Investigating differences in test-takers’ use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies in audio-only and video-based listening comprehension test

The present study investigated the extent to which presence of visual cues had an impact on test-takers’ use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies during an L2 listening test. A total of 116 high school students in South Korea were randomly allocated to take either an audio-only or a video-based listening comprehension test consisting of 15 items. Immediately after the test was finished, the participants responded to a questionnaire to report the degree to which they used various cognitive and metacognitive test-taking strategies. Findings showed that there was no significant difference in the use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies between the two groups, but the video group outperformed the audio-only group in terms of test scores achieved. Factor analysis was conducted on the responses to the questionnaire. Three cognitive and metacognitive factors were identified (planning, comprehending & retrieval, monitoring and evaluation). When these factors were fitted in linear regressions, results showed that ‘planning’ and ‘comprehending and retrieval’ factors had significant positive effects on the overall test score, while the ‘monitoring and evaluation’ factor had a significant negative effect on the test-takers’ performance. Implications of the findings were discussed with reference to the design of video-based listening test to simulate authentic listening experience.