Marianne Nikolov: Strategy use of sixth graders on reading and writing tasks in English

This paper gives an account of a project exploring 12­13-year-old Hungarian children's strategy use while solving reading and writing tasks in English as a foreign language (EFL). The study was conducted to provide insights into how learners solve tasks, what they think and rely on while doing them, and also to validate the measuring instruments. The first part provides an overview of strategy research in general, and test-taking strategy research in particular. The second part draws the background to the project, describes the participants, the data collection instruments, and the procedures. The discussions explore what role individual differences played, what strategies learners applied and how while solving the actual reading and writing tasks, and how the findings can contribute to the validation of the tasks. This is an exploratory qualitative study raising several questions. The analyses of the particular strategies and case studies have provided valuable insights into learners' uses of test-taking strategies and raised doubt concerning the available taxonomies. Areas for further research are also staked out.

MAGYAR PEDAGÓGIA 103. Number 1. 5-34. (2003)

Levelezési cím / Address for correspondence: Nikolov Marianne, Pécsi Tudományegyetem, BTK, Angol Alkalmazott Nyelvészeti Tanszék, 7624 Pécs, Ifjúság u. 6.

 
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