An investigation into efl students anxiety in preparing for the engligh test in the national high school graduation exam

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY --- NGUYEN TRAN BAO CHAU AN INVESTIGATION INTO EFL STUDENTS’ ANXIETY IN PREPARING FOR THE ENGLISH

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY

-

NGUYEN TRAN BAO CHAU

AN INVESTIGATION INTO EFL STUDENTS’ ANXIETY

IN PREPARING FOR THE ENGLISH TEST IN THE NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION EXAM

MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY

OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts,

University of Foreign Languages, Hue University

HUE, 2020

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY

-

NGUYEN TRAN BAO CHAU

AN INVESTIGATION INTO EFL STUDENTS’ ANXIETY

IN PREPARING FOR THE ENGLISH TEST IN THE NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION EXAM

MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY

OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

CODE: 8140111

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts,

University of Foreign Languages, Hue University

SUPERVISOR: DR NGUYEN HO HOANG THUY

HUE, 2020

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ

-

NGUYỄN TRẦN BẢO CHÂU

NGHIÊN CỨU ÁP LỰC TÂM LÝ CỦA HỌC SINH KHI CHUẨN BỊ CHO BÀI THI TIẾNG ANH CỦA KÌ THI

TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG QUỐC GIA

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP

DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH

MÃ SỐ: 8140111

NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC:

TS NGUYỄN HỒ HOÀNG THỦY

HUE, 2020

ABSTRACT

It is evident that a considerable number of test takers are experiencing test anxiety The current study aims to investigate the main causes of anxiety among the students in preparing for the English test in the national high school graduation exam and their responses to their own anxiety Data were collected

by means of questionnaires delivered to eighty-four 12th graders at a high school and then semi-structured interviews with ten among these eighty-four students The causes of anxiety being investigated were relevant to three main themes, including learners‟ perceived threat of tests, learners‟ research and learning skills, and learners‟ test performance attributions The data was analysed, synthesised and interpreted both quantitatively and qualitatively The findings identified possible causes of anxiety in preparing for the English test in the national high school graduation exam, among which the students‟ fear for the difficult contents of the test and pressure of time to prepare for the test, the students‟ difficulties in selecting the right materials and identifying the appropriate methods to study efficiently, and the students‟ reliance on only the textbook when preparing for the test were found to be prominent Students were also found to have both physical and psychological responses The study also proposed a variety of methods to alleviate the anxiety in order for the students to perform better in the English test

I wish to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to people who have advised and supported me, and made constructive criticism during the research

Firstly, I would like to show my deepest gratitude to my respectful supervisor, who gave me a lot of professional advice on the thesis writing Without her generous professional support and encouragement, this thesis could not reach this present standard Secondly, I would also like to acknowledge my gratefulness

to the students at Hai Ba Trung upper-secondary school who carefully completed the questionnaires and sincerely provided me with valuable information for this research in the interview

Thirdly, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Board of Director, the Library staff at Hue University College

of Foreign Languages for their support during the time I carried out this study.

Finally, I wish to express my deep thanks to my dear family and friends for their love, encouragement, immeasurable support, and concrete help for me to complete this research

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract I Acknowledgements II Table of contents III List of tables V List of abbreviations VI

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background of the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study and research questions 2

1.3 Significance of the study 2

1.4 Structure of the study 2

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 3

2.1 Introduction 3

2.2 The concept of anxiety 3

2.2.1 Definition of anxiety 3

2.2.2 Types of anxiety 3

2.3 Foreign language anxiety 4

2.3.1 Definition of foreign language anxiety 4

2.3.2 Sources of foreign language anxiety 5

2.4 Foreign language test anxiety 12

2.4.1 Definition of foreign language test anxiety 12

2.4.2 Causes of foreign language test anxiety 12

2.5 The english test in the national graduation exam in Vietnam 14

2.5.1 An overview of the english curriculum in the general education program 14

2.5.2 A general description of the format of the english national high school graduation test 15

2.5.3 The english test matrix 15

2.6 Review of related studies 15

2.6.1 Research on the global scale 16

2.6.2 Research in Vietnam 17

2.6.3 Research gaps 17

2.7 Summary 18

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 19

3.1 Introduction 19

3.2 Participants 19

3.3 Data collection 19

3.3.1 Rationale for selecting data collection instruments 19

3.3.2 Description of data collection instruments 20

3.3.3 Procedures for data collection 21

3.4 Data analysis 21

3.5 Summary 22

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 23

4.1 Introduction 23

4.2 The causes of students‟ test anxiety 23

4.2.1 Causes related to learners‟ perceived threat of tests 23

4.2.2 Causes related to learners‟ research and learning skills 26

4.2.3 Causes related to learners‟ test performance attributions 28

4.3 Students‟ responses to their own anxiety 30

4.3.1 Students‟ physical responses to their own anxiety 30

4.3.2 Students‟ psychological responses to their own anxiety 32

4.4 Summary 33

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 34

5.1 Summary of the key findings 34

5.2 Implications for teaching practice 35

5.3 Implications for student learning 35

5.4 Limitations of the study 35

5.5 Suggestions for further studies 36

REFERENCES 37 APPENDIX

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1: Causes related to learners‟ perceived threat of tests 23

Table 4.2: Causes related to learners‟ research and learning skills 26

Table 4.3: Causes related to learners‟ test performance attributions 28

Table 4.4: Students‟ physical responses to their own anxiety 30

Table 4.5: Students‟ psychological responses to their own anxiety 32

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

FLA : Foreign language anxiety

TA : Test anxiety

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Academic stress is a widespread problem across countries, cultures and ethnic groups (Wong, Wong, & Scott, 2006) Every student strives to achieve academic success in order to achieve esteem, family pride and social mobility (Gow, Bella, Kember, & Hau, 1996) This leads to extremely high academic expectations and exceptional pressure on students and teenagers in particular (e.g Bossy, 2000; Ho, 1996) The students are unable to enjoy their academic life as a result of pressure and demands to perform well in the exam and it becomes joyless and burdensome for them

Stress can be regarded as any physical, chemical or emotional factor that causes body or mental unrest and can be a factor in causing disease Trauma, illnesses, toxins, diseases, and wounds of any kind are physical and chemical causes of stress There are many and varying psychological triggers of stress and tension Sometimes a moderate degree of pressure and stress can be helpful For example, when performing a task or assignment, feeling slightly anxious often helps us to do a good job, focus better, and work energetically But if students encounter intense stress before and during testing, it will have implications for mental health and somatic symptoms (Lee & Larson, 2000; Verma & Gupta, 1990) Because of high exam stress, students spent less time socializing and engaging in passive and active leisure that can further magnify the impact of exam stress (Lee & Larson, 2000) In reality, getting stressed a bit about the exam means that students really care about the result they are going to get They are being forced to work hard to get a good ranking Nevertheless, when the anxiety caused by the stressful test exceeded severe or subclinical levels, it interfered with the ability of students to perform at their best Stress and anxiety felt before and during the tests are often due to fear of failure and can have a significant negative impact on the student‟s self-esteem Anxiety screening has been reported to produce adverse cognitive effects, including memory problems and information retrieval

