The effects of test anxiety on learning at superficial and deep levels of processing

The effect of test anxiety on learning superficial and deep level tasks was examined. Ninety college students classified as either high or low test-anxious learned a paired-associate word list using either a superficial level or a deep level processing strategy. The results indicated that on the superficial level processing task, the performance of the low test-anxious students was not significantly different from that of the high test-anxious students, while on the deep level processing task the performance of the low test-anxious students was significantly better than the performance of the high test-anxious students. The results are discussed in the context of a cognitive-attentional theory of test anxiety and the mechanisms by which test anxiety may disrupt performance.     

Effects of Test Anxiety and Evaluative Threat on Students' Achievement and Motivation

Abstract

Identification of factors that influence post-secondary student achievement and motivation in the classroom continues to be an important educational objective. The author investigated the interactive effects of learner characteristic, test anxiety, and the classroom variable, threat of evaluation, on the achievement and motivation of 61 postsecondary students assigned randomly to high- or low-evaluative threat conditions. Statistically significant interactions revealed that all the students, particularly the test-anxious students, performed poorly and were less motivated when exposed to highly evaluative classrooms. The findings expand previous research and should be considered by professors when they design and implement higher education courses.     

Effects of test anxiety on performance,worry, and emotionality in naturally occurring exams

Test performance and reported anxiety levels of high and low test-anxious subjects taking either a regular exam or an exam containing brief, written relaxation instructions were compared. A consistent main effect for test anxiety was found; high test-anxious subjects performed more poorly and reported greater worry and emotionality than did low test-anxious subjects. Effects for the relaxation manipulation were found only on the second of three exams where the high anxious subjects receiving the relaxation exam format reported less worry than the high anxiety-regular exam group. Results provide greater external validity for the Test Anxiety Scale (TAS).     

The Effectiveness of Selected Methods of Radio Education at the School Level

The performance of students who completed a statistics examination under time limits was compared with that of students under no time limits. Another purpose of the study was to determine whether students high or low in statistics test anxiety were affected differentially by these two examination conditions. Twenty-six graduate students who were enrolled in an intermediate-level statistics course were randomly assigned to the two examination groups, timed or untimed. Both low- and high-anxious students performed better on the final course examination under the untimed condition than under the timed condition. However, the benefit of the untimed examination was greater for high-anxious students than for low-anxious students. The results were interpreted using Hill's (1984) and Wine's (1980) conceptual frameworks. The results suggest that differences between high- and low-anxious students in evaluative situations are caused by differences between them in motivational disposition and attentional focus.     

Improving Multiple-Choice Test Performance for Examinees with Different Levels of Test Anxiety

The effectiveness of a strategy for improving performance on multiple-choice items for examinees was assessed. An aptitude-treatment interaction model was used to test the possibility of different treatment effects for examinees with different levels of test anxiety. Undergraduate measurement students responded to the Mandler-Sarason Test Anxiety Scale and to an objective test covering course content. For low-anxious examinees, generation of an answer before selecting a multiple-choice response led to higher test performance; for highly test anxious examinees, there was a slightly negative effect on performance.     

Organization of Concepts Relevant to Emotions and their Regulation During Test Taking

The purpose of this study was to assess aspects of college students' organization of concepts related to emotions and their regulation during test taking. The authors also evaluated whether students who report having problems with test anxiety hold a different conceptual organization about test taking compared with students who do not report having such problems. Concepts relevant to emotions and their regulation during test taking were sampled from the emotion and emotional regulation literature. Participants rated how similar these concepts were during test taking. These ratings were then submitted to multidimensional scaling analyses (MDS). The resulting arrangement of concepts provides insight into the underlying organizational conceptions held by low, moderate, and high test-anxious participants. Students' organizational schemes surrounded 2 dimensions: (a) task-focus and (b) pleasantness. High test-anxious participants had differing conceptual organizations about test taking than moderate and low test-anxious participants with regard to pleasantness. In addition, the high test-anxious participants saw task-focused processes such as reading directions during test taking as more highly related to unpleasant emotions like anxiety than moderate and low test-anxious participants.     

THE EFFECT OF SERIAL RETESTING ON THE RELATIVE PERFORMANCE OF HIGH- AND LOW-TEST ANXIOUS SEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS1

Serial retesting was investigated as a means of improving the test performance of high-anxious students relative to that of their low-anxious peers. The Test Anxiety Scale for Children was given to about 300 seventh grade students in a suburban school; the middle 50% were eliminated to maximize experimental variance. Six groups were established for high and low anxiety levels and for three ability levels. The Academic Promise Tests (except for the Abstract Reasoning Test) were then given four times at 1-week intervals in the fall of the school year. All groups continued to improve significantly in a monotonic, linear fashion, with the greatest improvement occurring on the Numerical Test. Contrary to expectation, there were no significant interactions among previous achievement levels, predispositional test anxiety levels, and test trials. The greatest change on the Numerical Test occurred between the first test trial and the second test trial.     

