Test-takers' voices in relation to high-stakes language tests have received growing attention in recent years. While the perspectives of this stakeholder group can be utilised to improve test quality, test-taking experience, and test impact, we argue that this goal needs to be achieved by considering a fundamental shift in our conceptualisation of…

As the number, date and form of the written tests are structured and teacher-oriented, it is considered that it creates fear and anxiety among the students. It has been found necessary and important to form a testing model which will keep the students away from the test anxiety and allows them to learn only about the lesson. For this study,…

In order to understand the test-taking behavior, needs, and strategies of postsecondary students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), focus group comments from 17 university students with ADHD were analyzed. These comments formed the basis for a series of research studies that are in progress regarding test-taking and individuals…

Although end of course exams remain a key mode of assessment in higher education, little research has focused on international students' experiences of exams. There seems to be a tacit assumption in most literature that exam preparation and strategies are universal, although differences in other areas of learning exist. As an exemplar, this…

Learning Analytics (LA) has been identified as one of the top technology trends in higher education today (Johnson et al., 2013). LA is based on the idea that datasets generated through normal administrative, teaching, or learning activities--such as registrar data or interactions with learning management systems--can be analyzed to enhance…

Feedback to the test taker is a defining characteristic of diagnostic language testing (Alderson, 2005). This article reports on a study that investigated how much and in what ways students at a Taiwan university perceived the feedback to be useful on an online multiple-choice diagnostic English grammar test, both in general and by students of…

As educational leaders struggle to meet state and federal mandates, many students graduate from high school without the skills necessary to meet the demands of a college education. Guided by the tenets of constructivism, this qualitative case study explored college students' perceptions of their college preparedness through math, science, and…

The main purpose of this study was to compare the strategies used by Chinese-speaking students when confronted with familiar versus unfamiliar topics in a multiple-choice format reading comprehension test. The focus was on describing what students do when they are taking reading comprehension tests by asking students to verbalize their thoughts.…

A study examined the responses of five university students from linguistically diverse backgrounds to an unfamiliar essay examination task to be performed in English. Subjects were an East Indian educated entirely in English, a Korean-English bilingual, a Norwegian fluent in English, a black middle-class American, and an urban American. Data were…