Teaching EFL students to use a test- taking strategy

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of teaching a test-taking strategy to EFL students on their performance on EFL tests. Eighty-two 7th-grade students participated in the study. The experimental group (n = 40) was taught the components of a test-taking strategy: to read the instructions carefully, to schedule their time appropriately, to make use of clue words in the questions, to delay answering difficult questions, and to review their work in order to check their answers. The results showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group (n = 42). The findings suggest that there is a positive relationship between test-performance and skill in test-taking. The findings also suggest support for training EFL classroom teachers to provide instruction in test-taking strategy