scholarly journals Test-Taking Strategies and Reading Comprehension: A Correlational Investigation

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-165
Author(s):  
Fadi Al-Khasawneh
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Test Taking ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Data Collection Process ◽  
Test Taking Strategies ◽  
Efl Students

There is an increasing interest of studies investigating the correlation between Test-Taking Strategies (TTSs) and reading comprehension achievement among EFL learners. The relationship between the aforementioned variables is still unclear and more studies are needed on this area. The major concern of this study is to examine the correlational relationship between the use of test-taking strategies and reading comprehension. The sample of this study included 64 undergraduate students majoring in English language in King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia. The present research employed three instruments for data collection process; English Language Placement Test was used to distribute students according to their proficiency level, two reading passages taken from TOEFL reading comprehension tests, and a questionnaire adapted from Cohen and Upton (2007) asking about TTSs. The results of the present study illustrated that Saudi EFL students used test-taking strategies at a moderate level. There was no statistically significant correlation between test-taking strategies use and students’ achievement in reading comprehension test. There was also no significant differences between test-taking strategies and students; achievement in reading comprehension attributed to language proficiency level. Some pedagogical implications for EFL teachers were presented and discussed.

scholarly journals Investigating Content and Face Validity of English Language Placement Test Designed by Colleges of Applied Sciences

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
Sharifa S. A. Al-Adawi ◽  
Aaisha A. K. Al-Balushi
Keyword(s):  
Applied Sciences ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Face Validity ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Test Taking ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Foundation Program

<p>An English placement test (PT) is an essential component of any foundation program. It helps place students into their suitable language proficiency level so that they do not spend time learning materials below or above their levels. It also helps teachers to prepare teaching materials to students of similar levels (Brown, 2004; Illinois, 2012). This paper aims to investigate the extent to which the PT used at Colleges of Applied Sciences (CAS) is achieving this goal by exploring teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the current exam via questionnaires and interviews. Furthermore, it examines the format and content of the PT and students’ PT score against their mid-term score. It was found that face validity of CAS PT ranged from low (teachers) to moderate (students). The majority of teachers and students emphasized the importance of including the listening and speaking components in the test. Moreover, a modified version of the reading section of the test needs to be incorporated into the test. Another suggested using a valid certified computerized test. For future research, it is recommended to design a new test, taking into consideration the findings of this research and pilot it to test its effectiveness. Furthermore, an analytical test of the current marking criteria is essential to check its clarity and consistency.</p>

scholarly journals Can Topic Familiarity Override Language Proficiency in Reading Comprehension?

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soheil Mahmoudi ◽  
Asgar Mahmoudi
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Topic Familiarity ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Catch Up ◽  
Level Of Difficulty ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Topical Knowledge

The present study investigated the impact of topical knowledge and language proficiency on the reading comprehension of Iranian EFL students. The Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was used at the beginning of the study to divide the students into two groups of low and high proficiency. Both the high and low proficiency students later read two texts of almost the same level of difficulty but different in terms of their familiarity to the students. The obtained results indicated that topic familiarity cannot override language proficiency in reading comprehension; that is, low-proficiency students could not catch up with high-proficiency students even in familiar topics.

scholarly journals Exploring ESL learners' reading test taking strategies

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 227-242
Author(s):  
Charanjit Kaur Swaran Singh ◽  
Eng Tek Ong ◽  
Tarsame Singh Masa Singh ◽  
Mahendaran Maniam ◽  
Tunku Mohani Tunku Mohtar
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Esl Students ◽  
Social Strategies ◽  
Multiple Choice Questions ◽  
Thinking Aloud ◽  
Test Taking ◽  
Bachelor Of Arts ◽  
Test Taking Strategies ◽  
Esl Learners

This study examined the test taking strategies of weak ESL students of an English language proficiency course. Test taking strategies are known as the methods that test takers use as an alternative aimed at attaining correct answers on a specified form of language assessment. The study adopted a qualitative study. The participants in this study were forty-four learners from the Bachelor of Arts Program. The learners were asked to think aloud while reading an assigned text to answer the questions. Four learners’ thinking aloud recordings were transcribed and analysed. Focus group interviews were carried out for triangulation purposes. Data collected were analysed manually. The ESL learners implemented many test taking strategies as they coped with the reading comprehension test. The findings of the study show how ESL students used cognitive, metacognitive, compensating, and social strategies. Participants expressed that understanding and reading the passage allowed them to draw conclusions better in answering the multiple choice questions. The findings revealed that they used a compensation strategy whereby they tried guessing the answers on a number of occasions. The findings of the study implicate teachers’ roles in L2 reading and also to guide the ESL learners in the process of answering reading passage and answer the comprehension questions.

The Influence of Content Familiarity, Gender Difference and Proficiency Level on Reading Comprehension Performance: A Study on Malaysian Undergraduate Students in UPM

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Waseem Alkelani ◽  
Hadina Habil
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
The Other ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Content Familiarity ◽  
Malaysian Students

Much research has been done on the influence of several variables individually on Reading comprehension, but the influence of these variables as a whole was not given much attention. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between reading comprehension as a dependent variable and three independent variables namely: gender differences, English language proficiency level and content familiarity. An additional goal was to examine the interrelation between the three independent variables. The participants were 127 male and female Malaysian students attending English language proficiency classes at the English language department in University Putra Malaysia (UPM). The study employed a quantitative approach and the data was collected through a questionnaire which was of three main parts: two reading passages (one is content-familiar and the other one is content- unfamiliar texts) and a written interview. All participants were asked to answer the whole survey and then they were classified on the basis of their proficiency level and gender. The major findings revealed that there was a direct relation between content familiarity and reading comprehension while there was an indirect relation between each of gender differences and English language proficiency level on one side and reading comprehension on the other side.

