The effects of test taking strategies instructions on reducing high school students’ test anxiety

Hanoi University Department of Post graduate studies MA Thesis Proposal Name: Class: Institution: Department of Post graduate studies Specialty: English Thesis title: The effects of te

Hanoi University Department of Post graduate studies

MA Thesis Proposal

Name:

Class:

Institution: Department of Post graduate studies

Specialty: English

Thesis title: The effects of test-taking strategies instructions on reducing High

School students’ test anxiety.

Statement of the problem: Students are always nervous and anxious when they

take tests, and the test results do not truly reflect their competence

The students at Duong Xa High School often make a surprise at their low test results in spite of the fact that they show their good understanding and good ability during the lessons These students reveal that when taking tests, they are too

nervous to recall the knowledge and they become confused

The related literature on test anxiety in language learning point out that the factors that influence students’ reactions to language tests are perceptions of test validity, time limit, test techniques, test format, length, testing environment and clarity of test instructions (Young, 1999) In addition, the researchers show that learners’ capacity, task difficulty, the fear of getting bad grades and lack of

preparation for the test are other factors that make test takers worried Similarly, learners with high levels of anxiety have less control of attention (Sarason, 1980, 1986) According to Chastain (1975), there was a negative correlation indicating that low test anxiety was related to greater success Last of all, in Ohata’s study (2005) most of the participants said that they feared taking tests because test-taking situation would make them fearful about the negative consequences of getting bad grade One form of test anxiety results from such things as poor study habits,

inadequate organizational skills, in-effective time management When not prepared,

it is rational that the student is then faced with increased tension Test anxiety results when a student is adequately prepared for an exam but experiences

symptoms of physical, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional distress that inhibit to some degree the ability to learn and perform

Test anxiety becomes problematic when this nervousness is so high that it

interferes with test preparation and performance Test anxiety produces bad results, which makes students feel unconfident because the tests do not accurately measure their abilities Test anxiety is a major factor contributing to a variety of negative outcomes including psychological distress, academic underachievement, academic failure, and insecurity (Hembree, 1988) Many students have the cognitive ability to

do well on exams but may not do so because of high levels of test anxiety Because

of the societal emphasis placed on testing, this could potentially limit their

educational and vocational opportunities (Zeidner, 1998)

Literature Review

Fundamental premise of test anxiety and test-taking strategy

Anxiety is described as an uncomfortable emotional state in which one perceives danger, feels powerless and experiences tension in preparation for an expected danger (Blau, 1995) Language anxiety is an effective factor that affects

achievement in second language (L2) (Gardner, 1985) Depending on the synthesis

of research context on L2 anxiety, Gardner and MacIntyre (1993) describes it as the apprehension experienced when a situation requires the use of L2 with which the individual is not fully proficient Thus, L2 anxiety is described as a

situation-specific anxiety It has three varieties: Communicative apprehension, fear of

negative evaluation, and test anxiety.

Test anxiety is an apprehension over academic evaluation It is a fear of failing

in test situations and an unpleasant experience held consciously or unconsciously by learners in many situations It is a type of anxiety concerning apprehension over academic evaluation which comes from a fear of failure (Horwitz & Young, 1991)

Test anxiety is composed of three major components: cognitive, affective, and behavioral Students who experience test anxiety from the cognitive perspective are worriers lacking self confidence They may be preoccupied with negative thoughts, doubting their academic ability and intellectual competence (Sarason, 1980)

Furthermore, they are more likely to overemphasize the potential negative results and feel helpless when in testing situations (Zeidner, 1998) Some students may feel the need to answer every question on the test correctly When this does not occur they may think of themselves as being incompetent, thus fueling negative thoughts such as, "I knew I was not going to pass this test," "I know I am going to make a poor grade," or "Everyone knows I am not smart." In order for students to have the best opportunity for academic success, negative thinking must be minimized and controlled

From the affective perspective, test anxiety causes some students to experience physiological reactions such as increased heart rate, feeling nauseated, frequent urination, increased perspiration, cold hands, dry mouth, and muscle spasms

(Zeidner, 1998) These reactions may be present before, during, and even after the test is completed In conjunction with the physiological reactions, emotions such as worry, fear of failure, and panic may be present When students are not able to control their emotions, they may experience higher levels of stress, thereby making

it more difficult for them to concentrate

Test-anxious students express anxiety behaviorally by procrastinating and having inefficient study and test-taking skills Zeidner (1998) contends that test-anxious students have a more difficult time interpreting information and organizing it into larger patterns of meaning In addition, some students may physically feel tired or exhausted during test administration because they do not have a healthy diet, have poor sleeping habits, and fail to routinely exercise

When preparing for a test, research indicates that when students have tools and strategies that build both emotional skills and healthy physical habits they can overcome test anxiety and the associated symptoms As a result, they improve their ability to prepare for and perform on exams

The most frequently mentioned strategies address the following areas:

