Examining Feelings of Anxiety Experienced by Secondary Students in L2 Evaluative Situations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.28914/Atlantis-2022-44.2.01Abstract
The main purpose of this study is to examine the potential impact of self-reported test anxiety on L2 academic achievement. The study sample consisted of eighty-five students from ten different state secondary schools in. Majorca. Data were collected using the Spanish version of the Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale (CTAS). The results show that participants suffer from moderate to high test self-reported anxiety levels, regardless of actual academic English proficiency. The findings reveal a significant effect of participants’ self-reported English proficiency on both general test anxiety, and test anxiety directly related to a high-stakes English test (the Spanish University Entrance Examination, SUEE), suggesting that self-perception of proficiency is a stronger predictor of test anxiety than actual academic grades. Additionally, a significant relationship between gender and self-reported test anxiety on the high-stakes English test was found, which indicates that female students tend to perceive certain exam situations as more personally threatening than males. In contrast, school setting (urban versus suburban) was not directly related to test anxiety.
Downloads
References
Ackerman, Philp L. and Eric D. Heggestad. 1997. “Intelligence, Personality and Interests: Evidence for Overlapping Traits.” Psychological Bulletin 121 (2): 219-45.
Aida, Yukie. 1994. “Examination of Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope’s Construct of Foreign Language Anxiety: The Case of Students of Japanese.” The Modern Language Journal 78 (2): 155-68.
Amengual-Pizarro, Marian. 2009. “Does the English Test in the Spanish University Entrance Influence the Teaching of English?” English Studies 90 (5): 582-98.
Arch, Elizabeth. 1987. “Differential Responses of Females and Males to Evaluative Stress: Anxiety, Self-esteem, Ef cacy and Willingness to Participate.” In Schwarzer, van der Ploeg and Spielberger 1987, 97-106.
Baghaei, Purya and Jerrell C. Cassady. 2014. “Validation of the Persian Translation of the Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale.” SAGE Open 4: 1-11.
Bandalos, Deborah L., Kristin Yates and Tracy Thorndike-Christ. 1995. “Effects of Math Self-concept, Perceived Self-efficacy and Attribution for Failure and Success on Test Anxiety.” Journal of Educational Psychology 87 (4): 611-23.
Bandura, Albert. 1986. Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice- Hall.
Bozkurt, Sati et al. 2017. “Validation of the Turkish Version of the Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale-Revised.” SAGE Open 7: 1-9.
Casbarro, Joseph. 2004. “Reducing Anxiety in the Era of High-Stakes Testing.” Principal 83 (5): 36-38.
Cassady, Jerrell C. 2004. “The Influence of Cognitive Test Anxiety across the Learning-Testing Cycle.” Learning and Instruction 14 (6): 569-92.
—. 2010a. “Test Anxiety: Contemporary Theories and Implications for Learning.” In Cassady 2010b, 5-26.
—, ed. 2010b. Anxiety in Schools: The Causes, Consequences and Solutions for Academic Anxieties. Bern: Peter Lang.
— and Ronald E. Johnson. 2002. “Cognitive Test Anxiety and Academic Performance.” Contemporary Educational Psychology 27 (2): 270-95.
Chapell, Mark S. et al. 2005. “Test Anxiety and Academic Performance in Undergraduate and Graduate Students.” Journal of Educational Psychology 97 (2): 268-74.
Chen, Mei-Ling. 2007. “Test Anxiety, Reading Anxiety and Reading Performance among University English as a Second Language Learners.” Master’s thesis, Ming Chuan University.
Derakshan, Nazanin and Michael W. Eysenck. 2009. “Anxiety, Processing Efficiency and Cognitive Performance: New Developments from Attentional Control Theory.” European Psychologist 14 (2): 168-76.
Elliot, Andrew J. and Carol S. Dweck, eds. 2005. Handbook of Competence and Motivation. New York: The Guilford Press.
Everson, Howard T., Ivan Smodlaka and Sigmund Tobias. 1994. “Exploring the Relationship of Test Anxiety and Metacognition on Reading Test Performance: A Cognitive Analysis.” Anxiety, Stress and Coping 7 (1): 85-96.
Eysenck, Michael W. 2001. Principles of Cognitive Psychology. Hove: Psychology Press.
