Critical thinking is a multifaceted construct involving a set of skills and affective dispositions together with self-regulation. The aim of this study was to explore how self-regulation and effort in test-taking contribute to undergraduate students' performance in critical thinking assessment. The data were collected in 18 higher education…

This study capitalizes on response and process data from the computer-based TIMSS 2019 Problem Solving and Inquiry tasks to investigate gender differences in test-taking behaviors and their association with mathematics achievement at the eighth grade. Specifically, a recently proposed hierarchical speed-accuracy-revisits (SAR) model was adapted to…

In order to ensure content validity by covering a broad range of content domains, the testing times of some educational large-scale assessments last up to a total of two hours or more. Performance decline over the course of taking the test has been extensively documented in the literature. It can occur due to increases in the numbers of: (a)…

The testing effect refers to the gains in learning and retention that result from taking practice tests before the final test. Understanding the conditions under which practice tests improve learning is crucial, so four experiments were conducted with a total of 438 undergraduate students in Turkey. In the first study, students who took graded…

This ethnographic case study, situated in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, examined the effects of full-scale provincial testing on families, its influences on homework, and familial accountability for teaching and learning. Data were drawn from family interviews, as well as letters and documents regarding homework. Teachers sensed a significant…

Introduction: Academic stress is a major problem in higher education and can be a risk factor for future academic and mental health problems. Programs to reduce it have focused on psychological interventions (mindfulness, cognitive-behavioral therapy, etc.), ignoring interventions focused on promoting study and learning skills. High academic…

While the effect of reading strategies on L2 test performance has been extensively researched, the effect of test-taking strategies remains underexplored, with mixed results due to varying contextual factors. This study, therefore, investigated the latent structure of test-taking strategies and the relationships among test-taking strategies,…

Although the IELTS speaking test assesses English verbal-communication competence accurately and reliably, its traditional, retroactive scoring framework stops short of providing detailed diagnostic information about individual test-takers' specific domains of proficiency or deficiency. This study employed a cognitive diagnostic assessment (CDA)…

Achievement goal theory emphasizes the importance of achievement goals in learning behavior and performance, particularly in challenging tasks. However, little research has explored how achievement goals contribute to strategy use and integrated writing (IW) performance. The present study examined the relationship between achievement goals (task-,…

Disengaged responding poses a severe threat to the validity of educational large-scale assessments, because item responses from unmotivated test-takers do not reflect their actual ability. Existing identification approaches rely primarily on item response times, which bears the risk of misclassifying fast engaged or slow disengaged responses.…

This study was conducted to determine whether the mock board examination performance can predict a candidate's performance in the Licensure Examination for Certified Public Accountants (LECPA). It covered the Bachelor of Science in Accountancy (BSA) graduates from a higher education institution in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines, who…

High-stakes reading tests significantly influence one's future success, leading many second language learners to engage in intensive test preparation. This study examines nine TOEFL reading preparation lectures from two popular cram schools, or [foreign characters omitted] "hagwons," in Korea, with a total duration of five hours and…

In second language listening assessment and pedagogy, practitioners hold different views on whether to repeat a listening text in contexts where inferences about listening ability are to be drawn from task performance. To address this issue, we investigated the effects of repeating the listening text (double play) on listener performance,…

Mobile-assisted Language Learning (MALL) has been widely adopted in teaching and learning, yet there has been scant research concerning speaking test adaptation. An emerging type of mobile application is designed to facilitate test takers' performance in a high-stakes speaking test (e.g., the International English Language Testing System (IELTS)).…

This study examined the effects of bottom-up instruction (BI) on a high-stakes listening test for second language (L2) listeners and compared these effects with those of strategy instruction (SI) in relation to their proficiency levels. Two intact classes (48 L2 listeners) of different L2 listening proficiency levels received five weeks of BI and…