 Relaxation

 Knowledge of testing conditions

 Adequate preparation through improvement of test-taking and study skills

 Effective health habits, exercise, and good nutrition

 Monitoring of thinking patterns and positive self-talk

Scruggs & Mastropieri (1992) claimed that students who are test wise can

outperform students of equal ability but lacking test-wiseness Teaching test-taking strategies helps students understand the format and conventions of a specific type of test and makes them feel comfortable in a testing environment Learning test-taking strategies actually improves the validity of a test by making scores reflect more accurately what students know (Scruggs & Mastropieri, 1992) The primary purpose

of test-taking strategies is to improve student performance on exams A second, but related, purpose is to reduce exam anxiety If both of these goals are achieved, higher test scores should result Kessleman-Turkel and Peterson (1981) supposed that when you take a test - any test - you're really being tested on two things: how much you know about the subject and how much you know about taking a test Test-taking strategies have the following advantages:

 Improve test scores

 Bolster student confidence about exams

 Reduce exam anxiety

Research on test anxiety

Some researchers examined the test anxiety level of students as EFL learners and investigated its reasons, effects and results on foreign language learning For

example, Dr Aydn S (2005) found that the learners usually have test anxiety 114 students in English Language Department of Necatibey Education Faculty of

Balikesir University, Turkey were the participants of the study A background questionnaire, Test Anxiety Scale (Sarason’s, 1984) and a survey were conducted The result revealed that test anxiety provoking factors are low level proficiency of

the learners, negative attitudes of teachers towards test applications, students’ attitude towards language learning, test invalidity, fear of negative evaluation, bad experiences on tests, time limitation and pressure, the difficulty of course contents and parental expectations Test anxiety causes physical and psychological problems, affects motivation, concentration and achievement negatively, increases errors in learning process, prevents to transfer their real performance to test results and study efficiently and decrease the interest towards language learning The overall results indicate that test anxiety is problematic education area and it can be coped with

Larson et al (2010) tested if relaxation techniques could reduce the negative effects that self-perceived levels of test anxiety have on third-grade students Their subjects were 177 third-grade students aged 8-10 years old The Westside test anxiety scale (Driscoll, 2007), elevator breathing and guided relaxation were

utilized to measure and manage levels of anxiety The results indicated that the relaxation invention had a significant effect in reducing test anxiety in the

experimental group

Chandler L (2006) conducted a study on gender difference and test anxiety to determine if male or female Ss have greater test anxiety on the high stakes testing

85 students in the 4th, 6th, and 10th grade students in Chesapeake were asked to complete the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS: Peynolds & Richmond, 1985) The results showed that there was a significant difference

between the 6th grade males and females during the pretest administration, with the males showing more anxiety

A study on relationship between language anxiety and proficiency was

conducted by Kondo (2003) to investigate the relationship between language

anxiety and proficiency in English 1st year students at School of Education, Waseda University were the participants This study only found the poor predictor of

English proficiency, though many studies on language anxiety found high

correlation between anxiety and language proficiency The author suggested that even if that is the case in the context of Japan, researches in reducing anxiety should

be done

Aydin et al (2008) investigated the teacher effect on the level of test anxiety

among young EFL learners Their subjects were 477 young learners from 5 primary schools Data collection instruments consisted of a questionnaire and Test Anxiety Scale (TAS: Sarason, 1978) They found that the students who had positive attitudes towards their English teachers felt more confident and relaxed and less nervous even if they forgot what they knew Moreover, the participants who had positive attitudes towards their English teachers were less embarrassed during examinations, felt less uneasy before getting their exam papers, and believed more strongly that it was not possible to learn more without examinations The findings demonstrate that positive attitude towards EFL teachers decrease the levels of test anxiety among young EFL learners

Aydin (2008) had an investigation on the language anxiety and fear of negative evaluation among Turkish EFL learners to investigate the sources and levels of negative evaluation as well as language anxiety among Turkish Ss as EFL learners, and to determine the correlation between the two A foreign language anxiety scale (FLAS: Horwitz et al., 1986) and a scale for fear of negative evaluation (FNE: Leary, 1983) were administered to a sample group of 112 foreign language learners The results of the analysis indicated that EFL learners suffer from language anxiety which is aroused by factors, such as un-preparedness for class, communication apprehension with teachers, peers, and native speakers; teachers’ questions and corrections in classroom environment; tests and negative attitudes towards English course The sources of fear of negative evaluation consist of negative judgments by others, leaving unfavorable impression on others In addition, fear of negative evaluation is a strong source of foreign language anxiety The author also pointed out the limitation in term of the limited subjects and the data collection instrument

He suggested that further study should focus on the relationship between language anxiety and some other variables as well as the strategies and tactics to allay

language anxiety

Gaps in the existing literature

Despite the use of test-taking strategies in reducing test anxiety and the amount

of related research, the above literature review exposed several gaps First, there are

few studies on the effect of test-taking strategies on allaying test anxiety A second gap in the literature is that the participants in previous research have been university

or primary students Thus, the present study will examine high school students Moreover, it is necessary to conduct a research that deeply investigates the effect of test-taking strategies on allaying test anxiety The test form at high school nowadays

is formally focused on multiple choice tests As a result, the present researcher will apply general test-taking strategies as well as test-taking strategies instructions in specific test form situation of multiple choice tests to groups of high school students

to examine the effect of them on reducing test anxiety

Aims of the research

The present study’s aim is to examine the effects of test-taking strategies

instructions on reducing Duong Xa High School students’ test anxiety and as a result improving their test results

Research questions

1 Are there any significant differences between students who receive test-taking strategies instruction and those who do not in term of their test anxiety level?