The English test in the national high school graduation exam has become more and more critical in the past few years in Vietnam With English being a compulsory subject in the curriculum, it is expected that high school students would receive high marks in the English test in the high school graduation exam and would be admitted to a university subsequently Nevertheless, a large number

of Vietnamese students have been performing worst in English in the exam, that

is, they obtained below-average scores in English, 78.22% in 2018, 68.74 % in

2019, and 63.1% in 2020, respectively Accordingly, it is advised that students should be able to identify the causes of their own anxiety, and equipped with learning skills as well as strategies to alleviate test anxiety in order to achieve better academic outcomes (Ansi-Danso, Amissah, & Effrim, 2015)

1.2 Aims of the study and research questions

Given that high school students are struggling to deal with the English test in the national high school graduation exam, the current study aims to investigate the causes of EFL students‟ anxiety in preparing for the English test and their

responses to their own anxiety It endeavours to address the following questions:

1 What are the causes of anxiety among the students in preparing for the English test in the national high school graduation exam?

2 How do the students respond to their own anxiety?

1.3 Significance of the study

First, the study aims to find out causes of anxiety among the 12th-grade students in preparing for English test in the national high school graduation exam at an upper-secondary school in Hue and suggests some possible solutions to anxiety which can help student recognize their difficulties, cope with and reduce anxiety as well as find out some solutions to solve their problems during the time they prepare for the test

Second, the study is useful for the teachers to understand their students‟ obstacles Then they might select some appropriate teaching methods to help their students take the actual English examination with lower anxiety

1.4 Structure of the study

The research consists of five chapters, namely Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Findings and Discussion, and Conclusion

- Chapter 1 introduces the background, the aims of the study and the research questions, the significance of the study and the structure of the study

- Chapter 2 presents the review of the literature relevant to the research, particularly focusing on the related studies to the field to identify the research gaps

- Chapter 3 provides the research methodology including information about research participants, data collection and data analysis

- Chapter 4 displays the findings and discussion of the study

- Chapter 5 presents the summary of key research findings, implications for teaching practice and students‟ learning, the limitations of the study and the suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

This chapter aims to introduce the concept of anxiety (2.2); foreign language anxiety (2.3); foreign language test anxiety (2.4); the English test in the

national graduation exam in Vietnam (2.5), and review of related studies (2.6)

2.2 The concept of anxiety

2.2.1 Definition of anxiety

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Freud (1920) claimed that anxiety resembled or terrified Scovel (1978) indicated that anxiety is linked to feelings of uncomfort, anger, self-doubt, fear, or worry Horwitz et al (1986) described anxiety as a subjective experience of stress, anticipation, nervousness and anxiety associated with an autonomous nervous system excitement

In fact, anxiety is the state of the individual when he / she experiences

“discomfort, anger, self-doubt, distress, or depression” similar to any other specific anxiety (Scovel, 1978, p 134) But as Piniel (2006) states, anxiety as encountered by the person while studying a foreign language is a new field of study, which has now acquired a separate category Language learning anxiety

is described by MacIntyre (1989) as “the worry and negative emotional reaction produced when learning or using a second language.” Wei (2007) has drawn attention to how language learning contexts particularly affect anxiety arousal ESL anxiety research is itself challenging because of numerous factors such as competition, specific difficulties in language processing and development, personal and interpersonal anxieties and beliefs, and also because second language learning can challenge the learner‟s self-concept; therefore, it is not possible to study second language learning anxiety in isolation

Young (1991) proposed six potential sources of language anxiety: (1) personal and interpersonal anxieties, (2) learner beliefs about language learning, (3)instructor beliefs about language teaching, (4) instructor- learner interactions, (5) classroom procedures, and (6) language testing

2.2.2 Types of anxiety

A great deal of effort has been devoted to establishing the role of psychological factors in the learners‟ success or failure in current EFL research Affective variables with “anxiety” as one of their sub-categories are among

them is called trait anxiety and is defined as “a relatively stable tendency in a wide variety of circumstances to show anxiety” (Phillips, 1992, p 14) Another type of anxiety is state anxiety, described as “situation-specific trait anxiety; that

is, individual suffering from state anxiety will manifest stable tendency to exhibit anxiety but only in a particular situation (Phillips, 1992, p 14) Those who may interpret situations as threatening are known to have state anxiety, a social form of anxiety that arises under certain circumstances Situation-specific anxiety or circumstance-specific anxiety refers to the recurrent and multi-faceted nature of certain anxieties This is triggered by a particular form of circumstance or occurrence, such as public speaking, test, or class involvement Situation-induced anxiety is linked to aroused fear at particular events and circumstances Situation-clinical anxiety is triggered by particular situations or activities such as public speaking, analysis or recitations

Kleinmann (2011) divided anxiety into two different concepts, facilitating and debilitating anxiety, with the former being an advantage to performance and weakening performance-damaging anxiety FLA itself may have opposite effects on language learning and, as such, literature addresses both debilitating and facilitating forms of anxiety, where debilitating anxiety poses a barrier to language learning, while facilitating anxiety promotes or encourages it Although both types exist, studies have mostly concentrated on the former

2.3 Foreign language anxiety

2.3.1 Definition of foreign language anxiety

There has been much research in foreign language anxiety over the past two decades It is characterized as a separate complex of self-perceptions, values, feelings, and behaviours related to the use of a language beyond the classroom for communication Even though anxiety may not be the main reason for learning failure or success, we cannot disregard its affection

Anxiety is unavoidable when one learns a foreign language It is believed that when learning to speak a foreign language, anxiety is a main challenge to

be solved or overcome MacIntyre and Gardner (1989) defined language learning anxiety as the anxiety and negative emotional reaction produced when learning or using a second language Khattak, Jamshed, Ahmad and Baig (2011) noted that the sense of stress, anxiety or nervousness of learners may slow down

or trigger problems for their language learning and performance abilities to be achieved In addition, anxiety may impede good performance and achievement

in language learning since a large number of foreign language learners are frequently impaired by anxiety (Andrade & Williams, 2009)

