Integrated writing tasks that combine reading, listening, and writing have become
increasingly popular in assessing academic writing. These tasks are seen to offer more
authenticity, improve fairness, and provide positive washback effects of the test on
learning and teaching of English around the globe. However, the integrated nature of
these tasks can pose some issues, such as construct-related validity and verbatim source
use. Given that the inferences made from test scores depend upon the construct of the
measure, it is important to have a working knowledge of how strategies are used on
integrated writing tests as part of the process of construct validation.
This study investigates the relationship between second language writers’ strategy
use and performance on an integrated reading-listening-writing test using structural
equation modeling and qualitative approaches. Data were collected from 161 non-native
English-speaking students. The students first took an integrated reading-listening-writing
test and followed by a strategy inventory on how they thought while completing the test. Twenty students, ten in the high-performance group and ten in the low-performance
group, participated in a retrospective interview.
Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to identify the clusters of items based
on three hypothetical factors: Rhetorical, Self-Regulatory, and Test-Wiseness Strategy
Use. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was then utilized to test the hypothetical
relations between observed and latent variables. Subsequently, structural equation
modeling (SEM) was used to model the relationship between students’ self-reported
strategy use and their test performance. The data collected from retrospective interviews,
an open-ended questionnaire, and planning sheets were analyzed to triangulate
quantitative results and provide supplementary information in interpreting the
quantitative data. The study illuminates the nature of integrated writing strategy use, the
nature of integrated writing performance, and the relationship between strategy use and
performance on an integrated reading-listening-writing test. The results of the study have
implications for second language writing assessment and instruction as well as theory in second language academic writing. / text
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTEXAS/oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/6619 |
| Date | 22 October 2009 |
| Creators | Yang, Hui-chun |
| Source Sets | University of Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | electronic |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author. Presentation of this material on the Libraries' web site by University Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin was made possible under a limited license grant from the author who has retained all copyrights in the works. |
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