A Computer-assisted Investigation Of Test-taking Strategies For Reading Comprehension

Numerous studies have detailed the role of learners'strategies in a variety of L2 acquisition domains. However, research on the use of strategies in the process of test-taking has been rather insufficient, though such strategies might influence test scores and consequently test validity. This research tries to explore the use of strategies in reading comprehension tests and the impact of different factors on the use of strategies. The experimental study has investigated the following questions:(1) What are the most and least frequently used test-taking reading strategies?(2) Is there significant difference between high and low proficiency students in the use frequency of each test-taking strategy?(3) What are the effects of item difficulties on the use of test-taking strategies?To accomplish its objectives, this research has developed a computer-assisted investigation system. The subjects can participate in the investigation on any computer connected to the Internet. All the data in the study are automatically collected by the system and stored in the database with specific structure to facilitate the later statistics and analysis.The system is made up of two parts. The first part is the questionnaire survey in which fifteen test-taking reading strategies are listed. The subjects are required to choose the use frequency for each strategy. According to the questionnaire survey, the study mainly probes into the commonly used test-taking reading strategies, and makes an analysis of the different strategy use between the high and low proficiency subjects based on the collected data.The second part is the reading comprehension test system. The materials are two passages from CET-4 (College English Test Band 4) reading comprehension. There are five questions in each passage. The subjects are asked to finish the ten items within twenty minutes. Meanwhile, the subjects are asked to assess the difficulty level of each item. When twenty minutes is up, the system automatically submits their answers and the difficulty level assessment. Then the subjects are required to choose the strategy use listed in the questionnaire when dealing with each of the items in the passages and describe the process of problem solving with the assistance of the strategies. They may also input some not-listed strategies in the open-ended textbox. Based on the collected data, the statistical analysis helps to find out the most difficult and easiest items, and the effect of item difficulty on the use of strategies.One hundred and three non-English major university students participate in the investigation, who are in their second year. They are divided into two groups: high and low proficiency groups according to the mean score of three English final examination results in the first three semesters. The results in the investigation are as follows:(1) The most frequently used strategies are: 1) the location of the text related to the item and conducting a careful study; 2) the elimination of the unreasonable or unclear options; 3) skimming the whole passage for the general idea. The least frequently used strategies are: 1) getting the answer according to the position of the option among the choices (taking B, C as priority); 2) selecting a choice that is longer or shorter than the others; 3) reading the first sentence of every paragraph to get the gist. For the most and least frequently used strategies, the choices tend to be similar between high and low proficiency groups.(2) In the use of some strategies, the high and low proficiency subjects show great difference. When meeting the unknown words, the high proficiency subjects prefer to guess the meaning of unknown words by analyzing the part of speech (noun, verb & adjective, etc.) and figuring out prefixes and suffixes. Also they prefer to understand the text with the analysis of the sentences and text structures. When encountering the difficult items, the low proficiency subjects prefer to put them side to deal with the easier ones in a flexible manner.(3) When the items are easy, the subjects tend to locate the text related to the item and conduct a careful reading to find the right answer. When the items are difficult, the subjects still use the above strategy, but elimination is obviously more frequently used.