Test preparation has been shown to affect educational test scores to varying degrees. In language testing, however, there are no cross-regional studies that consider the effects of gender and age on test preparation practices. This study represents an attempt to remedy this situation. Questionnaire respondents to a global survey were tasked with…

Authentic listening increasingly involves being able to pause or replay recordings as needed. In this study, we investigated differences in the reported use of listening strategies and listening anxiety between single-play and self-paced test administration. We also analyzed the interrelationships among first language (L1) literacy skills, second…

This study investigated the effects of two different planning time conditions (i.e., operational [20 s] and extended length [90 s]) for the lecture listening-into-speaking tasks of the "TOEFL iBT"® test for candidates at different proficiency levels. Seventy international students based in universities and language schools in the United…

With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, online education has been embraced as an instructional delivery mode to ensure continuity in all levels of education including higher education. Given the fact that the success of online learning heavily relies on the learner's ability to autonomously regulate their learning, this study focuses on…

Prosody communicates pragmatic meaning far beyond that which is evident at the surface level of an utterance and can pose challenges to learners' pragmatic comprehension. The current study investigated how second language (L2) English learners made decisions about speaker intent when communicated through prosody. Seventeen English L2 learners took…

Morphological analysis and incidental learning are two vocabulary learning strategies that language learners may use in order to acquire the meanings of new words. To date, however, few studies have compared the effectiveness of these two strategies. Hence, the current study was carried out to compare the effect of morphological analysis and…

English language learners seek strong speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills. When it comes to the last it is commonly assumed that if students have many opportunities to hear spoken English then that exposure will improve their ability to comprehend it. Unfortunately, this is often not the case since many second language learners do not…

This study compares the language learner and test-taking strategies used by Chinese-speaking graduate students when confronted with familiar versus unfamiliar topics in an English multiple-choice format reading comprehension test. Thirty-six participants at a large mid-western university performed three tasks: A content knowledge vocabulary…

Based on Bailey's washback model, in respect of participants, process and products, the present empirical study was conducted to find the actual washback effects of the internet-based College English Test Band 4 (IB CET-4). The methods adopted are questionnaires, class observation, interview and the analysis of both the CET-4 teaching and testing…

It is reported that language learning is a creative and dynamic process and the learners are active partners in this process. This trend in language teaching motivated the researchers to investigate the learners' individual differences and the identification of language learning strategies (LLS) has become a major area of interest in this regard…

Listening comprehension has gained more prominence in EFL/ESL classes. Due to this prominence, scholars have tried to shed light on different ways of improving learners' listening comprehension. One of these ways is using listening strategies. There is still a controversy over the effective role of these strategies in improving listening…

Utilizing a pre- and posttest research design, with an instructional intervention of good practices in notetaking, the notes taken by examinees during a computer-based listening comprehension test prior to and following the instructional intervention were examined for particular notetaking strategies. Questionnaires probed perceptions of the…