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

Ministry of Education and TrainingHanoi University THE EFFECTS OF TEST-TAKING STRATEGY ANXIETY AND IMPROVING TEST RESULTS HIGH SCHOOL Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement

Ministry of Education and Training

Hanoi University

THE EFFECTS OF TEST-TAKING STRATEGY

ANXIETY AND IMPROVING TEST RESULTS HIGH

SCHOOL

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirement of the degree

of master of art in TESOL

Hanoi August 2015

Ministry of Education and Training

Hanoi University

THE EFFECTS OF TEST-TAKING STRATEGY

ANXIETY AND IMPROVING TEST RESULTS AT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii

ABSTRACT iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v

LIST OF TABLES vi

LIST OF FIGURES vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 4

1.3 Scope of the study 4

1.4 Significance of the study 5

1.5 Outline of the thesis 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Fundamental premise of test anxiety 7

2.2 Language learning strategies 8

2.3 Fundamental premise of test-taking strategies 10

2.4 Research on test anxiety 12

2.5 Gaps in the existing literature 19

2.6 Summary 20

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 21

3.1 Research questions 21

3.2 Subjects 21

3.3 Variables 22

3.4 Data collection instruments 22

3.5 Data collection procedures 25

3.6 Data analysis 27

3.7 Treatment: Test-taking strategy 28

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 36

4.1 Results 36

4.2 Discussion 47

CHAPTER 5: IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION 49

5.1 Implications 49

5.2 Further research and limitations 50

5.3 Conclusion 50

I would like to express my most sincere appreciation to my supervisor, Hoang ThiXuan Hoa, Ph.D for her encouragement and guidance throughout the research.Without her well-designed plan and meticulous review of the draft, this study wouldhave been impossible

I also wish to thank all the staff members of Post-graduate Department of HanoiUniversity for giving me the best environment to fulfill my thesis

I would like to acknowledge and express my appreciation to my colleagues fromDuong Xa High School for their enthusiastic supports and constructive suggestions incompleting this research

My special thanks also go to the students at Duong Xa High School who have helped

me to collect data for this study

Finally, my gratitude is extended to my family for their endless love, constant supportand encouragement

The objective of the study is to examine the effects of test-taking strategy instructions

on reducing Duong Xa High School students’ test anxiety and as a result improvingtheir test results

To achieve the objective of the study, the writer conducted a quasi-experimentalresearch The subjects were 96 students in grade 11 with the age of 16-17 The twointact groups were assigned to the experimental and control groups Both groups didthe same tests, but there was a difference: while the experimental group had test-taking strategy instructions, the control group did not

All participants took proficient pre- and post-tests, as well as the Westside TestAnxiety Scale was used to scale their test anxiety level The two groups also wroteself-reports to describe their attitude towards using test-taking strategies The resultsshow that test-taking strategy instructions helped the experimental group to reduce thestudents’ test anxiety and improved their test results, and the control group showedtheir eager to learn test-taking strategies

Based on the findings of the study, some discussion and implications were madealong with recommended suggestions for further research

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

- GCSE : General Certificate of Secondary Education

- FLAS: A foreign language anxiety scale

- FNE: a scale for fear of negative evaluation

- EFL: English as foreign language

- ESL: English as a second language

- LLS: Language learning strategy

- LLSI: Language learning strategy instruction

- LLSs: Language learning strategies

- L1: First language

- L2: Second language

- P: Probability value

LIST OF TABLES

26

35

Table 4.1: Statistics of Pre- and Post-test of the Experimental Group and the Control

Group

38

Table 4.2: Paired Samples T-Test for Pre- and Post-test of the Experimental Group

39

Table 4.3: Independent Samples T-Test for the Experimental Group and the Control

Group

40

Table 4.4: The number of the students with 1.0 - 1.9 comfortably low test anxiety and

41

Table 4.5: The number of the students with the test anxiety scale group

42

Table 4.6: Statistics of tests anxiety level within groups of participants

42

Table 4.7: Paired Samples T-Test for Tests anxiety level in Pre- and Post-test of the