2.3.2 Sources of foreign language anxiety

Here and there in the literature a great number of origins or causes of foreign language anxiety have been reported For example, Horwitz et al (1986) considered anxiety regarding foreign languages as a result of the difficulties of learners expressing themselves authentically in the new language Sparks and Ganschow and their colleagues believed that the only explanation for foreign language anxiety was poor language learning capacity (e.g., Sparks & Ganschow, 1991, 1993a, 1993b) MacIntyre and Gardner (1993) indicated that language anxiety originated from frequent negative encounters linked to foreign language Young (1991) suggested six possible causes of language anxiety: (1) personal and interpersonal anxieties; (2) language learner convictions; (3) language teacher beliefs; (4) language teacher interactions; (5) classroom procedures; and (6) language testing Young (1991, 1994, 1999) classified foreign language anxiety sources in those originating from the learner, the teacher, and the teaching environment

Nevertheless, there has been no systematic and thorough coverage of all the established sources and those possible sources which have not been reported Centered on a comprehensive analysis of the literature and the observations of the researchers themselves, the present study indicates that anxiety in the foreign language originates from major sources, i.e the classroom environment, learner characteristics, target language and the learning process of foreign languages itself

2.3.2.1 Classroom environment

To a large degree, the foreign language anxiety of learners is correlated with classes in foreign languages The two main indicators of anxiety in foreign languages , i.e The French Classroom Anxiety Scale of Gardner ( 1985) and the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scales of Horwitz et al (1986) (FLCAS) are based on the experience of learners in the classroom setting It is clear that the atmosphere in the classroom can be a source of anxiety about foreign languages In the classroom setting, the teacher and the instructional activities identified by Young (1991) can be subsumed In addition, the teacher, the behavior of classmates and the relationship between learners and classmates may also contribute to the atmosphere of the classroom Therefore, as a source of foreign language anxiety, the classroom atmosphere consists of 3 sources, i.e the teacher‟s role, classroom activities, and relationships among the students in the classroom

The role of the teacher

The teacher has been discovered to play a significant role in the anxiety levels of students in a foreign language class Allemand and Aida (1994), for instance, were especially interested in the instructor‟s effect on levels of anxiety One teacher was judged to be "authoritarian" in their studies, while the other was seen as "facilitative." On their perceptions of high stress and anxiety, students from the "authoritarian" teacher class commented; students from the

"facilitative" teacher class were found to be more relaxed and less anxious Price (1991, p.106) also stated, based on the results of interviews with anxious students, that the teacher “had played a major role in the amount of anxiety each student had encountered in specific classes.” Price also pointed out that some teachers who mocked student accents or high school instructors who walked with a yard stick around the classroom and dropped it on the desk of someone who did not listen were believed to raise the discomfort of the students

It was also recorded that those teachers who made class time a show rather than a learning time provoked anxiety On the contrary, the teachers, who encouraged, asked students to explore the value of making mistakes in language learning

A judgment-teaching mindset was seen by Samimy (1994) as provoking anxiety In foreign language classrooms, Aida (1994) interpreted a harsh way

of teaching as contributing to anxiety Young (1994) also regarded "the teachers as creating fear in harsh ways to correct student errors." Similarly, Palacios (1998) discovered that many instructor behaviors were associated with anxiety These attributes included the absence of teacher help, an unsympathetic personality, lack of personal attention time, a feeling that the class did not provide students with the resources required to fulfill the standards of the teacher, and the teacher's sense of being judged or the ability

to please the teacher On the other hand, in classes where teachers were compassionate, patient, sarcastic, recognizing the lack of knowledge of the students, had a willingness to help students achieve success, and cared for students, students were less nervous

Another source of language anxiety listed in the literature is the belief of instructors about language teaching The views of instructors that could trigger anxiety among students include the following, according to Young (1994, p 31):

1 Some intimidation of students is necessary

2 The instructors role is to correct students constantly

3 The instructor cannot have students working in pairs because the class may get out of control

4 That the instructor should be doing most of the talking and teaching

5 The instructor is a drill sergeant

In language classes, certain assumptions about language teaching are likely to manifest in the teacher's way and teaching methods, which, in turn, may contribute to feelings of anxiety for students

2.3.2.2 Learner characteristics

A variety of individual learner characteristics have been related to anxiety about the foreign language Such attributes include competitiveness, perfectionism, fear of negative feedback, poor self-esteem, low self-perception

of ability, and language learner values (e.g., Bailey, 1983; Price, 1991; Yan & Horwitz, 2008; Tallon, 2006) It should be remembered that these characteristics are possibly intricately interrelated with each other instead of being independent of each other They probably work together to cause anxiety in the language foreign in complex ways

Competitiveness

In a series of diary analyzes, Bailey (1983, p 96) found that competitiveness was a primary factor leading to anxiety about foreign language Bailey described competitiveness as the ability to outstand others in comparison

“Others” are usually classmates of the learner in this description, but a learner can compete with an idealized self-image, or with learners not directly involved in the language classroom If a learner perceives himself or herself as lacking in comparison with others or the idealized self-image, anxiety may result from such competitiveness The study of Bailey‟s diary revealed that she appeared to equate herself regularly with other students in the class, and that she was nervous when she considered herself less qualified Her anxiety decreased, however, as she considered herself more qualified and therefore better able to “compete” with her peers Bailey (1983, p 93) also noted that competitive language learners shared several other characteristics, such as “the desire to outdo other language learners,” “the focus on or concern with tests and grades,” and “the desire to gain teacher approval.”

Perfectionism

Gregersen and Horwitz (2002) explored the relationship among service English teachers in Chile between anxiety and perfectionism about foreign languages They found that nervous learners throughout their life have tended to be perfectionists They also concluded that in terms of their characteristics, nervous language learners and perfectionists had much in

pre-common Perfectionists, for example, appeared to overestimate the negative effect of their mistakes, and the likelihood of unfavorable feedback by others They were too preoccupied with the ratings and views of their instructors and peers The non-perfectionists, on the other hand, tended to use self-evaluation more frequently, and usually gave themselves constructive evaluations Furthermore, not only were the perfectionist students more concerned with their mistakes, but also graded their mistakes more severe than the non-perfectionists Perfectionist students and anxious students shared many common characteristics

in Gregersen and Horwitz‟s (2002) study, and perfectionist students seemed more likely to suffer from anxiety than non-perfectionists

