Test Taker Characteristics and Test Performance

This second volume in the Studies in Language Testing series is based on research carried out for volume 1. It investigates the influence of test-taker characteristics on test performance in tests of English as a foreign language by exploring the structural relationships among these two groups of variables. The investigation was carried out in the context of constructing a theory of construct validity of EFL performance by finding explanations for individual differences among test-takers whose characteristics influence their performance. The study involved modeling data from 985 subjects from eight countries grouped into two native-language groups, the Non Indo-European group and Indo-European group. The measures of EFL test performance were the First Certificate in English, the TOEFL, the SPEAK, and the Test of English Writing.