Chinese College Test Takers’ Individual Differences and Reading Test Performance

Abstract

This study reports on the relationships between test takers’ individual differences and their performance on a reading comprehension test. A total of 518 Chinese college students (252 women and 256 men; M age = 19.26 year, SD = 0.98) answered a questionnaire and sit for a reading comprehension test. The study found that test takers’ L2 language proficiency was closely linked to their test performance. Test takers’ employment of strategies was significantly and positively associated with their performance on the test. Test takers’ motivation was found to be significantly associated with reading test performance. Test anxiety was negatively related to their use of reading strategies and test performance. The results of the study lent support to the threshold hypothesis of language proficiency. The implications for classroom teaching were provided.

Keywords

test takers’ personal features reading test performance L2 language proficiency strategy use goal orientation test anxiety

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alderson

J. C.

(1984) Reading in a foreign language: A reading problem or a language problem? In: Anderson

J. C.

Urquhart

A. H.

(eds) Reading in a foreign language, New York, NY: Longman, pp. 122–135.

Alpert

Haber

(1960) Anxiety in academic achievement situation. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 61(2): 207–215.

Anderson

N. J.

(2005) L2 learning strategies. In: Hinkel

(ed.) Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 757–771.

Arbuckle

J. L.

(2011) IBM SPSS Amos 20.0 [Computer Program], New York, NY: IBM.

Bachman

L. F.

(1990) Fundamental consideration in language testing, Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Bachman

L. F.

Palmer

A. S.

(1996) Language testing in practice, Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Bachman

L. F.

Palmer

A. S.

(2010) Language testing in practice, Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Bernaus

Gardner

R. C.

(2008) Teacher motivation strategies, student perceptions, student motivation, and English achievement. The Modern Language Journal 92: 387–401.

Byrne

B. M.

(2006) Structural equation modeling with EQS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming, 2nd ed. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

10.

Byrne

B. M.

(2011) Structural equation modeling with Mplus: Basic concepts, applications, and programming, New York, NY: Routledge.

11.

Cassady

J. C.

Johnson

R. E.

(2002) Cognitive test anxiety and academic performance. Contemporary Educational Psychology 27: 270–295.

12.

Clarke

M. A.

(1978) Reading in Spanish and English: Evidence from adult ESL students. Language Learning 29: 121–150.

13.

Clarke

M. A.

(1980) The short circuit hypothesis of ESL reading – Or when language competence interferes with reading performance. The Modern Language Journal 64: 203–209.

14.

Cohen

A. D.

(2006) The coming age of research on test-taking strategies. Language Assessment Quarterly 3(4): 307–331.

15.

Cohen, A. D., & Aphek, E. (1979). Easifying second language learning. Research report under the auspices of Brandeis University and submitted to the Jacob Hiatt Institute, Jerusalem. Retrieved from ERIC database. (ED163753).

16.

Cohen

A. D.

Upton

T. A.

(2007) “I want to go back to the text”: Response strategies on the reading subtest of the new TOEFL®. Language Testing 24(2): 209–250.

17.

Cummins

(1979) Linguistic interdependence and the educational development of bilingual children. Review of Educational Research 49: 222–251.

18.

Dörnyei

Csizér

(1998) Ten commandments for motivating language learners: Results of an empirical study. Language Teaching Research 2: 203–229.

19.

Duncan

T. G.

McKeachie

W. J.

(2005) The making of the motivated strategies for learning questionnaire. Educational Psychologist 40: 117–128.

20.

Dunn

K. E.

W. J.

Mulvenon

Sutcliffe

(2012) Revisiting the MSLQ: A factor analysis of what is and what could be. Educational and Psychological Measurement 72(2): 689–691.

21.

Ericsson

K. A.

Simon

H. A.

(1993) Protocol analysis: Verbal reports as data (rev. ed.), Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

22.

Eum

Rice

K. G.

(2011) Test anxiety, perfectionism, goal orientation, and academic performance. Anxiety, Stress & Coping: An International Journal 24: 167–178.

23.

Fang

(2010) Complete guide to the College English Test Band 4, Beijing, China: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

24.

Gardner

R. C.

(2007) Motivation and second language acquisition. PortaLinguarum 8: 9–20.

25.

Gardner

R. C.

Masgoret

A.-M.

Tennant

Mihic

(2004) Integrative motivation: Changes during a year-long intermediate-level language course. Language Learning 54(1): 1–34.

26.

Gierl

M. J.

Rogers

W. T.

(1996) A confirmatory factor analysis of the Test Anxiety Inventory using Canadian high school students. Educational and Psychological Measurement 56: 315–324.

27.

Grabe

(2009) Reading in a second language: Moving from theory to practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

28.

Green

J. M.

Oxford

(1995) A closer look at learning strategies, L2 proficiency, and gender. TESOL Quarterly 29: 261–297.

29.

Griffiths

(2003) Patterns of language learning strategy use. System 31: 367–383.

30.

Bentler

P. M.

(1999) Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternative. Structural Equation Modeling 6(1): 1–55.

31.

Jin

(2008) Powerful tests, powerfulness test designers? Changes facing the College English Test. CELEA Journal 31: 3–11.

32.

Kintsch

(1998) Comprehension: A paradigm for cognition, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

33.

Kunnan

A. J.

(1995) Test taker characteristics and test performance: A structural modeling approach, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

34.

Lee

Y.-W.

Schallert

D. L.

(1997) The relative contribution of L2 language proficiency and L1 reading ability to L2 reading performance: A test of the Threshold Hypothesis in an EFL context. TESOL Quarterly 31(4): 713–739.

