THE EFFECTS OF TESTTAKING STRATEGY INSTRUCTIONS ON REDUCING STUDENTS’ TEST ANXIETY AND IMPROVING TEST RESULTS HIGH SCHOOL

Ministry of Education and Training Hanoi University THE EFFECTS OF TEST-TAKING STRATEGY INSTRUCTIONS ON REDUCING STUDENTS’ TEST ANXIETY AND IMPROVING TEST RESULTS HIGH SCHOOL Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the degree of master of art in TESOL Hanoi August 2015 Ministry of Education and Training Hanoi University THE EFFECTS OF TEST-TAKING STRATEGY INSTRUCTIONS ON REDUCING STUDENTS’ TEST ANXIETY AND IMPROVING TEST RESULTS AT HIGH SCHOOL Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement of the degree of master of art in TESOL Supervisor: Hanoi August 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii ABSTRACT iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .v LIST OF TABLES .vi LIST OF FIGURES viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1.Background to the study 1.2.Aims of the study 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Outline of the thesis .5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Fundamental premise of test anxiety .7 2.2 Language learning strategies 2.3 Fundamental premise of test-taking strategies 10 2.4 Research on test anxiety 12 2.5 Gaps in the existing literature .19 2.6 Summary 20 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .21 3.1 Research questions .21 3.2 Subjects 21 3.3 Variables 22 3.4 Data collection instruments 22 3.5 Data collection procedures 25 3.6 Data analysis 27 3.7 Treatment: Test-taking strategy 28 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 35 4.1 Results 36 4.2 Discussion 47 CHAPTER 5: IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION 49 5.1 Implications .49 5.2 Further research and limitations 50 5.3 Conclusion 50 APPENDIXES ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my most sincere appreciation to my supervisor, Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa, Ph.D for her encouragement and guidance throughout the research Without her well-designed plan and meticulous review of the draft, this study would have been impossible I also wish to thank all the staff members of Post-graduate Department of Hanoi University for giving me the best environment to fulfill my thesis I would like to acknowledge and express my appreciation to my colleagues from Duong Xa High School for their enthusiastic supports and constructive suggestions in completing this research My special thanks also go to the students at Duong Xa High School who have helped me to collect data for this study Finally, my gratitude is extended to my family for their endless love, constant support and encouragement iii ABSTRACT The objective of the study is to examine the effects of test-taking strategy instructions on reducing Duong Xa High School students’ test anxiety and as a result improving their test results To achieve the objective of the study, the writer conducted a quasi-experimental research The subjects were 96 students in grade 11 with the age of 16-17 The two intact groups were assigned to the experimental and control groups Both groups did the same tests, but there was a difference: while the experimental group had testtaking strategy instructions, the control group did not All participants took proficient pre- and post-tests, as well as the Westside Test Anxiety Scale was used to scale their test anxiety level The two groups also wrote self-reports to describe their attitude towards using test-taking strategies The results show that test-taking strategy instructions helped the experimental group to reduce the students’ test anxiety and improved their test results, and the control group showed their eager to learn test-taking strategies Based on the findings of the study, some discussion and implications were made along with recommended suggestions for further research iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS - GCSE : General Certificate of Secondary Education - FLAS: A foreign language anxiety scale - FNE: a scale for fear of negative evaluation - EFL: English as foreign language - L2: second language - WTAS: The Westside test anxiety scale - RQ: research questions - M: Mean - SD: Standard Deviation - ESL: English as a second language - LLS: Language learning strategy - LLSI: Language learning strategy instruction - LLSs: Language learning strategies - L1: First language - L2: Second language - P: Probability value v LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: The study schedule 26 Table 3.2: Teaching strategy procedure 35 Table 4.1: Statistics of Pre- and Post-test of the Experimental Group and the Control Group 38 Table 4.2: Paired Samples T-Test for Pre- and Post-test of the Experimental Group and the Control Group 39 Table 4.3: Independent Samples T-Test for the Experimental Group and the Control Group 40 Table 4.4: The number of the students with 1.0 - 1.9 comfortably low test anxiety and 4.0 5.0 extremely high anxiety 41 Table 4.5: The number of the students with the test anxiety scale group 42 Table 4.6: Statistics of tests anxiety level within groups of participants 42 Table 4.7: Paired Samples T-Test for Tests anxiety level in Pre- and Post-test of the Experimental Group and the Control Group 44 