— et al. 2007. “Anxiety and Cognitive Performance: Attentional Control Theory.” Emotion 7 (2): 336-53.
Furlan, Luis Alberto, Jerrell C. Cassady and Edgardo Raul Perez. 2009. “Adapting the Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale for Use with Argentinean University Students.” International Journal of Testing 9 (1): 3-13.
Goetz, Thomas et al. 2008. “Big Fish in Big Ponds: A Multilevel Analysis of Test Anxiety and Achievement in Special Gifted Classes.” Anxiety, Stress and Coping 21 (2): 185-98.
Greenberg, Jeff et al. 1992. “Why do People Need Self-Esteem? Converging Evidence that Self-Esteem Serves an Anxiety Buffering Function.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 63: 913-22.
Gregersen, Tammy S. 2003. “To Err is Human: A Reminder to Teachers of Language-Anxious Students.” Foreign Language Annals 36 (1): 25-32.
Gutiérrez Calvo, Manuel. 1996. “Ansiedad y deterioro cognitivo. Incidencia en el rendimiento académico.” Ansiedad y Estrés 2 (2-3): 173-94.
Hagtvet, Knut A. and Tom B. Johnsen, eds. 1992. Advances in Test Anxiety Research. Lisse: Swets and Zeitlinger.
Hancock, Dawson R. 2001. “Effect of Test Anxiety and Evaluative Threats on Students’ Achievement and Motivation.” The Journal of Educational Research 94 (5): 284-90.
Hembree, Ray. 1988. “Correlates, Causes, Effects and Treatment of Test Anxiety.” Review of Educational Research 58 (1): 47-77.
Herrera Soler, Honesto and Jesús García-Laborda, eds. 2005. Estudios y criterios para una Selectividad de calidad en el examen de inglés. Valencia: Universidad Politécnica de Valencia.
Hodapp, Volker. 1995. “The TAI-G: A Multidimensional Approach to the Assessment of Test Anxiety.” In Schwarzer and Zeidner 1995, 95-130.
Hong, Eunsook and Lewis Karstensson. 2002. “Antecedents of State Test Anxiety.” Contemporary Educational Psychology 27 (2): 348-67.
Horwitz, Elaine. 2000. “It Ain’t over ‘till it’s over: On Foreign Language Anxiety, First Language Deficits and the Confounding of Variables.” The Modern Language Journal 84 (2): 256-59.
—. 2001. “Language Anxiety and Achievement.” Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 21: 112-26.
—, Michael B. Horwitz and Jo Ann Cope. 1991a. “Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety.” In Horwitz and Young 1991b, 27-39.
— and Dolly J. Young, eds. 1991b. Language Anxiety: From Theory and Research to Classroom Implications. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
Huang, Da-Fu. 2015. “Exploring and Assessing Effectiveness of English Medium Instruction Courses: The Students’ Perspectives.” Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 173: 71-78.
Hughes, Arthur. 1989. Testing for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
In’nami, Yo. 2006. “The Effects of Test Anxiety on Listening Test Performance.” System 34 (3): 317-40.
Joy, John Love. 2013. “The Altitude of Test Anxiety among Second Language Learners.” Language Testing in Asia 3 (10): 1-10.
Karatas, Hakan, Bulent Alci and Hasan Aydin. 2013. “Correlation among High School Senior Students Test Anxiety, Academic Performance and Points of University Entrance Exam.” Educational Research Reviews (8): 919-26.
Keoghi, Edmund et al. 2004. “Test-Anxiety, Susceptibility to destruction and Examination Performance.” Journal of Anxiety, Stress and Coping 17 (3): 241-52.
Khalid, Ruhi and Syeda Salma Hasan. 2009. “Test Anxiety in High and Low Achievers.” Pakistan Journal of Psychological Research 24 (3-4): 97-114.
Kleijn, Wim C., Henk M. Van der Ploeg and Robert M. Topman. 1994. “Cognition, Study Habits, Test Anxiety and Academic Performance.” Psychological Reports, 75 (3): 1219-26.
Knox, David, Caroline Schacht and Jack Turner. 1993. “Virtual Reality: A Proposal for Treating Test Anxiety in College Students.” College Student Journal 27 (3): 294-96.