44

Table 4.8: Independent Samples T-Test for Tests anxiety level between the

45

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4.1 Statistics of Pre- and Post-test of the Experimental Group and the Control

Group

38

40

Figure 4.3: Statistics of tests anxiety level within groups of participants

43

Figure 4.4: Statistics of tests anxiety level between the Experimental Group and

45

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study

1.1.1 Practical Perspective

Tests have become a powerful tool for decision making in our competitive society, withindividuals of all ages being frequently evaluated with respect to their achievement andabilities Consequently, how to perform better on tests has become a prime concern forstudents and teachers in almost all areas

Testing is also one of the primary causes of stress among students One reason for this isinaccurate conceptions of what to expect on a test and how to prepare for an exam Inaddition, many tests are less than perfect and do not always give an accurate assessment

of student ability Despite this, exams will probably continue to be the main method ofstudent evaluation because they are relatively efficient and objective measures ofstudent performance

Duong Xa High School, which was built in the year of 1971, is located in Gia LamDistrict of Hanoi There are 37 classes (grade 10, 11, and 12) with approximate 1,800students The students have to pass an entrance examination to be in school Moststudents in Duong Xa High School come from farming families and they cycle about 5

or 10 kilometers to school everyday English is one of compulsory subjects and it has

become a core subject of important examinations including the GCSE (General

Certificate of Secondary Education) examination

The students at Duong Xa High School often reveal that when taking tests, they are toonervous to recall the knowledge and they become confused In spite of the fact that thestudents show their good understanding and good ability during the English lessons,their test results are often lower than they and their teachers expect Then, their parents,their teachers and their friends’ negative attitudes towards that low result make thembecome more worried before every test Besides the fear of negative evaluation, thestudents also reveal that many of them lack of test-taking skills As a result, they are

disappointed with themselves and do not believe in their capacity, which brings aboutnegative effects on the interest and motivation in learning English

A part from the high school entrance examination that the students passed, every highschool student would be facing with other important examinations such as final

semester examinations, the GCSE examination, and university entrance examination.

Therefore, it is necessary and worth conducting a research at Duong Xa High School onhow to help students overcome test anxiety and as a result improve their test scores

1.1.2 Theoretical Perspective

The related literature on test anxiety in language learning point out that the factors thatinfluence 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, 1991) 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 thatmake test takers worried Similarly, learners with high levels of anxiety have lesscontrol of attention (Sarason, 1980, 1986) According to Chastain (1975), there was anegative 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 testsbecause 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 studyhabits, inadequate organizational skills, in-effective time management

Test anxiety becomes problematic when this nervousness is so high that it interfereswith test preparation and performance Test anxiety produces bad results, which makesstudents feel unconfident because the tests do not accurately measure their abilities Testanxiety is a major factor contributing to a variety of negative outcomes includingpsychological distress, academic underachievement, academic failure, and insecurity(Hembree, 1988) Many students have the cognitive ability to do well on exams but maynot 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)

When preparing for a test, previous research indicates that when students have tools andstrategies that build both emotional skills and healthy physical habits they can overcometest anxiety and the associated symptoms As a result, they improve their ability toprepare for and perform on exams The most frequently mentioned strategies addressthe 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

Eight steps have been identified to reduce exam anxiety

 Anxiety reduction techniques

Previous research indicates that teachers can implement effective strategies to assisttest-anxious students By being aware of the types of student with these traits, they candevelop, modify, and implement various strategies into their teaching repertoires.Furthermore, teachers who employ formative factors, habitual prudence, purposefullearning experiences, and test-wise guidelines can help students with their academicperformance levels while significantly diminishing their levels of test anxiety

With the increase of testing in schools, teachers need to recognize the role test anxietyplays in student performance and then implement effective strategies to assist studentswho are overshadowed this trait Teachers are responsible to enhance and measurestudent learning within their classrooms; they are also responsible to prepare studentsfor testing

Based on all the reasons discussed above, test-taking strategy plays a very importantpart in reducing students’ test anxiety Therefore, it is very necessary to carry out astudy on how to improve students’ testing skills to reduce their test anxiety and toimprove the test results at Duong Xa High School