Table 4.8: Independent Samples T-Test for Tests anxiety level between the Experimental Group and the Control Group vi 45 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 Statistics of Pre- and Post-test of the Experimental Group and the Control Group 38 Figure 4.2 Test results between the two groups 40 Figure 4.3: Statistics of tests anxiety level within groups of participants 43 Figure 4.4: Statistics of tests anxiety level between the Experimental Group and Control Group 45 viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.1.1 Practical Perspective Tests have become a powerful tool for decision making in our competitive society, with individuals of all ages being frequently evaluated with respect to their achievement and abilities Consequently, how to perform better on tests has become a prime concern for students and teachers in almost all areas Testing is also one of the primary causes of stress among students One reason for this is inaccurate conceptions of what to expect on a test and how to prepare for an exam In addition, many tests are less than perfect and not always give an accurate assessment of student ability Despite this, exams will probably continue to be the main method of student evaluation because they are relatively efficient and objective measures of student performance Duong Xa High School, which was built in the year of 1971, is located in Gia Lam District of Hanoi There are 37 classes (grade 10, 11, and 12) with approximate 1,800 students The students have to pass an entrance examination to be in school Most students in Duong Xa High School come from farming families and they cycle about or 10 kilometers to school everyday English is one of compulsory subjects and it has become a core subject of important examinations including the GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) examination The students at Duong Xa High School often reveal that when taking tests, they are too nervous to recall the knowledge and they become confused In spite of the fact that the students show their good understanding and good ability during the English lessons, their test results are often lower than they and their teachers expect Then, their parents, their teachers and their friends’ negative attitudes towards that low result make them become more worried before every test Besides the fear of negative evaluation, the students also reveal that many of them lack of test-taking skills As a result, they are of the students would like to learn and use test-taking strategies with the hope their test anxiety level would be reduced and they could get high or very high marks on English subjects 4.1.2 Pre- and post-tests results As stated, the aim of the study is to examine the effects of test-taking strategy instructions on students’ test anxiety level and test results, and it seeks the answers to the research question: are there any significant differences between students who receive test-taking strategy instructions and those who not in terms of their test anxiety level and test results? 4.1.2.1 Tests results within groups of participants In this section, the results of pre- and post-test of each group were analyzed and compared using paired-sample t-test in order to determine whether there was any improvement in test anxiety level in each group after the test-taking strategy instructions Firstly, general statistics of pre- and post-test of the experimental group and the control group would be looked into As can be seen in the table 4.1 and figure 4.1, the test results in pre-test were nearly the same in the experimental group and the control 1, 5.85 and 5.90 respectively However, in post-test there was a higher mean score in the experimental group than that in the control group, 7.42 compared with 5.98 Table 4.1: Statistics of Pre- and Post-test of the Experimental Group and the Control Group 37 Mean Control group Std Error Std Minimum Maximum of Mean Deviation Pretest 5.85 160 1.111 Posttest 7.42 163 1.127 10 Pretest 5.90 184 1.276 Posttest 5.98 128 887 Figure 4.1 Statistics of Pre- and Post-test of the Experimental Group and the Control Group For the validity of the statistics analysis, paired-sample t-test was used to determine how different between students who receive test-taking strategy instructions and those who not in terms of their test anxiety level and test results As can be seen in Table 4.2, there was a significant difference between the experimental group in pre- and post-tests (M = -1.562, SD = 769, t = -14.072, p = 000 < 05) That is, the participants who received test-taking strategy instructions significantly improved their test results As shown in the table and figure, the overall results of the pre- and post-test implied that there was no improvement in the test scores of the control group The finding was backed up by the specific data (M = -.083, SD = 1.069, t = -.540, p = 592 > 05) That is, the participants who did not receive the instructions did not significantly improve their performance in doing test 38 Table 4.2: Paired Samples T-Test for Pre- and Post-test of the Experimental Group and the Control Group Paired Differences Std Mean Deviation Experimental Group -1.562 Pre-test and Post-test Control Group Pre-test and Post-test * p