Fear of negative feedback

Horwitz et al (1986) defined fear of negative feedback as being linked to anxiety in the foreign language They stated that both competitiveness and perfectionism involve fear of negative evaluation Horwitz et al (1986) attributed anxiety associated with language learning, and used the difficulties

of learners to portray themselves authentically in the new language: adults usually view themselves as relatively intelligent, socially-advantaged individuals, prone to various socio-cultural mores These assumptions are rarely challenged when communicating in a native language, as understanding others or making oneself understood is not usually difficult The situation, however, stands in marked contrast when learning a foreign language As individual communication attempts are measured according to unclear or even unknown linguistic and socio-cultural norms, contact with second language requires risk-taking, and is inevitably problematic Since complex and non-spontaneous mental operations are needed to communicate at all, any performance is likely to question the self-concept of a person as a competent communicator and lead to reticence, self-awareness; fear or even panic

According to Horwitz et al (1986), if their language skills were not strong enough, foreign language learners were unable to communicate openly

or to view themselves authentically in the country For example, in their native language they could sound very funny, witty or clever, but they could not show their charm in the foreign language in front of others In this situation, self-conscious language learners were worried that they would be treated differently by people than the way they saw themselves Horwitz (2000) thought those feelings were close to the frustration that people would encounter when they get a bad haircut or wear clothes they do not want This can be shown, fear of harsh feedback is at the heart of Horwitz‟s interpretation

of the origin of anxiety This also appears that Horwitz‟s argumentation

promotes competition as a source of terror In Horwitz‟s theory, foreign language learners compare themselves to an idealized self-image, that is to say, an person who is “intelligent,” “socially adept;” anxiety occurs when they realize they can not fulfill their self-created expectations

Low self-esteem and self-perceptions

Some researchers associated low self-esteem and low self-perceptions with anxiety Young (1994) cited low self-esteem as one of the learner traits that lead to anxiety about language foreign Young (1992) earlier conducted a series of interviews with language experts to evoke their opinions on anxiety

in foreign languages Krashen (1981) replied that the degree of self-esteem of

a person was highly correlated with language anxiety: The more I think about self-esteem, the more impressed I am with its effects For other cases this is what triggers anxiety Individuals with low self-esteem worry about what their colleagues think: they want to impress others So I believe that fear has to do a great deal (Young, 1992, p 15)

Price‟s (1991) study also supported the perspective The subjects in her study were extremely nervous language learners and most of them assumed that their language abilities were lower than those of their peers and that everyone else in the class looked down on them because they did a bad job in language classes Gardner and MacIntyre (1993) found that anxious language learners appeared to underestimate their real language abilities, indicating that anxious language learners appeared to have low self-esteem and poor language abilities expectations Competitiveness is potentially connected to low self-esteem or poor self-perception As previously described, Bailey (1983) indicated that language learners tended to compare themselves to others, especially their classmates They became anxious or stressed when they perceived themselves

to be less proficient or have lower language learning ability

Learner beliefs

The views of students on language learning as being correlated with anxiety have been supported by a variety of researchers (Horwitz et al 1986; Horwitz, 1988, 1989; Palacio 1998; Price 1991; Young 1991) Young (1991,

p 428) concluded that "learner beliefs in language learning are a significant contributor to language anxiety" and that "anxiety occurs when beliefs and reality conflict.” Many students have unreasonable assumptions about studying language For example, language learners in Horwitz‟s (1988) study had the following convictions: (1) whether their utterances are correct or not is very important; (2) “an excellent accent” is highly desirable; (3) language

learning involves translation primarily; (4) two years of study are sufficient to achieve fluency in a foreign language: (5) some people have a greater ability for learning the foreign language than others Those views are either misguided or irrational, as can be seen Language learners may create negative opinions about their capacity as a language learner when these expectations are not met in practice (which is very likely to happen) Because low self-esteem or expectations may contribute to anxiety, these learners with such mistaken or unrealistic views can become very nervous language learners

In particular, two studies are exploring the relationship between assumptions about language learning and levels of anxiety in the foreign language, which seemed to support the above claim Horwitz (1989) found that, in beginning university Spanish classes, more nervous learners perceived language learning as being fairly difficult and considered themselves to be weak language learners Palacios (1998) discovered many values related to anxiety Mastering a language, for example, is a difficult task; phonetic translation is necessary to speak in a foreign language, and learning a language

is easier for young children When one considers himself or herself as having a poor language learning capacity, he or she may generally interpret language learning as being very difficult and thus feel insecure about language learning The literature seems to indicate that mistaken or unrealistic beliefs in language can lead to low perceptions

2.3.2.3 The target language

The target language is another possible cause of anxiety which is expressed by most language learners but has not yet been thoroughly investigated by researchers Many learners of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) who participated in Luo's (2011) study admitted that they felt more nervous about learning Chinese than learning Spanish as a foreign language It seems that the explanation is plain For American learners, Chinese is more difficult than Spanish because Spanish is more similar to English, whereas Chinese has foreign linguistic features including tones and characters

Research has shown that there is a high drop-out rate in Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) schools The high drop-out rates of the less widely taught foreign languages such as Chinese and Japanese are possibly due to the difficulty level of these languages, according to many researchers and scholars (Samimy & Tabuse, 1992; Norman, 1996; Pease, 1996; Oh, 1996) Studies have also shown that drop-outs reported substantially higher levels of anxiety (Gardner et al., 1987) and that students who were particularly nervous were at greater risk of dropping out of their language classes (Bailey et al., 2003)

In addition, several studies indicate that nervous foreign language learners appear to view learning foreign languages as a very difficult activity (Horwitz, 1989; Palacios, 1998) It is also fair to assume that the high drop-out rate of Chinese classes in the U.S is linked to the anxiety of students faced in Chinese classes and anxiety, which, in turn, may be a product of the Chinese language's difficulty level

The target language can also be inferred from a variety of other studies

as a cause of foreign language anxiety For example, Le (2004) found that when studying Chinese in study-abroad programs in China, American learners

of Chinese reported the highest level of anxiety relative to the anxiety levels of learners of other languages in other studies Aida (1994) discovered that the level of anxiety in Japanese students was significantly higher than in the Horwitz‟s (1986) study Aida (1994) thought this outcome was understandable because students may feel more nervous about learning a non-Western, foreign language such as Japanese than learning Western languages such as Spanish that are commonly taught

Furthermore, the anxiety of Japanese FL learners was found to vary in many ways somewhat from that of French learners For instance, the level of anxiety of Japanese learners increased as instruction continued, while French

FL learners' anxiety decreased (Samimy & Tabuse 1992; Saito & Sammy 1996; Gardner et al., 1977; Gardner et al., 1979) The disparity in findings was attributed by Kitano (2001) to the well-known complexity of the Japanese language and to the much-discussed discrepancies between the cultures of Japan and America As previously stated, for three different target languages (French, Russian and Japanese), learners' foreign language reading anxiety varied significantly (Saito et al., 1999) The target language appears to be a cause of foreign language anxiety, as can be seen I will go a step further and claim that language is internal or implicit in the target language-a certain degree of foreign language anxiety