Kurosawa, Kaoru and Judith M. Harackiewicz. 1995. “Test Anxiety, Self-awareness and Cognitive Interference: A Process Analysis.” Journal of Personality 63 (4): 931-51.
Liebert, Robert M. and Larry W. Morris. 1967. “Cognitive and Emotional Components of Test Anxiety: A Distinction and some Initial Data.” Psychological Reports 20 (3): 975-78.
MacIntyre, Peter. D. and Robert C. Gardner. 1989. “Anxiety and Second-Language Learning: Toward a Theoretical Clarification.” Language Learning 39 (2): 251-75.
McCraty, Rollin. 2007. When Anxiety Causes your Brain to Jam, Use your Heart. Institute of Heart Math. Boulder Creek, CA: Heart Math Research Center Press.
Moreno-Herrero, Dolores, José Sánchez-Campillo and Juan de Dios Jiménez-Aguilera. 2014. ¿En los centros privados se inflan las calificaciones de los estudiantes? Revista de Educación 366: 243-266.
Naveh-Benjamin, Moshe, Wilbert. J. McKeachie and Yi-guang Lin, 1987. “Two Types of Test-Anxious Students: Support for an Information Processing Model.” Journal of Educational Psychology 79 (2): 131-36.
Núñez-Peña, María Isabel, Macarena Suárez-Pellicioni and Roser Bono. 2016. “Gender Differences in Test Anxiety and their Impact on Higher Education Students Academic Achievement.” Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 228: 154-160.
Oludipe, Bimbola. 2009. “Influence of Test Anxiety on Performance Levels on Numerical Tasks of Secondary School Physics Students.” Academic Leadership, Online Journal 7 (4): 70-76.
Önem, Evrim. 2010. “The Relationship among State-Trait Anxiety, Foreign Language Anxiety and Test Anxiety in an EFL Setting.” Dil Dergisi 148: 17-36.
Putwain, Dave. 2007. “Test Anxiety in UK School Children: Prevalence and Demographic Patterns.” British Journal of Education Psychology 77: 579-93.
—. 2008a. “Do Examinations Stakes Moderate the Test Anxiety-Examination Performance Relationship?” Educational Psychology 28 (2): 109-18.
—. 2008b. “Supporting Assessment Stress in Key Stage 4 Students.” Educational Studies 34 (2): 83-95.
— and Anthony L. Daly. 2014. “Test Anxiety Prevalence and Gender Differences in a Sample of English Secondary School Students.” Educational Studies 40 (5): 554-70.
Sapp, Marty, Henry Durand and Walter Farrell. 1995. “Measures of Actual Test Anxiety in Educationally and Economically Disadvantaged Students.” College Student Journal 29 (1): 65-72.
Sarason, Irwin G. 1975. “Test Anxiety and the Self-Disclosing Coping Model.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 43 (2): 148-53.
—. 1984. “Stress, Anxiety and Cognitive Interference: Reactions to Tests.” Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology 46 (4): 929-38.
—. 1986. “Test Anxiety, Worry and Cognitive Interference.” In R. Schwarzer 1986, 19-34.
Schutz, Paul A. and Reinhard Pekrun, eds. 2007. Emotion in Education. Boston: Elsevier Academic Press.
Schwarzer, Christine and Moshe Zeidner, eds. 1995. Stress, Anxiety and Coping in Academic Settings. Tübingen: Francke.
Schwarzer, Ralph, ed. 1986. Self-Related Cognitions in Anxiety and Motivation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
— and Matthias Jerusalem. 1992. “Advances in Anxiety Theory: A Cognitive Process Approach.” In Hagtvet and Johnsen 1992, 2-31.
—, Henk M. van der Ploeg and Charles D. Spielberger, eds. 1987. Advances in Test Anxiety Research. Lisse: Swets and Zeitlinger.
Segool, Natasha K. et al. 2013. “Heightened Test Anxiety among Young Children: Elementary School Students’ Anxious Responses to High-Stakes Testing.” Psychology in the Schools 50 (5): 489-99.
— et al. 2014. “Cognitive Behavioral Model of Test Anxiety in a High-Stakes Context: An Exploratory Study.” School Mental Health 6 (1): 50-61.
