Learner Strategies for Raising Test-wiseness among Intermediate and Advanced Iranian TOEFL ibt Test Takers

Learner Strategies for Raising Test-wiseness among Intermediate and Advanced Iranian TOEFL ibt Test Takers

Good language learners slot in a repertoire of strategies and employing the right strategies is different from just floundering haplessly. This issue is magnified when language tests are at stake and test-taking strategies along with test-wideness pave pay to a prolific outcome. Among such tests, TOEFL ibt seems to be a prerequisite to academic success and a nightmare many Iranian students struggle with and cannot gain the result they work hard for. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to raise awareness about the type of questions one would encounter in ibt, brush up the necessary skills integratively and help them employ strategies that can facilitate optimal results during the preparation course and as they were taking the test. Furthermore, we aimed to realize if the level of proficiency alone was sufficient or strategies played a more important role. Therefore, 34 ibt candidates (18 intermediate and 16 advanced) sat an ibt test and later took part in special strategy training courses. They were interviewed on the effectiveness of the strategies during the course and after they sat the second exam. As the results revealed, there was a significant difference between the two sets of exam results and being test-wise and the proper strategies of goal setting, covering, interleaving and considering the context along with spaced practice and compensation strategies helped the candidates perform better without taking further language classes.

Good language learners slot in a repertoire of strategies and employing the right strategies is different from just floundering haplessly. This issue is magnified when language tests are at stake and test-taking strategies along with test-wideness pave pay to a prolific outcome. Among such tests, TOEFL ibt seems to be a prerequisite to academic success and a nightmare many Iranian students struggle with and cannot gain the result they work hard for. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to raise awareness about the type of questions one would encounter in ibt, brush up the necessary skills integratively and help them employ strategies that can facilitate optimal results during the preparation course and as they were taking the test. Furthermore, we aimed to realize if the level of proficiency alone was sufficient or strategies played a more important role. Therefore, 34 ibt candidates (18 intermediate and 16 advanced) sat an ibt test and later took part in special strategy training courses. They were interviewed on the effectiveness of the strategies during the course and after they sat the second exam. As the results revealed, there was a significant difference between the two sets of exam results and being test-wise and the proper strategies of goal setting, covering, interleaving and considering the context along with spaced practice and compensation strategies helped the candidates perform better without taking further language classes.