Interestingly, however, Saito et al (1999) found no substantial differences among learners of the three different target languages in the degree

of general foreign language anxiety The FLCAS, a standardized foreign language anxiety scale that specifically discusses speaking anxiety, was used

in their analysis to assess the general foreign language anxiety of foreign language learners for all target languages

2.4 Foreign language test anxiety

2.4.1 Definition of foreign language test anxiety

Test anxiety arises from a fear of failure and evaluative situations, especially when students have poor results in previous exams (Horwitz et al., 1986) Learners with test anxiety are afraid of negative judgement and doubt their ability to make a proper impression (McIntyre & Gardner, 1991) In a foreign language setting, negative judgement comes primarily from both teachers and their peers Students who are afraid of negative evaluation may adopt the avoidance action According to Aida (1994), students who are afraid

of negative evaluation might “sit passively in the classroom, withdrawing from classroom activities that might otherwise improve their language skills In severe cases, students may think of cutting class to escape situations of distress, causing them to be left behind” (p 162) These components are considered to have a deleterious impact on foreign language learning (Horwitz et al., 1986)

2.4.2 Causes of foreign language test anxiety

Test anxiety has been extensively examined in terms of its connection to the test performance of foreign language learners as well as the way it influences their performance The factors responsible for it have been explored

in a growing body of studies

Young (1991) has, for example, established test validity as one of the most important factors in generating test anxiety Young (1991) noted that if a test contains material not taught in the curriculum or types of questions for which students had no experience, they felt nervous Two other causes of test anxiety including fear of having bad grades and limited time for the test are established by Ohata (2005) Moreover, Bachman and Palmer (1996) found that test anxiety can be triggered by insufficient test-taker characteristics such

as topical awareness, language expertise, personal characteristics, and strategic competence; test anxiety can also be related to the ability of learners, task complexity and lack of preparation for a test In the same line, language proficiency and language history were found to have an effect on students‟ test anxiety (Rotenberg, 2002) Specifically, learners‟ lower research skills, have been described as the best predictor of test anxiety by Rasor and Rasor (1998), while Horwitz (2001) indicated that inadequate language learning is a cause rather than a consequence of test anxiety

A number of other causes of test anxiety have also been discussed A relationship between the level of test anxiety and the situational variables such

as environments, form of exam halls, and sitting arrangements was concluded

by Lee (1988) and Bushnell (1978) Moreover, Shohamy (1992) and Oh (1992) discovered various test methods such as oral interview, cloze tests, and think aloud processes increased test anxiety and reactions The idea of teachers being strict in assessment also presents problems with anxiety (Horwitz & Young, 1991) In addition, Aydin (2008) reported the factors responsible for arousing test anxiety as low competence level, negative attitudes of learners and teachers, poor test encounters, time limits, complexity of course content, test invalidity and parental expectations Finally, some other possible causes of test anxiety were identified by Salend (2011) These include students' learned helplessness, unreasonable expectations, peer comparisons, low level of self-esteem and trust, negative attribution and criticism, pressure related to teacher and school, highly competitive classes, high-stake testing and grading, distracting testing environment, poorly designed or timed tests

It can be seen that there are a wide range of causes of test anxiety In general, these causes can be summarized as being relevant to three main

themes, including learners’ perceived threat of tests, learners’ research and

learning skills and learners’ test performance attributions

Learners’ perceived threat of tests

Several researchers (e.g., Lay, Edwards, Parker & Endler, 1989; Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1992) found that students with high-test anxiety appeared to view exams as threatening experiences when they saw a traumatic occurrence in the next evaluative circumstances Students' reasons for this perceived danger were that they have some personal barriers for learning or that the particular subject matter is complex and difficult (Bandalos, Yates, & Thorndike-Christ, 1995; Schutz & Davis, 2000)

Learners’ research and learning skills

Everson, Smodlaka, and Tobias (1995) revealed that when students had deficiencies in finding, collecting and storing materials during test planning, they exhibited high-test anxiety Furthermore, students with test anxiety were prevented from cognitive processes by the inability to employ successful study skills It was found that students with high-test anxiety studied far more than their peers with low anxiety, but the methods of study were highly repetitive and less efficient (Culler & Holohan, 1980)

Learners’ test performance attributions

Schwarzer and Jerusalem (1992) stated that as students encountered circumstances involving internally based failure attributions, it ensured that

the upcoming tests were likely to be dangerous In other words, students can pass past the "Challenge Level" of motivation and proceed to a level where danger is dominant The development of a "Loss of Influence" viewpoint is promoted in cases where students develop attributions that have externalised the locus of control

These three main themes relevant to the causes of test anxiety would be employed in the current study exploring the causes of anxiety in preparing for the national high school graduation English test

2.5 The English test in the national graduation exam in Vietnam 2.5.1 An overview of the English curriculum in the general education program

As described in Circular 32 issued by the MOET (2018), the General Education Program in the English language complies with the provisions laid down in the General Education Program of the Ministry of Education and Training, including general guidance on views, objectives, and achievement of requirements, educational plans and orientations on educational content, educational methods, assessment of learning outcomes and conditions for the implementation of the program Moreover,the English general education curriculum is based on the view that the purpose of the teaching process is to communicate; language knowledge is a means of learning and developing communication skills by listening, speaking, reading, and writing

Circular 32 (MOET, 2018) also indicates that, regarding the educational objectives, after finishing the English curriculum of the upper-secondary school, students are expected to use English as a communication tool through the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing to meet basic and practical communication needs for familiar topics Students are also expected

to continue to form and develop essential English skills, including phonetics, vocabulary, grammar, etc simultaneously, recognizing and respecting the diversity of cultures through English, getting a deeper understanding of the nation, people, and cultures of the English-speaking countries and other countries around the world, initially reflecting the Vietnamese cultural values

in English They should also use English to raise the quality of learning in other subjects in general education and pursue higher academic objectives or get into work

After completing high school English, students are expected to reach Level 3 of the 6-level Language Proficiency System for Vietnamese In particular, students can understand the key points of passages or speech in

familiar topics such as work, school, entertainment, etc They can control most cases in which the language is spoken Moreover, they can write simple paragraphs relating to common topics or their interests They should also have

a deeper understanding of the countries, people, cultures of English speaking countries and other countries around the world through English; appreciate and respect the cultural diversity, while at the same time initially reflect Vietnam's cultural values in English; build qualities of patriotism, people, honesty, compassion and responsibility for the environment and society

