ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with another specific area in which language use strategies play a significant role, namely that of strategy use in language assessment. It also examines the role of test-taking strategy data in validating language tests. It is noted that the use of verbal report measures to identify test-taking strategies represents an approach to research that has gained respectability over the years in language testing research. Summarizing tasks on reading comprehension tests have had a natural appeal in this era of communicative testing, given that they attempt to simulate real-world tasks in which nonnative readers have to read and write a summary of the main ideas of a text. In order to summarize successfully, respondents need both reading and writing skills. Recent validation studies of three subtests from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) Internet-based Test (iBT) together illustrates the important role strategy studies can play in test development.
