Abstract
To unravel the mechanism of test-expectancy effects on strategy change, 2 experiments were conducted. Participants read prose passages expecting a cloze test to follow, and their reading strategies were measured. In Experiment 1 (N=136), participants in the surface-processing cloze test condition expected to be given a cloze test for which rote-learning strategies would be useful, whereas those in the deep-processing cloze test condition expected a cloze test for which deep-processing reading strategies would be useful. The results showed that, compared with a control test condition, both surface-processing and deep-processing cloze test conditions increased the use of rote-learning reading strategies, suggesting that test format, rather than test demand, had an important role in strategy change. In Experiment 2 (N=48), participants were assigned to a control, easy cloze test, or difficult cloze test condition. The results suggested that in addition to strategy attribution, test difficulty was a determinant of strategy change. A process model of test-expectancy effects on strategy change was proposed.
