This study, an 18-week comparative experiment, examined the effects of instruction in test-taking strategy in English as a foreign language reading class. It involved an experimental group (68 students) taught test-taking strategies and a control group (66 students) that did not receive the instruction. Various means were used to investigate the pedagogical efficacy of the instruction of test-taking strategies. First, standardized
reading tests revealed both groups’ reading comprehension performance for comparison before and after the experiment. Second, the effects of test-taking strategies on the experimental group were surveyed before and after the intervention. Third, the
experimental group discussed perceptions regarding the intervention. Results show that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in the reading tests, had significantly better test-taking strategies, and strongly endorsed the usefulness of the
instruction in test-taking strategy. This paper concludes with recommendations for teaching test-taking strategies to empower students to tackle reading tests.
