ish la ng u age classrooms. Moreover, the re was strong unde sirablernESLC E ng li s h la ng u age exa mination's impact on the teachi ng co ntent and-to som e deg ree- o nrnteachin g met hodo logy as we ll as on students' study techni que. Eviden ce of negativernwas hb ack o n t he way teachers des ig n tests/examinations was a lso observed .rnT he ESLC Engl is h language exa mina t io n fa il ed to adeq uately re fl ect th e seconda ry schoolrnEnglish la ng uage text b ooks.rnBesed o n th e res u lt s o f th e findin gs, conclus io ns were draw n and reco mm endat ionsmade.