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Test‐taking Strategies of 12‐ and 13‐year‐old Hungarian Learners of EFL: Why Whales Have Migraines
Author(s) -
Nikolov Marianne
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
language learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.882
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1467-9922
pISSN - 0023-8333
DOI - 10.1111/j.0023-8333.2006.00341.x
Subject(s) - psychology , test (biology) , reading (process) , mathematics education , exploratory research , english as a foreign language , foreign language , linguistics , paleontology , philosophy , sociology , anthropology , biology
This paper gives an account of a project exploring 12‐ and 13‐year‐old children's uses of strategies while solving reading and writing test tasks in English as a foreign language (EFL). The study was conducted to provide insights into how learners go about solving tasks and what they think and rely on while doing them. The first part provides an overview of strategy research and test‐taking strategy research. The second part provides the background of the project and describes the 52 participants, the data collection instruments, and the procedures. The discussions include four case studies of two high achievers and two low achievers and explore what role individual differences played, what strategies learners applied, and how the findings have contributed to a better understanding of what we mean by test‐taking strategies. This exploratory qualitative study raises several questions. The analyses of the particular strategies and case studies might provide valuable insights into learners’ uses of strategies and useful feedback for test designers and teachers.