Washback is also described in the literature as overt or covert. According to
Prodomou (1995, p.14), overt washback is usually negative and seen in the explicit
use of examination papers or examples from textbooks that emphasise the skills used
in exams. As a result, reading and writing are given more emphasis than speaking and
listening. He sees the implicit consequences of covert washback as more of an
underlying, unconscious process stemming from assumptions about how students
learn. He likens it to “teaching a textbook as if it were a testbook” (1995, p.15).