Exploring the Effect of Teaching Test-Taking Strategies on Intermediate Level Learners on Reading Section of Ielts; Learners’ Attitude in Focus

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Hooshang Khoshsima ◽  
Amin Saed ◽  
Fatemeh Mousaei
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
T Test ◽  
P Value ◽  
Proficiency Tests ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Test Taking ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Test Taking Strategies

Language proficiency tests have become common instruments to judge people based on their performance. Thus, the scores on language proficiency tests, such as the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), play a crucial role in the test-takers’ lives. Because of increasing demands on the part of students to get a good score on these tests, test preparatory courses have emerged. These preparatory courses, characteristically short and limited in terms of time, equip IELTS candidates with the skills required for passing the test, called test-taking strategies. The present study explored the effect of strategy teaching- namely wash-back effect on reading section of academic IELTS on intermediate learners in Iran. Besides, learners’ attitude toward the strategy teaching was investigated as well. According to the descriptive statistics and t-test results, those learners who received strategy teaching outperformed those who had not received strategy teaching in reading section of IELTS.According to t-test results, there was a significant difference between the mean scores of the two groups since the p value was lower than .05 (p < .001).  Furthermore, the learners had positive attitudes toward receiving strategy teaching since there was a significant difference between the obtained mean score and the presupposed average because the p value was lower than .05.

scholarly journals The Effect of English Language Proficiency Level on Undergraduate Libyan Students’ Use of Subject Verb Agreement

2021 ◽  
pp. 79-98
Author(s):  
Eman A. Elmejie Elmejie ◽  
Fatima M. Elzawawi ◽  
Amel M. Msimeer
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Third Person

This study aims to examine the proficiency level of Libyan EFL (English as a Foreign Language) undergraduate students in terms of the types of subject-verb agreement errors they commit. It also attempts to identify, analyze and categorize the frequency errors related to subject-verb agreement into three categories. These errors are statically analyzed and classified into: subject-verb agreement (SVA) errors with third person singular subjects (TPSS), with third person plural subjects (TPPS), with compound subjects (CS). The participants of this study were 40 intermediate and advanced students whose major is English at the Faculty of Arts in Misurata University, Libya. They were chosen based on their level of English language proficiency during the current study. The data of this study were collected through a written test consisting of six short passages. The results showed that the percentage of errors made by both groups was below 30% which refers to non-significant differences among the two groups with respect to the SVA errors made by them. Consequently, it can be concluded that language proficiency has little effect on the participants' use of the SVA rule. It was also found that subject-verb agreement errors with (TPPS) were the least frequent, and the most common errors committed were (CS) and (TPSS). This study is important for EFL teachers to be aware of the subject verb agreement errors that their target learners commonly produce. The implications for SLA research and classroom teaching practice are given for foreign language teachers and researchers.

scholarly journals Test-taking Strategies on Reading Comprehension Tests: A Review of Major Research Themes

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 207
Author(s):  
Mohammed S. Assiri ◽  
Emad A. Alodhahi
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Reading Test ◽  
Reading Tests ◽  
Test Taking ◽  
Research Themes ◽  
Test Taking Strategies ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Comprehension Tests ◽  
Reading Comprehension Tests

<p><em>There is a growing body of thought and research on strategy use on tests of reading comprehension. Nevertheless, there have been few research reviews that have treated major themes involved in thought and research on test-taking strategies, specifically in the context of reading comprehension. Hence, this paper reviews the themes that are central to the discussion of strategy choice and use on reading comprehension tests. Research themes that form the foci of the paper include discussion of test-taking strategies as they relate to the process of reading test-taking, formats of reading tests, validation of reading tests, level of language proficiency, and performance on tests of reading comprehension.</em></p>

scholarly journals An Investigation of the Relationship between Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary Knowledge, and English Language Proficiency Level of Saudi EFL Learners

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Huda Suleiman Al Qunayeer
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Multiple Choice Questions ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
The Relationship

The present study is an attempt to explore the relationship between the breadth (the number of words known) and the depth of vocabulary knowledge (the richness of word knowledge) (the richness of word knowledge), and reading comprehension of EFL learners in an English as a foreign language (EFL) context. Furthermore, it tries to find the effect of language proficiency level of learners on the breadth and the depth of lexical vocabulary and reading comprehension of Saudi EFL learners. The participants of the study were seventy-five intermediate and advanced level majoring in English Translation at Qassim University in KSA. The level of language proficiency of participants had been checked through an OPT by the department in advance. To collect the relevant data, two tests measuring breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge were administered to all participants. They also received a reading comprehension test in which they were asked to read the passages and answer some multiple-choice questions. The findings obtained from the analysis of the data indicated that there is a significant relationship between breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge and Saudi advanced/intermediate EFL learner’s reading comprehension performance totally. The results further revealed that both dimensions of vocabulary knowledge are positively correlated, that is, those learners who had large vocabulary size had a deeper knowledge of the words, too. The results further showed that language proficiency level of learners have an effect on Saudi EFL learners’ reading performance and vocabulary knowledge. These results confirm the importance and the value of developing students‟ breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge in EFL classrooms.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document