The Effect of Item Response Changes on Scores on an Elementary Reading Achievement Test

Abstract

The effect of changing item responses on scores of elementary school children on a standardized achievement test was studied. Previous research, primarily involving non-standardized instruments and adult samples, indicates that changed responses are more likely to be correct than not. Subjects were 165 third grade students using the Metropolitan Reading Tests. Students received no special instructions regarding changing responses. Changes were identified visually and were independently verified. While frequency of response changes was low, such changes generally improved scores. Sex differences in number and success of changes were non-significant. The relationship between frequency of response change and test score was minimal. Responses to difficult items were changed more frequently with less success than changes on easy items. High scorers made more successful changes than did low scorers. Within the limits of the methodology, results clearly indicated that response changes of elementary students on multiple-choice items tend to improve test scores.     

The fear factor: students’ experiences of test anxiety when taking A-level examinations

This paper presents the findings of a pilot study that explored students’ experiences of test anxiety when taking A-level examinations. Four focus groups were convened with a sample of 19 participants in the south of England to explore the triggers of test anxiety and the perceived need for interventions to assist high test-anxious students cope with the examination process. The findings suggested that the participants experienced two types of anxiety: ‘pre-exam anxiety’ (relating to, for example, revision and mock examinations) and ‘exam-day anxiety’ (relating to practical concerns, such as school policy on the arrival of students and the time available to complete the examination). Only three participants reported feeling that their examination performance was significantly impaired by test anxiety; most reported that a degree of anxiety aided their performance. With test anxiety perceived by most participants as motivational and useful, there was little support for any interventions from examination boards, parents or teachers to help reduce or manage test anxiety. However, based on participants’ experiences of the pre-examination period, it is suggested that test anxiety may impede students’ ability to prepare for their examinations, and that interventions during this stage may be useful. The findings also imply that there are some practical steps that could be taken by the educational community to help reduce students’ test anxiety.     

高、低考试焦虑者的工作记忆刷新功能:任务负荷与刺激材料的影响

以考试相关和中性图片为刺激材料,采用n-back实验范式,考察高、低任务负荷条件下,高、低考试焦虑者的工作记忆刷新表现。结果表明:高、低负荷任务中,高考试焦虑者对考试相关图片的反应时都显著长于低焦虑者;高负荷任务中,高考试焦虑者对考试相关图片的反应正确率显著低于低考试焦虑者,而在低负荷任务中无差异。对中性图片的反应时及正确率两组均无差异。研究认为,高负荷条件下,高考试焦虑者对考试相关图片的工作记忆刷新功能较低考试焦虑者有显著缺陷。     

Implementation intentions and test anxiety: Shielding academic performance from distraction

College students whose test anxiety was measured completed a working memory-intensive math exam with televised distractions. Students were provided with implementation intentions (if–then plans; Gollwitzer, 1999) designed to either help them ignore the distractions (i.e., temptation-inhibiting plans) or focus more intently on the math exam (i.e., task-facilitating plans). Regression analyses showed that as test anxiety increased, the effectiveness of temptation-inhibiting implementation intentions increased, whereas task-facilitating implementation intentions increasingly harmed performance as test anxiety increased. In addition, the consequences of these plans differed significantly for those high in test anxiety. Implications for effective self-regulation by test-anxious students are discussed.     

Changes in Rapid-Guessing Behavior Over a Series of Assessments

Abstract

A series of 8 tests was administered to university students over 4 weeks for program assessment purposes. The stakes of these tests were low for students; they received course points based on test completion, not test performance. Tests were administered in a counterbalanced order across 2 administrations. Response time effort, a measure of the proportion of items on which solution behavior rather than rapid-guessing behavior was used, was higher when a test was administered in the 1st week. Test scores were also higher. Differences between Week 1 and Week 4 test scores decreased when the test was scored with an effort-moderated model that took into account whether the student used solution or rapid-guessing behavior. Differences further decreased when students who used rapid-guessing on 5 or more of the 30 items were filtered from the data set.     

Evaluation of a College Study Habits Course Using Scores on a Q-Sort Test as the Criterion

Abstract

An attempt was made to extend and clarify prior research which had demonstrated consistently that changed answers to objective test items tend to be correct. Results extended the basic effect of profiting from changed answers to Air Force personnel responding to multiple-choice questions regarding technical skills; the profit from changes was very similar to that observed in a university group responding to relatively "academic" items. Secondly, most individuals in both groups profited from changes. Third, individuals with the highest test scores tended to profit more from changes than those with the lowest test scores. Fourth, neither Airman Qualifying Exam scores (for the military personnel) nor Scholastic Aptitude Test scores (for the university students) were related to profit. Finally, a systematic case against the popular belief that one should not change answers on objective tests was made, based on an integration of the research to date.     

The Effects of Notetaking and Test Expectancy on the Learning of Text Material 1

Abstract

High school students completed both multiple-choice and constructed response exams over an 845-word narrative passage on which they either took notes or underlined critical information. A control group merely read the text In addition, half of the learners in each condition were told to expect either a multiple-choice or constructed response test following reading. Overall, note takers showed superior posttest recall, and notetaking without test instructions yielded the best group performance. Notetaking also required significantly more time than the other conditions. Underlining for a multiple-choice test led to better recall than underlining for a constructed response test. Although more multiple-choice than constructed response items were remembered. Test Mode failed to interact with the other factors.     