2.5.2 A general description of the format of the English national high school graduation test

Sixty minutes is the maximum length of time allotted for the national English graduation test (not including delivery time) The English test is taken

in a multiple-choice format and does not include speaking and listening When doing the test, students have to fill their answers in the answer sheet Students are advised to finish all the questions in order to maximize the opportunity of obtaining high score Following is a general description of the test format, as presented by Pham et al (2016) (see Appendix 2)

2.5.3 The English test matrix

Based on the sample test issued by the Ministry of Education and Training for the 2020 National High School Examination, knowledge of the examination questions should be closely related to the general program There are 50 questions in the test, and the information matrix distributed is as follows:

From the matrix analysis table (Appendix 1), we can see that the number

of application questions and the high degree of application questions concentrate on vocabulary and reading comprehension For the most parts, it would be difficult for students to answer questions related to such content Therefore, in order to find out the causes of anxiety, the current study specifically concentrated on analyzing vocabulary (including a phrasal verb, word choice, antonym) and reading (including word choice, asking about the title, closest meaning, asking about specific information, asking about inference question) in the national English graduation test Additionally, other parts (such as pronunciation, stress patterned, grammar, communication function, writing) were also covered to ensure an overview of the test

2.6 Review of related studies

The anxiety and test anxiety studies have attracted much attention from

researchers in Vietnam and worldwide

2.6.1 Research on the global scale

Dewaele, Petrides, and Furnham (2008), in a large-scale survey of multilingual adults worldwide, found that younger individuals, when they started learning a second or third language, had lower language anxiety rates Lower levels of anxiety were also associated with more language skills and higher levels of Emotional Intelligence This article has analyzed language learners who are successful and who use the language outside the classroom, unlike most previous research This study indicates that in addition to individual factors, broader social conditions such as the availability of positive conversational partners and L2 role models may play a role in reducing language anxiety

Akinleke and Adeaga (2014) investigated how the test anxiety, study habits, and locus of control affected academic performance among college students with 508 participants through the questionnaire The study established that academic performance, non-cognitive and socio-psychological changes were closely related Early intervention and immediate preventive interventions were then created and applied, which would help alleviate students' anxiety In particular, the right study strategies were developed, such

as evaluating the level of understanding, making sense of the textbook information, and realizing the purpose of learning a particular thing

Akinsola and Augustina (2013) conducted the study of Test anxiety, depression, and academic performance: Assessment and arrangement using relaxation and cognitive restructuring techniques to investigate changes in anxiety levels among 420 senior secondary participants The results show that test anxiety, trait anxiety, and depression existed together and had a positive relationship with and adverse effects on academic performance It is also better to combine relaxation with cognitive restructuring treatment to reduce anxiety and depression rather than only relaxation treatment The findings thus show cognitive therapy‟s efficacy in managing anxiety and depression and improving academic performance

Two causes of test anxiety that include fear of having bad grades and time limits are established by Ohata (2005) Most of his study participants, with five Japanese college students in the United States, said they were reluctant to take tests because test-taking conditions would make them hesitant about the adverse effects of having bad grades They also felt often forced to think that they had to plan their ideas in a short period

2.6.2 Research in Vietnam

In the background of Vietnam, Hoang Thi Mai Hoa (2011) was concerned about factors affecting students‟ oral presentation skills in English using the questionnaire method to perform the analysis with the 106 participants at Hanoi Tourism School From the findings, she concluded that the expressions of the ideas with words were precisely articulated The fluidity of presentation and the development of a reasonable manner were three factors influencing oral presentation skills in English She also claimed that a poorly prepared project was one of the causes of English oral presentation skills for students

Ho Thi Anh (2013) conducted a student anxiety study at the Academy of Policy and Development in five first-year classes with 50 students in the speaking class The study‟s principal instruments were interviews and questionnaires These findings showed that the causes of anxiety in speaking

amongst students were personal and interpersonal issues

Among these few studies is Chastain‟s (1975), in which test anxiety was negatively and moderately associated with course grades in the beginner-level French audiolingual classes, while test anxiety was positively and relatively weakly correlated at the beginner-level, standard French classes (r = 0.18) and test anxiety was positively and weakly correlated in the beginner-level, standard German and Spanish classes In Horwitz‟s (1986) study, test anxiety had a negative and inferior relationship to final grades in foreign language students at the introductory level

Joy (2013) explored the level of test anxiety associated with language learners The findings showed that the test stage was the most anxiety-provoking period, followed by the pretest period Post-test stage was the least anxiety-provoking stage Surprisingly, all study participants indicated that teachers had not helped them cope with test anxiety Based on the inconclusive results obtained in previous studies, it appears that further work

second-in this area is required

After the Ministry of Education and Training had provided the 12th students with the sample tests, the teacher-researcher wondered how the learners should master skills and knowledge for an actual test Foreign language test anxiety has been explored in several previous studies However, most studies have focused on college and university students, while studies involving high school students‟ foreign language test anxiety have been minimal

Therefore, the current researcher decided to conduct the study entitled

“An investigation into EFL students‟ anxiety in preparing for the national English graduation exam at an upper-secondary school in Hue.”

2.7 Summary

This chapter has introduced the theoretical background of anxiety, foreign language anxiety, sources of foreign language anxiety, and foreign language test anxiety, including their definitions, types of anxiety on language learning and the test itself, as well as attitudes and reactions of students toward foreign language anxiety In addition, this chapter attempted to review a number of related studies that indicate the research gaps, thus pinpointing the research topic

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

This chapter focuses its discussion on the participants (3.2), the data collection (3.3), and data analysis (3.4) of the study Significantly, the data collection presented in different sub-sections, including the rationale for selecting data collection instruments (3.3.1), description of data collection instruments (3.3.2), and the procedures of data collection (3.3.3)

Concerning the sample size for a study, Jr (2009) stated that increasing the sample size is one way to ensure the reliability of the data However, it is difficult to determine how large the sample size is for particular studies Jr (2009) also suggested other factors affecting data reliability, such as response rates, question design or data collection quality With a population of 500 12-grade students at the school, the sample size of 84 students together with the carefully designed data collection instruments were expected to contribute to the reliability of the data

Ten out of the 84 surveyed students were selected to take part in a subsequent interview session These 10 students had the most specific ideas about the causes of anxiety, and were therefore chosen to further explain their opinions as well as provide a variety of information about the students‟ attitudes and reactions toward their own anxiety

3.3 Data collection

3.3.1 Rationale for selecting data collection instruments

“A survey research is a study of a large group (a population) through direct study of a subset of that group (a sample)”