1.2 Aims of the study

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

of multiple-choice tests in the test room on reducing Duong Xa High School students’

test anxiety and as a result improving their test results

The study investigated whether improving the students with test-taking strategies wouldhelp them less nervous when taking tests The correlation between the participants’ testanxiety level and their test results was examined The present study also reported thestudents’ opinions about the benefits of test-taking strategy instructions to their testanxiety English test results

To achieve these aims and objectives , the study provides the answers to the twofollowing research questions:

 Are there any significant differences between students who receive taking strategy instructions and those who do not in terms of their testanxiety level and test results?

test- What are the participants’ opinions of test-taking strategy instructions used

to reduce their test anxiety and improve the test results?

1.3 Scope of the study

A quasi-experimental study was designed to examine the effects of test-taking strategyinstructions on reducing students’ test anxiety and as a result improving their Englishtest results The test-taking strategy instructions was strategies of multiple choice tests

in the test room 96 students of grade 11 at Duong Xa High School were the participants

of the study The findings obtained from this study was to help improve teaching andlearning test-taking strategies, which encourages students at Duong Xa High School to

1.4 Significance of the study

The results of the study may have some impacts Firstly, teachers may be more aware

of the usefulness of test-taking strategies for their students Therefore, they will spendmore time and effort to teach students test-taking strategy instructions effectively andthey even find out other good ways to reduce their students’ test anxiety level andimprove the test results On the other hand, students may get some certain benefits fromthe study They may be more confident to overcome test anxiety and have best results,which reflect accurately their capacity As a result, they become more interested inlearning English They are also likely to ready to face with every coming importantexamination

1.5 Outline of the thesis

The thesis is divided into five chapters below:

Chapter 1: Introduction, presents the background to the study, states the aims of the

study, scope of the study and significance of the study The outline of the study is alsodiscussed

Chapter 2: Literature review, deals with the brief review of the previous studies relating

to test anxiety including the researchers’ findings on the issues The first sectionprovides the fundamental premise of test anxiety, language leraning strategies and test-taking strategies The second section discusses the studies on test anxiety The thirdsection concerns the gaps in the existing literature

Chapter 3: Methodology focuses on the research method used to gather and analyze

data First, research questions are addressed Then instruments for data collection,subjects and procedures are described The chapter ends with data analysis andsummary

Chapter 4: Results and discussion, reports the results of the effects of test-taking

strategy instructions on reducing the students’ test anxiety level and as a resultimproving their test result at Duong Xa High School

The major findings are considered as basic for some suggestions for future pedagogicalimplications.

Chapter 5: Implications and Conclusion, provides several implications and conclusion

for Duong Xa High School to have some trainings for students, mentions somelimitations of the present research and suggestions on further studies

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter deals with the brief review of the previous studies relating to test anxiety

including the researchers’ findings on the issues The first section provides thefundamental premise of test anxiety, language leraning strategies and test-takingstrategies The second section discusses the studies on test anxiety The third sectionconcerns the gaps in the existing literature

2.1 Fundamental premise of test anxiety

2.1.1 Definition of Test anxiety

Anxiety is described as an uncomfortable emotional state in which one perceivesdanger, feels powerless and experiences tension in preparation for an expected danger(Blau, 1995) Language anxiety is an effective factor that affects achievement in secondlanguage (L2) (Gardner, 1985) Depending on the synthesis of research context on L2anxiety, Gardner and MacIntyre (1993) describes it as the apprehension experiencedwhen 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 testsituations and an unpleasant experience held consciously or unconsciously by learners

in many situations It is a type of anxiety concerning apprehension over academicevaluation which comes from a fear of failure (Horwitz & Young, 1991)

2.1.2 Characteristics of Test anxiety

Test anxiety is composed of three major components: cognitive, affective, andbehavioral Students who experience test anxiety from the cognitive perspective areworriers lacking self confidence They may be preoccupied with negative thoughts,doubting their academic ability and intellectual competence (Sarason, 1990)

