A scoping review of research on second language test preparation

IF 2.2 1区文学 0 LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS

Language Testing Pub Date : 2024-05-31 DOI:10.1177/02655322241249754

Shanshan He, Anne-Marie Sénécal, Laura Stansfield, Ruslan Suvorov

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Abstract

Test preparation has garnered considerable attention in second language (L2) education due to the significant implications that successful performance on a language test may have for academic advancement, future career opportunities, and immigration prospects. Meanwhile, an overemphasis on test preparation has been criticized for encouraging the cultivation of construct-irrelevant test-taking strategies at the expense of developing general language proficiency. To systematically explore how test preparation has been investigated in the literature, we conducted a scoping review of 66 studies on L2 test preparation. Specifically, this study examined the key characteristics of publications on test preparation, the main themes explored, the study and participant characteristics, as well as the essential aspects of their research methodologies. The results of this review revealed various trends in the literature on L2 test preparation, such as the exclusive focus on English as the target language, the lack of diversity in stakeholders as participants, the dominance of international language tests, and the paucity of experimental studies that utilize advanced statistical techniques. In addition to interpreting the results of our analysis, we discuss the implications of this scoping review and outline several directions for future research on test preparation.

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第二语言考试准备研究范围综述

在第二语言（L2）教育中，由于语言考试成绩对学业晋升、未来职业机会和移民前景具有重要影响，因此考试准备备受关注。与此同时，过分强调考试准备也被批评为鼓励培养与建构无关的应试策略，而牺牲了一般语言能力的发展。为了系统地探讨文献中对考试准备的研究，我们对 66 项关于 L2 考试准备的研究进行了范围界定。具体而言，本研究考察了有关考试准备的出版物的主要特点、探讨的主要主题、研究和参与者的特点，以及研究方法的基本方面。综述结果揭示了 L2 备考文献中的各种趋势，如只关注作为目标语言的英语、参与者中的利益相关者缺乏多样性、国际语言测试占主导地位以及使用先进统计技术的实验研究很少。除了解释我们的分析结果之外，我们还讨论了此次范围界定综述的意义，并概述了未来有关考试准备的几个研究方向。

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来源期刊

Language Testing Multiple-

CiteScore

6.70

自引率

9.80%

发文量

期刊介绍： Language Testing is a fully peer reviewed international journal that publishes original research and review articles on language testing and assessment. It provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and information between people working in the fields of first and second language testing and assessment. This includes researchers and practitioners in EFL and ESL testing, and assessment in child language acquisition and language pathology. In addition, special attention is focused on issues of testing theory, experimental investigations, and the following up of practical implications.