(Johnson D.M, 1992, p.104)

A survey design uses different data collection procedures to allow the teacher- researcher-educator- educator to investigate a construct by asking questions of either fact or opinion from a population sample with a view to population generalization The term survey is a paragliding term that allows many procedures for collecting data, including questionnaires, interview, and observations

Survey design is good for providing information for curriculum development, including needs analysis and program evaluation, as well as

researching certain topics (Brown, 1997) Survey design can generate not only

descriptive summary but also generalized statements based on large databases (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2000, p.171)

Questionnaire and interview were employed to collect data for the current research These data collection instruments have their own strengths and weaknesses; however, they work very well for research on language anxiety Questionnaire, according to Oxford Dictionaries (2015), is a set of printed or written questions with a choice of answers, devised for the purposes

of a survey or a statistical study Mather, Fox, and Hunn (2009) argued that it

is convenient to use questionnaire for collecting “useful comparable data” if there are a large number of participants However, the questions and layout of questionnaire should be carefully designed because the researcher does not always directly communicate with respondents

According to Annum (2015), interview is described as an interaction in which the interviewer asks oral questions to obtain oral answers from the interviewer Phellas, Bloch, and Seale (2012) believed the interview would definitely have more advantages than the questionnaire One advantage is that if necessary, the interviewer may require more information from the interviewees

In addition, in many cases the interviewer can clarify questions when interviewees do not understand the meaning of the questions On the other hand, the interviewer spends more time performing the interviews, and during the interviews, interviewees may be influenced by the perspectives of the interviewer

3.3.2 Description of data collection instruments

Both the questionnaires and the interview questions were in Vietnamese

to facilitate the participants‟ provision of information Participants‟ responses were then translated into English to be analysed and interpreted

The first part of questionnaire consists of three parts with 22 statements being designed in 3 themes relevant to the causes of anxiety, including

learners‟ perceived threat of tests, learners‟ research and learning skills and learners‟s test performance attributions Participants responded to statements

in a five-point Likert type scale, with responses ranging from “strongly agree‟‟

to “strongly disagree.”

The second part of questionnaire included questions about students‟ physical responses and psychological responses to their own anxiety If participants had experience that was listed in items, they could select one or more responses at the same time

The interview protocol included questions to further elaborate on students‟ responses in the questions, assisting the interviewees to feel free to express themselves The questions asked if the students did experience test anxiety and then focused on the main causes of students‟ anxiety when preparing for the test The interview also explored how students responded to their own anxiety by proposing ways to alleviate it

3.3.3 Procedures for data collection

The study included four steps Firstly, the researcher translated the statements in questionnaires into Vietnamese in order to overcome the students‟ incapability of self-expression in English Secondly, the researcher sent the translated questionnaires to another reader for revision Thirdly, the researcher delivered the questionnaires measuring the causes of anxiety to participants 2 weeks before they entered the example English test It took the participants a maximum of 30 minutes to answer the questionnaire containing two major parts about the causes of anxiety (See Appendix 2) and their response to the anxiety (See Appendix 3) Finally, interviews in Vietnamese (See Appendix 4) with 10 selected students were carried out two days later

3.4 Data analysis

As Rao and Woolcock (2003) stated, a mix of qualitative and quantitative data is typically used to create an understanding of both measured impact and process The current study combined both quantitative and qualitative data obtained from the questionnaire and interview While the data obtained from the questionnaires were analyzed quantitatively, the data from the interview were interpreted qualitatively Specifically, the data collected from the questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics; the data were presented in tables with numbers and percentages and then discussed in relation to the available literature on learners‟ foreign language anxiety Students‟ interviews were transcribed to demonstrate that they support the questionnaires' findings (Dorneyi, 2007)

3.5 Summary

This chapter presented details about the participants, followed by the description of data collection instruments, information about data collection procedures and data analysis procedures The following chapter would provide the details about the findings and results of the study

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Introduction

This chapter would like to present findings and discussion of the study

on the causes of students‟ test anxiety (4.2), their response to anxiety (4.3), and some possible solutions (4.4)

4.2 The causes of students’ test anxiety

4.2.1 Causes related to learners’ perceived threat of tests

Table 4.1: Causes related to learners’ perceived threat of tests N= 84

No Causes Strongly

disagree N= 84

Disagree

N= 84

Agree partly N= 84

Agree

N= 84

Strongly agree

when doing the

mock test before

the real test

0 (0%)

2 (2.4%)

16 (19.0%)

58 (69.1%)

8 (9.5%)

have much time

left to prepare for

the English test

0 (0%)

1 (1.2%)

13 (15.5%)

41 (48.8%)

29 (34.5%)

The table 4.1 displays the causes related to learners‟ perceived threat of tests Statements 1 to 6 involve the causes related to the content being tested The data in Table 1 indicates that the majority of the students believed that the difficult content of the test made them anxious, for example, collocations and idioms (76.2%), expressions serving communication purposes (67.1%),

vocabulary at advanced level (85.7%), or difficult types of questions in the reading passages such as inference questions (82.1%) Nonetheless, only 7.2% and 19.1% of the students felt nervous about the sound and stress parts, that is, questions about pronunciation, respectively

Statements 7 to 10 refer to the causes related to personal barriers, including the pressure of time to prepare for the examination, limited ability of concentration and lack of confidence when facing the mock tests Of all the causes, the students felt most nervous when they did not have enough time to prepare for the real examination (83.3%) They also found that having only four English hours a week is not enough to obtain the required knowledge for the examination (78.6%)

The findings from the questionnaire show that the difficult contents of the test and the pressure of time to prepare for the test were the two major causes of the students‟ fear for the test Data from the interview further supported the questionnaire findings The interviewed students claimed that they were nervous when the preparation time was limited in addition to the complex contents in the English sample tests In particular, they shared the ideas that they had never known some structures and vocabulary in the sample tests before and they were desperately looking for help from both teachers and their peers The complicated content together with the lack of time made them anxious, thus preventing them

from identifying the correct answer effectively As student C said, “Finding too

many tough questions in the English tests leaves me tired I could only complete 3 reading questions”, or student G complained “I seem to have never understood structures and some new words … Moreover, there are so many compulsory subjects in the national exam, so I had to split the amount of time for each subject Therefore, I found that there was not much time for English”