2 What are the participants’ opinions of test-taking strategies used to reduce their test anxiety and improve the test result?

Methodology

Participants

A total of 92 11- grade students taking English classes as a compulsory subject at Duong Xa High School, Gia Lam, Ha Noi will take part in the study There are 35 males and 57 females with the age of 16 The academic achievement of the previous semester of school year 2011-2012 will be used as information about their

proficiency and as a part of their education background The like about English will

be examined by background questionnaire at the beginning of the intervention The students in class 11A3 and 11A4 will be assigned to experimental and control

groups The students in both classes have the similarity in term of gender, the like, education background and their experience with test anxiety and test-taking

strategies (The comparable features are assured because of the researcher who has taken responsibility for the two classes for two years)

Research design

A quasi-experimental design will be chosen because the groups were not

randomly assigned

Before the treatment program, all participants will be given a pre-test to measure their proficiency and their level of test anxiety will be also measured by a Test Anxiety Scale The experimental and control groups will do the same tests during the program, but the experimental group will have test-taking strategies instruction, while control group will not The post-test will be administered to all participants after the intervention program

Data collection instruments

Questionnaire (Appendix A) to collect information on the participants’

education background and their experience with test anxiety and test-taking

strategies instruction will be used The questionnaire will consist of 15 items

designed by the present researcher for obtaining the participants’ education

background, their experience on test anxiety and test-taking strategies instructions

Westside Test Anxiety Scale (WTAS) (Appendix B) Driscoll (2007) was

designed WTAS to identify participants with anxiety impairments who could

benefit from anxiety-reduction and yield a general test anxiety score The present researcher will use this scale to measure the degree of test anxiety after Pre- and post-test (to answer research question 1) The WTAS consists of 10 items, each using a Likert repose scale where 1 = “never true” and 5 = “always true” The WTAS was constructed to measure anxiety impairments with six items assessing incapacity and four items measuring worry and dread which interferes with

concentration (Driscoll, 2007) Score for the two subscales, incapacity (items 1, 4,

5, 6, 8, & 10) and worry (items 2, 3, 7, & 9) are obtained by summing the respective item responses A total score is obtained by adding up the scores and dividing by

10, where higher scores indicate a greater level of test anxiety (Driscoll, 2004) The present researcher will use the total score to obtain a general level of test anxiety Validity has been shown in some samples The WTAS has yielded a moderate positive correlation with the Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale (Cassidy & Johnson, 2002) The WTAS has also shown a negative relationship with gains in test scores (Driscoll, 2007) That is, as WTAS scores decreased, test scores increased At the time this study will be conducted, reliability information may be unavailable

However, internal consistency estimates will be calculated for the present study

Self-report (Appendix C) will consist of two semi-open questions towards

test-taking strategies instructions The first semi-open question will be used to ask whether the experimental participants wanted to continue to use test taking

strategies instruction after the program is over, and why or why not (to answer research question 2) While the control group will be asked the second question to gain whether they receive any test-taking strategies instruction during the program

is conducted (to make sure that the treatment of test-taking strategies instruction is only for experimental group or not)

The tests will be designed by the group of teachers in Foreign language

Department at Duong Xa High School

to have the students practice the test-taking strategies instructions that they receive

All the tests will be taken following the school’s timetable to make sure that the participants will experience the real testing situation

Test-taking strategies instructions: are from Kesselman-Turkel and Peterson

(1981), other references are Chickering and Schlossberg (1995) and Lunenfeld (1992)

* General test-taking strategies:

- Dump Information

- Read the Directions

- Scan the Test

- Develop a Plan

- Read the Questions Carefully

- Make Educated Guesses

- Watch Out for Careless Errors

* Specific test-taking strategies of multiple choice questions:

- Work Quickly

- Consider the Instruction

- Guess before Choosing

- Eliminate Unlikely Answers

- Look for Clue Words and Numbers

- Be Wary of Multiple Answers

- When in Doubt, Guess

- Do Change Answers

- Don’t Give Up

Procedure

The study will be conducted in two English classes 11A3 and 11A4, which meets for two 45-minute-class meeting each week Nine class meetings will be used for the study (see table for the study schedule) In the first class meeting a brief background questionnaire will be conducted to collect information on the

participants, including their like, their English proficiency and their experience with test anxiety and test-taking strategies In the second class meeting the participants will take achievement test of the 1st semester as a pre-test and their level of test anxiety will be measured then From the third to the seventh class meeting, general test-taking strategies instructions and test-taking strategies instructions of multiple choice tests will be taught to experimental group After each group of strategies taught, the students will practice with a 15-minute-test or 45-minute- test After the intervention, both experimental and control groups will take a post-test and their level of test anxiety will be measured in the eighth class meeting Finally, both groups will complete a semi-open question Experimental group will be asked to