35.

Lin

Y.-G.

McKeachie

W. J.

Kim

Y. C.

(2003) College student intrinsic and/or extrinsic motivation and learning. Learning and Individual Differences 13: 251–258.

36.

Magogwe

J. M.

Oliver

(2007) The relationship between language learning strategies, proficiency, age and self-efficacy beliefs: A study of language learners in Botswana. System 35: 338–352.

37.

Metallidou

Vlachou

(2007) Motivational beliefs, cognitive engagement, and achievement in language and mathematics in elementary school children. International Journal of Psychology 42(1): 2–15.

38.

Nicaise

(1995) Treating test anxiety: A review of three approaches. Teacher Education and Practice 11: 65–81.

39.

Paris

S. G.

(2002) When is metacognition helpful, debilitating, or benign? In: Chambres

Izaute

Marescaux

(eds) Metacognition: Process, function, and use, Norwell, MA: Kluwer, pp. 105–120.

40.

Paris

S. G.

Winograd

(1990) How metacognition can promote academic learning and instruction. In: Jones

B. F.

Idol

(eds) Dimensions of thinking and cognitive instruction, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, pp. 15–51.

41.

Phakiti

(2008) Construct validation of Bachman and Palmer’s (1996) strategic competence model over time in EFL reading tests. Language Testing 25(2): 237–272.

42.

Pintrich

P. R.

(1999) The role of motivation in promoting and sustaining self-regulated learning. International Journal of Educational Research 31: 459–470.

43.

Pintrich

P. R.

Smith

D. A. F.

Garcia

McKeachie

W. J.

(1991) A manual for the use of the motivated strategies for learning questionnaire (MSLQ), Ann Arbor, MI: National Center for Research to Improve Post-Secondary Teaching and Learning.

44.

Pintrich

P. R.

Smith

D. A. F.

Garcia

McKeachie

W. J.

(1993) Reliability and predictive validity of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Educational and Psychological Measurement 53: 801–813.

45.

Pressley

Afflerbach

(1995) Verbal protocols of reading: The nature of constructively responsive reading, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

46.

Proctor

C. P.

Daley

S. G.

Louick

Leider

C. M.

Gardner

(2014) How motivation predicts reading comprehension among native English-speaking and English-Learning middle school students with disabilities in a remedial reading curriculum. Learning & Individual Differences 36: 76–83. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2014.10.014.

47.

Pupura

J. E.

(1997) An analysis of the relationships between test takers’ cognitive and metacognitive strategy use and second language test performance. Language Learning 47: 289–325.

48.

Purpura

J. E.

(1999) Learner strategy use and performance on language tests: A structural equation modeling approach, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

49.

Putwain

D. W.

Woods

K. A.

Symes

(2010) Personal and situational predictors of test anxiety of students in post compulsory education. British Journal of Educational Psychology 80: 137–160.

50.

Rai

M. K.

Loschky

L. C.

Harris

R. J.

Peck

N. R.

Cook

(2011) The effects of stress and working memory capacity on foreign language readers’ inference comprehension. Language Learning 61(1): 187–218.

51.

Richardson

Abraham

Bond

(2012) Psychological correlates of university students’ academic performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin 138(2): 353–387.

52.

Ryan

R. M.

Deci

E. L.

(2000) Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology 25: 54–67.

53.

Saito

(2003) Investigating the construct validity of the cloze section in the Examination for the Certificate of Proficiency in English. Spaan Fellow Working Papers in Second or Foreign Language Assessment 1: 39–82.

54.

Salend

(2012) Teaching students not to sweat the test. Kappan 96(6): 20–25.

55.

Sins

P. H. M.

van Joolingen

W. R.

Savelsbergh

E. R.

van Hout-Wokters

(2008) Motivation and performance within a collaborative computer-based modelling task: Relations between students’ achievement goal orientation, self-efficacy, cognitive processing, and achievement. Contemporary Educational Psychology 33(1): 58–77.

56.

Song

(2005) Language learner strategy use and English proficiency on the Michigan English Language Assessment Battery. Spaan Fellow Working Papers in Second or Foreign Language Assessment 3: 1–23.

57.

Song

Cheng

(2006) Language learner strategy use and test performance of Chinese learners of English. Language Assessment Quarterly 3(3): 243–266.

58.

Suinn

R. M.

(1968) The desensitization of test anxiety by group and individual treatment. Behavior Research & Therapy 6: 385–387.

59.

Vrugt

Oort

F. J.

(2008) Metacognition, achievement goals, study strategies and academic achievement. Metacognition and Learning 30: 123–146.

60.

Wang

J. H. Y.

Guthrie

J. T.

(2004) Modeling the effects of intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, amount of reading, and past reading achievement on text comprehension between U.S and Chinese students. Reading Research Quarterly 39: 162–186.

61.

Winne

P. H.

Perry

N. E.

(2000) Measuring self-regulated learning. In: Pintrich

Boekaerts

Seidner

(eds) Handbook of self-regulation, Orlando, FL: Academic Press, pp. 531–566.

62.

Yang

H. Z.

Weir

C. J.

(1998) Validation study of the National College English Test, Shanghai, China: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

63.

Zhang

L. J.

(2010) A dynamic metacognitive systems account of Chinese university students’ knowledge about EFL reading. TESOL Quarterly 44: 320–353.

64.

Zhang

L. M.

Goh

Kunnan

(2014) Analysis of test takers’ metacognitive and cognitive strategy use and EFL reading test performance: A multi-sample SEM approach. Language Assessment Quarterly 11(1): 76–120.