Item Response Theory, though it has become a widely recognized tool in language testing research, is still not used frequently in practical language assessment projects. This book intends to provide a theoretical overview as well as to give practical guidance concerning the application of IRT in item bank building in a language testing context by presenting a particular project in a higher education setting.

Strategic competence (a higher-order executive ability that executes strategies for language use) has long been theorized as a significant non-linguistic factor affecting second language (L2) communicative ability. Despite its recognition, the parameters of strategic competence have been poorly defined and researched. Utilizing the multitrait-multimethod approach, this book examines the relationships of general strategic knowledge and strategic regulation in a specific high-stakes, test-taking context to English as a foreign language (EFL) reading test performance over time through the use of a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. Since it is large-scale and longitudinal in nature, this research provides an opportunity to generalize the unfolding nature of strategic competence. The book concludes by proposing multidimensional models to assist researching strategic competence and by discussing pedagogical models for strategic reading instruction.