This monograph describes a study that uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine Bachman and Palmer’s (Reference Bachman and Palmer1996) strategic competence model and how it affects English as a foreign language (EFL) reading test performance. Phakiti operationalizes strategic competence as having two components: strategic knowledge (a trait notion), which is the perceived knowledge of how one generally uses strategies regardless of context; and strategic regulation (a state notion), which is the perceived strategy use in an actual, specific context. The main question of this study asks how strategic knowledge and strategic regulation are related to EFL reading test performance over time. Additionally, Phakiti reviews in detail the nature of strategic knowledge, the nature of strategic regulation, and the relationships between the two.

This book is divided into seven chapters. In chapter 1, Phakiti provides a broad overview of the rationale for the study. In chapter 2, he reviews the literature on factors that affect language test performance and discusses the nine research questions that guided the study. A digression from the main study, chapter 3 concisely explains (with technical detail) the foundations of SEM and provides a summary of the appropriate statistics and literature needed to interpret the results from a study based on SEM. The methods section, in chapter 4, reviews information on the participants, the research instruments and procedure, and the data analysis. Chapter 5 illustrates the findings from the SEM and discusses the data in light of the research questions. Some of the most important issues discussed in this chapter include the results, which demonstrate that (a) strategic knowledge (trait strategy use) was not very stable (e.g., only 32% of the variance was shared from time 1 to time 2 on this measure), (b) strategic regulation (state strategy use) was not stable at all (e.g., only 1% of the variance was shared from time 1 to time 2), and (c) although trait strategy use directly influenced state strategy use, state strategy use was not found to affect trait strategy use. Chapter 5 also discusses a direct relationship that SEM found between state strategy use and reading test performance as well as an indirect relationship between trait strategy use and reading test performance. Chapter 6, entitled “Metadiscussion,” presents a revised model of strategic competence. Finally, chapter 7 concludes this book by first presenting graphically the revised, multidimensional model for understanding strategic competence, followed by a revised graphic model of human information processing that suggests the location of strategic knowledge and strategic regulation in the human mind. After the references, the appendixes present the instruments used in the study and the covariance matrix from the SEM.

Phakiti should be commended for his efforts to validate Bachman and Palmer’s (Reference Bachman and Palmer1996) strategic competence model. However, readers will need to refer to Bachman and Palmer to adequately understand the foundations of strategic competence because this book only briefly reviews the concept as initially proposed. Readers will also need to do their own research into working memory, declarative and procedural memory, and information processing, as these theories and concepts are only thinly discussed in this work but appear prominently in the final revised models of strategic competence and human information processing. On the other hand, readers interested in SEM for research in SLA will find chapter 3 well plotted and extremely informative; even those not interested in strategic competence but interested in understanding or using SEM will find this chapter insightful and illuminating.

Some may wonder why Phakiti calls this a longitudinal study when the two tests of reading comprehension were administered only 2 months apart (as a mid-term and final exam during one semester) and may question why Phakiti collected only quantitative data (Likert-scale questionnaires without open-ended questions or interviews). These quibbles aside, Phakiti’s findings are thought-provoking, especially the notion that strategic knowledge is not as stable as previously thought. Although there is little in this work that is relevant to classroom practice, Phakiti forthrightly acknowledges this in the final chapter and, therefore, presents three strategic reading instruction models that may help teachers guide students in using the right strategies for better learning. A truncated version of this study has been published in article form (Phakiti, Reference Phakiti2008); I recommend that those who read his (2008) article and are more interested in the full study read this monograph. This monograph is also recommended for those interested in learning more about the application and use of SEM for SLA research.