Furthermore, they are more likely to overemphasize the potential negative results andfeel helpless when in testing situations (Zeidner, 1998) Some students may feel theneed to answer every question on the test correctly When this does not occur they maythink of themselves as being incompetent, thus fueling negative thoughts such as, "Iknew 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 foracademic success, negative thinking must be minimized and controlled

From the affective perspective, test anxiety causes some students to experiencephysiological reactions such as increased heart rate, feeling nauseated, frequenturination, increased perspiration, cold hands, dry mouth, and muscle spasms (Zeidner,1998) These reactions may be present before, during, and even after the test iscompleted 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 theiremotions, they may experience higher levels of stress, thereby making it more difficultfor them to concentrate

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

2.2 Language learning strategies

According to Griffiths (2004), the concept of ‘strategy’ appears to be a little difficult todefine in a way that generates widespread agreement among scholars In fact, withinsecond and foreign language education, LLSs have been defined in various ways (Bull

strategies which contribute to the development of the language system which the learnerconstructs and affects learning directly’ (p.23).

More specifically, Chamot (1999) defined LLSs as “techniques, approaches ordeliberate actions that students take in order to facilitate the learning and recall of bothlinguistic and content area information”

Chamot and O’Malley (1993) offered another definition of LLSs as ‘the specialthoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain newinformation’ (p.1)

Oxford (1990) argues that the definition commonly used does not fully convey theexcitement or richness of learning strategies and expands the definition by saying

‘learning strategies are specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier,faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective and more transferable to newsituations’ (p.8) Obviously, Oxford’s definition is even more specific than others’.According to this definition, LLSs are specific actions, behaviors, steps or techniquesthat learners use in order to help the result of their learning in inputting, comprehendingand outputting the target language She believes that appropriate LLSs could helplearners gain self-confidence and improve proficiency

Therefore, although LLSs have been defined in various ways, they have been broadlydefined as ‘specific actions or techniques that students use, often intentionally, toimprove their progress in developing L2 skills’ (Lee, 2003) It is likely to suggest thatthe definition proposed by Oxford (1990) can provide a useful base for understandingLLSs and for launching research (Griffiths, 2004) Obviously, the best way tounderstand what is meant by learning strategies is to look at the major functions of atypical classification of such strategies which will be presented in the next section ofthis chapter

2.3 Fundamental premise of test-taking strategies

2.3.1 Definition of Test-taking strategies

Test-taking strategies originated from the concept of ‘test-wiseness’ which is defined as

“one’s capacity for using test characteristics and formats and/or test-taking situations toraise test scores” (Millman et al., 1965, cited in Ritter & Idol-Maestas, 1986, p 50).According to Cohen (2000), language test-taking strategies consisted of both languageuse strategies and test-wiseness strategies He further defined them as those test-takingprocesses that the candidates have selected and they are conscious of to a certain degree(Cohen & Upton, 2006)

Jimenez et al (1996) referred to test-taking strategies as operations or steps used bytest-takers to facilitate the retrieval of information and classified them into fourgroups-reader-initiated strategies, text- initiated strategies, bilingual strategies andinteractive strategies Deanna (2002) believed that cognitive and meta-cognitivestrategies were involved in doing reading comprehension tests and that the former could

be grouped into key words, deduction, reasoning and reconstruction; and the latter,could be categorized into planning, monitoring and evaluation (as Oxford (1990) did)

All the definitions, though worded differently, have in common strategies that aresomehow related to what test takers do and might do to solve test problems In short, astrategy is a general plan or set of plans intended to achieve something especially over along period Strategy is the art of planning the best way to gain an advantage or achievesuccess Therefore, in this study’s context, test-taking strategy instructions is understood

as set of plans about taking tests for the students to gain an advantage or achievesuccess in term of controlling test anxiety level and obtaining their best results

2.3.2 Areas of Test-taking strategies

The test-taking strategies cover the areas below:

 Before the Test

 In the Test Room

 Verbal Analogy Tests

 Reading Comprehension Tests

 Identify and Explain Tests

 Oral Tests

 After the Test

In all strategies above, strategy of multiple-choice tests in the test room was chosen to

be the treatment for the experimental group in this study

2.3.3 Benefits of Test-taking strategies

Scruggs & Mastropieri (1992) claimed that students who are test wise can outperformstudents of equal ability but lacking test-wiseness Teaching test-taking strategies helpsstudents understand the format and conventions of a specific type of test and makesthem feel comfortable in a testing environment Learning test-taking strategies actuallyimproves the validity of a test by making scores reflect more accurately what studentsknow (Scruggs & Mastropieri, 1992) The primary purpose of test-taking strategies is toimprove 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 (2004) supposed that when you take a test - any test -you are really being tested on two things: how much you know about the subject andhow much you know about taking a test

2.4 Research on test anxiety

2.4.1 Studies on the causes of students’ test anxiety

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

young EFL (English as foreign language) learners Their subjects were 477 younglearners from 5 primary schools Data collection instruments consisted of aquestionnaire and Test Anxiety Scale (TAS: Sarason, 1978) They found that thestudents who had positive attitudes towards their English teachers felt more confidentand relaxed and less nervous even if they forgot what they knew Moreover, theparticipants who had positive attitudes towards their English teachers were lessembarrassed during examinations, felt less uneasy before getting their exam papers, andbelieved more strongly that it was not possible to learn more without examinations Thefindings demonstrate that positive attitude towards EFL teachers decrease the levels oftest anxiety among young EFL learners

Aydn (2008) had an investigation on the language anxiety and fear of negativeevaluation among Turkish EFL learners to investigate the sources and levels of negativeevaluation as well as language anxiety among Turkish students as EFL learners, and todetermine 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 ofthe analysis indicated that EFL learners suffer from language anxiety which is aroused

by factors, such as un-preparedness for class, communication apprehension withteachers, peers, and native speakers; teachers’ questions and corrections in classroomenvironment; tests and negative attitudes towards English course The sources of fear ofnegative evaluation consist of negative judgments by others, leaving unfavorableimpression on others In addition, fear of negative evaluation is a strong source of

limited subjects and the data collection instruments He suggested that further studyshould focus on the relationship between language anxiety and some other variables aswell as the strategies and tactics to allay language anxiety.

Some researchers examined the test anxiety level of students as EFL learners andinvestigated its reasons, effects and results on foreign language learning For example,Aydn (2005) found that the learners usually have test anxiety 114 students in EnglishLanguage Department of Necatibey Education Faculty of Balikesir University, Turkeywere the participants of the study A background questionnaire, Test Anxiety Scale(Sarason’s, 1984) and a survey were conducted The result revealed that test anxietyprovoking factors are low level proficiency of the learners, negative attitudes of teacherstowards test applications, students’ attitude towards language learning, test invalidity,fear of negative evaluation, bad experiences on tests, time limitation and pressure, thedifficulty of course contents and parental expectations Test anxiety causes physical andpsychological problems, affects motivation, concentration and achievement negatively,increases errors in learning process, prevents to transfer their real performance to testresults and study efficiently and decrease the interest towards language learning Theoverall results indicate that test anxiety is problematic education area and it can becoped

2.4.2 Studies on the relationship between test anxiety and test performance

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 theparticipants This study only found the poor predictor of English proficiency, thoughmany studies on language anxiety found high correlation between anxiety and languageproficiency The author suggested that even if that is the case in the context of Japan,researches in reducing anxiety should be done

Wu (2007) conducted a research on the relationship between anxiety and readingcomprehension performance in English as a foreign language A total of 91 first-yearcollege students studying English as a foreign language from two classes in a private

Chinese version of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS: Horwitz etal.,1986) The study suggests that students with a higher level of language anxiety tend

to have a higher level of reading anxiety This relationship is significant and positive.The finding still suggests that L2 teachers should cope with students’ anxiety in order toenhance reading comprehension performance and should create a low anxiety classroomenvironment in order for students to learn reading