Literature has indicated that anxious students can show self-deprecating rumination about tests held during the test preparation For test-anxious students, self-deprecating thoughts are a widely cited phenomenon (Sarason et al., 1996; Schutz & Davis, 2000; Segal, 1996), but the event has previously been reported alone during the testing period Perceived threatening assessments are likely to make the preparation stage of test one of confusion and discomfort for students with high-cognitive anxiety problems The pattern

of failures encountered by these students tends to create a condition in which they see the coming examination as another possible occurrence that decreases appreciation, maybe one in which they do not have the skills or resources required to address the perceived danger (Bandura, 1989; Onwuegbuzie & Daley, 1996; Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1992)

4.2.2 Causes related to learners’ research and learning skills

Table 4.2: Causes related to learners’ research and learning skills

N= 84

Agree

N= 84

Strongly agree

N= 84

11 I feel anxious when

I cannot collect

more sample tests

to prepare for the

because I did not

review all the

but do not know

how to use them in

The given table show the causes related to learners‟ research and learning skills Statements 11, 12, and 13 involve the causes associated with learners‟ research skill, that is, the skill of finding and collecting related materials to prepare for the test Learning materials were either sample tests or English exercises from books or the Internet Among these types of materials, the students felt most anxious (78.5%) when they could not identify appropriate English materials from the Internet Furthermore, being unable to find relevant exercises from English books for grammar and vocabulary practice and not having access

to more sample tests both made up to 75% of the students suffer stress

Statements 14, 15, and 16 refer to the causes related to learners‟ study skills It can also be seen that a large number of the students (77.4%) expressed their agreement with the opinion that being unable to study efficiently for the English test made them worried What is more, 70.2% of the students believed that their study methods were not appropriate For example, they did not review all the required components and skills for the test or they just memorized the vocabulary and structures but did not really know how to answer the questions about these language components

The findings of the questionnaire indicate that students faced difficulties

in both research and learning skills, among which they felt worried most about how to select the right materials from the massive sources from the Internet as well as how to study efficiently for the test Data from the interviews also illustrated these dominant opinions The interviewed students claimed that they felt lost in the abundant materials from the Internet and therefore could not identify which ones were most relevant and appropriate Moreover, the students emphasized their getting stuck in trying to study effectively for the

test As student A exclaimed, “What should I do to prepare for the test? How

much time should I spend for English practice? I also need to be equipped with some strategies to deal with multiple choice questions.”

Students with weak study skills have also been found to be deficient during the test preparation process of self-monitoring (Covington, 1992) Poor study orientation and poor comprehension and selection of learning materials are also responsible for students‟ fear of test (Desiderato & Koskein, 1969) In addition, the data of the current study confirms MeichenBaum and Butler‟s (1980) view, that is, many variables are correlated with test anxiety, such as learners‟ awareness about their study conditions and learners‟ study skills Poor study orientation, ineffective preparation, have been found to involve the students in self-defeating thoughts and their low possibility of success makes them worry about the consequences of failure Lin and McKeachie (1970) attributed their weak study patterns to the low performance of students who were nervous about testing

4.2.3 Causes related to learners’ test performance attributions

The statements in this section might be mistakenly understood as being similar to those in the previous sections about the students‟ fear for the test itself (4.1) and the causes related to learners‟ research and learning skills (4.2) Nonetheless, as Schwarzer and Jerusalem (1992) claimed, learners‟ test performance attributions referred to the test situations already experienced by the students themselves and they found that these circumstances would be very likely to result in failures in their own future test performance; the statements in the following table mainly describe the problems that students might face or recognize while doing the sample tests and/or the mock test These difficulties were supposed to be dangerous for the students‟ performance in the real test

Table 4.3: Causes related to learners‟ test performance attributions N= 84

Agree

N= 84

Strongly agree N= 84

17 I feel anxious

when I did not

spend enough time

practicing reading

comprehension

before the test

3 (3.6%)

7 (8.3%)

27 (32.1%)

34 (40.5%)

13 (15.5%)

18 I feel anxious when

I did not spend

enough time doing

while the test

contents have more

20 I feel anxious when

recognizing that the

when I could not

take control of the

divide time for

each part of the

Statements 20 and 21 show students‟ anxiety because their teacher had not taught all the vocabulary and structures presented in the test (71.4%) and they therefore could not control what the real test would include in its content (65.5%), respectively Interviewed students noticed that not all the words and structures provided in the example tests were taught by their teacher "As student D said,

"Because example tests were usually conducted during the period I was learning

12 programs, I was learning 12 program Thus, the example test could also have parts that had not been taught or reviewed by the teacher This caused us to be very anxious after having received the test results.”

The lack of skill to manage time when dealing with each part of the test also resulted in students‟ anxiety with about 55.9% of the students showing their agreement on statement 22 The students interviewed also share the same ideas, noticing that the reading part took up much of their time This caused them not to have enough time to do other sections, or not to have time in other sections to check the sentences they had selected

The findings of the questionnaire indicate that students‟ poor preparation for the test by relying on textbook only (84.5%) was a primary cause Students from the interviews also agreed that they relied much on the textbook, as student C said, “I have done textbook exercises in most of my time spared for the English test preparation; just a bit of time was spent on exercises provided

by the teachers or from the Internet.” It is obvious that students with poor study skills or preparatory processes generally face reduced performance, regardless of testing format, allowed time for task completion, or item difficulty (Covington & Omelich, 1987; NavehBenjamin, 1991) Conversely, students with adequate preparation skills are hypothesised to encounter failures only in the presence of debilitating contextual anxiety (Benjamin et al., 1981; McKeachie, 1984; Mueller, 1980)

4.3 Students’ responses to their own anxiety

4.3.1 Students’ physical responses to their own anxiety

Table 4.4: Students’ physical responses to their own anxiety

Sub-item Physical responses

Sub-item Physical responses

anxiety Students found that when they felt nervous, their hearts beat faster

(23.3%), and their checks were hot or burned (17.6%) after performing the

sample tests or the mock tests In addition, when students were stressed,

15.6% of them had some stomach symptoms and 14.5% of them found that

their development of perspiration increased

The questionnaire results suggest that faster heartbeat (23.3%) and

hot and burning checks are the most common physical responses

encountered by students These dominant opinions were also demonstrated

by data from the interviews The interviewed students argued that when

doing sample tests of complex collocations, idioms and phrases or reading

comprehension with reference questions, their heart beats faster and faster

As student C said: “my heart rate increased as I spent less time doing

exercises while I had English lessons in class or did the sample tests ”

Moreover, student F said that whenever he/she planned to take mock tests, he/she had stomach issues The students often said that they felt

nervous, experienced pain in the neck or shoulders, and had migraine

headaches, or had trouble breathing, sometimes or occasionally This was

shown by the students who reacted to the stress symptoms they encountered

This is in line with the greatest stress results (Agolla, 2009; McCarty et al., 2007;

Ongori, 2007)