The Effects Of Direct Teaching Of Test-Taking Strategies On Iranian Efl Students’ Performance In Reading Comprehension Tests
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Date
2014-07
Authors
Mohammadi, Majid Poor
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
This study investigates the effect of teaching test-taking strategies on Iranian EFL undergraduates’ reading comprehension test performance. Besides, it probes their attitudes towards the teaching of such strategies in their reading classes. It also seeks to discover the probable differences between high and low proficiency level EFL undergraduates in terms of their test-taking strategies use. This research employs a quasi experimental design. A total of 66 EFL sophomores studying in two classes from two detached schools at Islamic Azad University of Rasht, Iran participated in this study as experimental and control groups. They were administered a pretest, a posttest and a set of questionnaire about their prior knowledge on such strategies. The treatment, a set of 22 test-taking strategies for multiple-choice reading comprehension tests, was administered only to the experimental group within their regular Reading Comprehension classes while the control group took only the regular training in reading. Another Likert rating-scale questionnaire was also conducted for only the experimental group after the posttest to see the students’ attitudes toward teaching such strategies. Finally, retrospective interviews were conducted from 4 high and 4 low proficiency students to discover their probable variations regarding the test-taking strategies utilization during the posttest. The findings, based upon the quantitative data, indicate that the treatment was significantly effective and the experimental group outperformed the control group. Besides, both subgroups took advantage of the treatment. However, the qualitative data derived from the retrospective interviews unveiled some differences between these two subgroups. In addition, students revealed generally positive attitudes towards teaching test-taking strategies. Overall, they believed that the intervention enabled them to be more relaxed, enthusiastic and confident about taking tests. Moreover, it helped them manage time, guess efficiently, and take test more successfully. This study has implications for instructors, material developers and curriculum designers. The findings indicated that test-taking strategies should be introduced and explicitly taught so that students can independently employ them to improve test performance. Vocabulary development must also be emphasized for aiding students to improve their linguistic knowledge to understand a text as well as the instructions on test-taking strategies better. Further, students must be motivated to realize the importance and the advantages of learning such strategies in order to use them effectively.
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Keywords
Effect of teaching test-taking strategies , on Iranian EFL