1. An Investigation of test- taking strategies among Uitm students in an online test. SITI NASUHA ABU HASSAN P61632

2.  Test is considered as an indicator in evaluating students’ performance.  Language testing is used to achieve teaching objectives.  strategy used reflected the score of the test.  Test-taking strategy in an online test.

3.  number of previous research on test- taking strategy in an online test are quite limited -local studies.  It is crucial to figure out the differences and similarities of test-taking strategy – paper-pen vs computer-based.  students need new comprehension strategies to read and learn from text on the Internet. (Pianfetti, 2001)

4.  The aim of the study is to investigate test- taking strategy that students used in an online test.

5.  1) What are the types of strategy used by the students in taking an online test?  2) What are the similarities and differences in the usage of test taking strategy between paper- pen test and computer-based test?

6.  useful platform for further research in this area of interest.  help students in deciding the most suitable strategies in taking an online test.  Perform better.  language tester in constructing the questions for online test  educators

7.  Tsagari’s (1994)  test-takers tended to utilise more than one mental processing strategy depending on the individual.

8.  Cohen and Upton (2006)  reported in their research that more than one strategy is used to respond to a question which they call, strategy “naturally grouped together”.

9.  Bachman’s (1990) and Canale and Swain’s (1980) strategic competence.  3 components: assessment component, planning component and execution component.  Bachman and Palmer (1996) refined Bachman’s (1990)- 4 components- goal- setting component.  to explore students’ thoughts processes in terms of test-taking strategies in a test situation.

10.  Qualitative study.  Think aloud protocol.  The multiple-choice reading comprehension test (online quiz) – I- Learn portal.

11.  6 participants ( Uitm’s students)  Purposive sampling  will be able to provide information related to the strategies the students use in an online test situation.  Merriam (1998)

12.  Retrospective think aloud protocols.  a participant carries out the task, produces his verbalization. (Green, 1998; Ericsson and Simon, 1984).  Verbal report is one of the popular tool used in test-taking strategy. (Cohen & Upton, 2006)

13.  Bachman, L.F. and Palmer, A. 1981: The construct validation of the FSI oral interview. Language Learning 31, 67–86. 1996: Language testing in practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.  Tsagari, C. (1994). Method effect on testing reading comprehension: How far can we go? Unpublished M.A. thesis. University of Lancaster, U.K.  Merriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.  Green, A. (1998). Verbal protocol analysis in language testing research: A handbook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  Ericsson, K. A. & Simon, H. A. (1984). Protocol analysis: Verbal reports as data. London: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, Cambridge.  Cohen, A. D. & Upton, T. A. (2006). Strategies in responding to the new TOEFL reading tasks. TOEFL Monograph Series. ETS TOEFL.  Canale, M. & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1(1), 1-47.