Comparing the Impacts of a Problem-Based Computer-Assisted Instruction and the Direct-Interactive Teaching Method on Student Science Achievement

This study explored the effects of a Problem-Based Computer-Assisted Instruction (PBCAI) on students' earth science achievement in Taiwan. One hundred and fifty-nine 10th grade students enrolled in four sections of a mandatory earth science course participated in this pretest–posttest control-group experiment. During a 2-week period, the experimental group students (n = 84) received the PBCAI while the comparison group students (n = 75) received a Direct-Interactive Teaching Method (DITM) accompanying with regular computer-internet usage. An analysis of covariance on the Earth Science Achievement Test posttest scores with students' IQ and pretest scores as the covariates suggested that (a) the PBCAI was more effective in promoting students' achievement than was the DITM (F = 4.91, p < .028), and that (b) students in the experimental group had significantly higher achievement scores than did students in the comparison group, especially on the knowledge (F = 7.74, p < .017) and comprehension (F = 5.73, p < .017) test items, but not on the application (F = .07, p > .017) test items.     

Gender-related worry and emotionality test anxiety for high-achieving students

Test anxiety among academically talented high school students (N = 103) was explored in this study. Two components of test anxiety were assessed: a cognitive component (worry) and a physiological component (emotionality). The results indicated that these students suffered from test anxiety, and that higher anxiety was related to lower science performance. Overall, females reported more test anxiety than did males. Whereas females experienced higher worry than emotionality, males reported little difference between the two anxiety components. Implications for college-bound students are discussed. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Reactions of Negro Children Toward Negro and White Teachers

Student response patterns can provide insights into individual student problems as well as subgroup differences. This paper describes the development of indices for overall aberrancy, tendencies to miss relatively easy items (possible bias, lack of concentration, test anxiety, etc.), tendencies to get correct more difficult items than would be expected based on the total score (possible guessing or unusual learning patterns), and a combination that tells how the latter two tendencies do or do not balance each other. Test results for 368 math students were used to demonstrate the indices. The software is available.     

Recalled test anxiety in relation to achievement,in the context of general academic self-concept,study habits,parental involvement and socio-economic status among Grade 6 Ethiopian students

The study investigated the predictive nature of test anxiety on achievement in the presence of perceived general academic self-concept, study habits, parental involvement in children's learning and socio-economic status. From a population of 2482 Grade 6 students from seven government primary schools of a sub-city in Addis Ababa, 497 participants were randomly selected, namely 248 boys and 249 girls. The mean age of the participants was 12.98 years. An adapted version of Sarason's Test Anxiety Scale (28 items), plus the General Academic Self-Concept Scale (18 items), and Parental Involvement (10 items), Study Habits (10 items) and Socio-Economic Status (10 items) scales developed by the authors were the instruments of the study. The findings of the study indicated: (a) test anxiety correlated with achievement with a weak correlation of ?0.186; and (b) perceived general academic self-concept and study habits were positively and significantly related to achievement. Stepwise multiple regression on achievement resulted in the selection of general academic self-concept, study habits and parental involvement as significant contributors to achievement in that order. Test anxiety was found to be a non-predictor of achievement in the presence of other variables.     

Test Wiseness

Test wiseness (TW) has been defined as the ability to respond advantageously to multiple-choice items containing extraneous clues and, therefore, to obtain credit without knowledge of the subject matter being tested. The capacity of examinees to develop cue-using strategies was examined and the results suggest that students profit from knowledge of a particular test constructor’s idiosyncracies. The findings also lend weight to the argument that TW is not a general ability but rather that performance on TW items is cue-specific. Findings with respect to particular item flaws (longer correct alternative, grammar) generally support the research literature.     

The application of podcasting as an instructional tool to improve Turkish EFL learners’ speaking anxiety

The present study was designed to investigate: (a) the effect of podcasts in EFL students’ oral performance, (b) the effect of podcasts in EFL students’ speaking anxiety, (c) the relationship between speaking anxiety and oral performance, and (d) EFL students’ perceptions of using podcasts. This study was conducted in a high school in Istanbul, Turkey. The students in two ninth-grade classes in the subject school were given the anxiety questionnaire, consisting of 24 items related to general foreign language class anxiety and in-class activities. A total of 30 students with the highest anxiety levels were chosen among these students. The oral performances of these students were evaluated through the Test of Spoken English and the students were also interviewed about their speaking anxiety and their oral performances. For 12 weeks, the control group followed the course book and did the speaking activities in it, while the experimental group created podcasts in addition to those activities. At the end of 12 weeks, the participants were given the anxiety post-test, the post-interview, and the oral performance post-test. The perceptions of the students in the experimental group of podcasts were examined through three interviews during the study. The results of the study showed that students who used podcasts had higher oral performance and lower speaking anxiety levels than the students who didn’t use podcast; and there was a negative relationship between the participants’ oral performances and speaking. The analysis of the interviews on podcasts revealed that the students believed podcasts helped them feel not or less anxious, and more confident; improve their oral performances and pronunciation; and expand their vocabulary.