Strategies for Test Taking and Their Effects

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Belcher (1985) maintained that test score reflects both the knowledge and aptitude of test takers and the ability of using the characteristics and format of test effectively (as cited in Pour-Mohammadi and Zainol Abidin 2012).
Popham & Madaus (1987) and Romberg, Williams, Zarrinnia (1989) defined testing as high stakes, because they influence both local and state administrators’ decisions about curriculum, appropriate programs, learners’ promotion (as cited in Herman, Dreyfus, Golan 1990). Pour-Mohammadi and Zainol Abidin (2012) noted that students’ ability is not the only criterion in their performance in tests.
Hambleton, Swaminathan and Rogers (1991) mentioned that Some Cognitive and psychological factors also affect their performance, and test-taking strategies which are also known as test-wiseness are regarded as significant test related factors that affect learners’ perfgormance , and based on Dodeen (2009) these factors and strategies increases the validity of tests ( as cited in Pour-Mohammadi and Zainol Abidin 2012). Anderson( 2001) and Bachman (2000) stated that considering cognitive processes is going to become one of the significant factors for language testers(as cited in Amer 2007).
Teachers try to help learners to do well in tests by many ways, and test taking strategies can be regarded as one of these ways. Cohen and Upton (2007) define test-wiseness as processes of test-taking which test-takers consciously select and apply while taking the test (as cited in Pour-Mohammadi and Zainol Abidin 2012).
According to Beidel, Turner, Ferreira (1999) test taking strategies can be defined as ways which are applied for the purpose of improving learners’ and test takers’ ability to deal with testing procedures more easily...

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...stigated the effect of test strategies on learners reading comprehension tests, and they found not only these strategies help respondents to get a better test score or have greater achievement, it additionally solve the other aspect of their problem which deals with the anxiety they have while taking the test. They also mentioned that teachers become more interested and persuaded to instructions to test-taking strategies to their regular English classes so that their students may become testwise in a testing situation. The mentioned researchers found that without considering the context of the test, learner can have a better performance based on the learn strategies (as cited in Goudarzi and Ghonsooly 2014). “When achievement test scores are influenced by test anxiety, especially for subgroups of students, the scores will be biased” (Wren and Benson, 2004, p.228).

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