Seipp, Bettina. 1991. “Anxiety and Academic Performance: A Meta-Analysis of Findings.” Anxiety Research 4 (1): 27- 41.
Sheen, Younghee. 2008. “Recasts, Language Anxiety, Modified Output and L2 Learning.” Language Learning 58 (4): 835-74.
Simpson, Madeline L., Pearl W. Parker and Annie W. Harrison. 1995. “Differential Performance on Taylor’s Manifest Anxiety Scale in Black Private College Freshmen: A Partial Report.” Perceptual and Motor Skills 80 (2): 699-702.
Soares, David and Kevin Woods. 2020. “An International Systematic Literature Review of Test Anxiety Interventions 2011-2018.” Pastoral Care in Education 38 (4): 311-34.
Spielberger, Charles D. 1972a. “Anxiety as an Emotional State.” In Spielberger 1972, 23-49.
—, ed. 1972b. Anxiety-Current Trends in Theory and Research. New York: Academic Press.
— and Peter R. Vagg, eds. 1995. Series in Clinical and Community Psychology. Test Anxiety: Theory, Assessment and Treatment. Taylor and Francis.
Steinberg, Laurence D. 1996. Beyond the Classroom: Why School Reform Has Failed and What Parents Need to Do. New York: Touchstone.
von der Embse, Nathaniel. 2011. “Evaluating a Test Anxiety Intervention Group in a High-Stakes Context.” The Ohio School Psychologist 56 (2): 21-7.
— and Ramzi Hasson. 2012. “Test Anxiety and High-Stakes Test Performance Between School Settings: Implications for Educators.” Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth 56 (3): 180-87.
Weiner, Bernard. 1986. An Attributional Theory of Motivation and Emotion, New York: Spring-Verlag.
Williams, Janice E. 1991. “Modeling Test Anxiety, Self-concept and High School Students’ Academic Achievement.” Journal of Research and Development in Education 25: 51-57.
Wood, Sarah G. et al. 2016. “Test Anxiety and a High-Stakes Standardized Reading Comprehension Test: A Behavioral Genetics Perspective.” Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 62 (3): 233-51.
Zeidner, Moshe. 1990. “Does Test Anxiety Bias Scholastic Aptitude Test Performance by Gender and Socio-cultural Group?” Journal of Personality Assessment 55 (1-2): 145-60.
—. 1998. Test Anxiety: The State of the Art. New York: Plenum Press.
—. 2007. “Test Anxiety in Educational Contexts: Concepts, Findings and Future Directions.” In Schutz and Pekrun 2007, 165-84.
— and Gerald Matthews. 2005. “Evaluation Anxiety: Current Theory and Research.” In Elliot and Dweck 2005, 141- 63.
Zohar, Dov. 1998. “An Additive Model of Test Anxiety: Role of Exam-Specific Expectations.” Journal of Educational Psychology 90 (2): 330-40.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
The authors retain copyright of articles. They authorise AEDEAN to publish them in its journal Atlantis and to include them in the indexing and abstracting services, academic databases and repositories the journal participates in.
Under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), for non-commercial (i.e., personal or academic) purposes only, users are free to share (i.e., copy and redistribute in any medium or format) and adapt (i.e., remix, transform and build upon) articles published in Atlantis, free of charge and without obtaining prior permission from the publisher or the author(s), as long as they give appropriate credit to the author, the journal (Atlantis) and the publisher (AEDEAN), provide the relevant URL link to the original publication and indicate if changes were made. Such attribution may be done in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the journal endorses the user or their use of the material published therein. Users who adapt (i.e., remix, transform or build upon the material) must distribute their contributions under the same licence as the original.
Self-archiving is also permitted, so that authors are allowed to deposit the published PDF version of their articles in academic and/or institutional repositories, without fee or embargo. Authors may also post their individual articles on their personal websites, again on condition that the original link to the online edition is provided.
Authors are expected to know and heed basic ground rules that preclude simultaneous submission and/or duplicate publication. Prospective contributors to Atlantis commit themselves to the following when they submit a manuscript:
- That no concurrent consideration of the same, or almost identical, work by any other journal and/or publisher is taking place.
- That the potential contribution has not appeared previously, in any form whatsoever, in another journal, electronic format or as a chapter/section of a book.
Seeking permission for the use of copyright material is the responsibility of the author.