In Elkhafaifi’s study (2005), listening was explored Listening comprehension scoresfrom 233 students of Arabic as a foreign language and the measures of language anxietyand listening anxiety were analyzed The results showed that listening anxiety waspositively related to, but distinguished from language anxiety Students with higherlanguage anxiety and listening anxiety had lower listening comprehension grades Mills

et al (2006) examined the relationship between self-efficacy and language anxiety with

95 university students’ French listening proficiency They suggested self-efficacy isdefined as personal beliefs in one’s capabilities, and found that the students with lowself-efficacy were more anxious and, in turn, had negative listening achievement

In term of writing, Abu- Rabia and Argaman (2002) investigated the role of languageanxiety in the English writing achievement of 70 junior high school EFL students Theyfound that students with higher language anxiety were inclined to have lower writingachievement

Xianping (2003) had a research on language anxiety and its effects on oral performance

in classroom with the subjects of 90 second-year non-English major college students ofXiangFan University Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS: Horwitz etal.,1986) and Communication Unit (CU: Phillips, 1992) were used as data instruments.The result indicates that the degrees of language anxiety among students varied greatly.Most students seemed to experience mild to severe anxiety The anxiety about speaking

a foreign language could affect the quality of oral production It appeared to show that

in general, as the anxiety increases, the quality of oral production decreases

2.4.3 Studies on ways of reducing test anxiety

Larson et al (2010) tested if relaxation techniques could reduce the negative effects thatself-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 (WTAS:Driscoll, 2004), elevator breathing and guided relaxation were utilized to measure andmanage levels of anxiety The results indicated that the relaxation invention had asignificant effect in reducing test anxiety in the experimental group

Wachelka D & Katz R (1999) conducted a study on reducing test anxiety andimproving academic self-esteem in high school and college students with learningdisabilities In this study, they used a randomized pretest–posttest control group design

to examine the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral treatment for reducing test

anxiety and improving academic self-esteem in a cohort (N=27) of high school and

college students with learning disabilities All of the students participated voluntarily.They were enrolled in classes for students with learning problems Before the studybegan, they complained of test anxiety and showed an elevated score on the TestAnxiety Inventory Eleven students (85%) completed the 8-week long treatment, whichconsisted of progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, self-instruction training, aswell as training in study and test-taking skills Results showed significant improvement

in the treated group which was not evident in an untreated control group (N=16).

Compared to the control group, the treated group showed significant reductions in testanxiety on the Test Anxiety Inventory, as well as improvement in study skills andacademic self-esteem as measured by the Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes, and theschool scale of the Cooper Smith Self-Esteem Inventory These results extend thegenerality of similar studies on reducing test anxiety and improving academic self-esteem in younger students They also suggested that relief from test anxiety can beexpected fairly quickly when cognitive-behavioral methods are used

A research on The Test busters program was carried out by Beidel D et al (1999) Apilot program to reduce test anxiety and related social-evaluative concerns waspresented Test busters was a program designed specifically for elementary and middleschool children in grades 4 through 7 that teaches effective study habits, study skills,

behavior The assessment strategy included self-report instruments, a behavioralassessment, and children’s grade point averages After a 6-month waiting period, eightchildren with moderate to severe test anxiety participated in the 11-week program Theresults indicated that test busters decreased general levels of test anxiety and self-ratings

of distress when taking a test Overall grade point average improved significantly andgrades in the majority of the subjects showed positive improvement There was nochange in overall self-esteem or judgments of cognitive competence The results werediscussed in terms of the use of a skills strategy to decrease anxiety and improveacademic achievement

A Meta-Analysis synthesized the results from test anxiety reduction programs, Ergene(2003) Analyses were based on 56 studies (n = 2,482); the overall mean effect size fortest anxiety reduction programs was 0.65 (95 percent confidence intervals) Onmeasures of anxiety reduction, the average individual completing treatment was seen asbetter off than 74 percent of those individuals who did not receive treatment Thetreatment of test anxiety has been quite successful in reducing the test anxiety level ofclients The most effective treatments appear to be those that combine skill-focusedapproaches with behavior or cognitive approaches Individually conducted programs,along with programs that combined individual and group counselling formats, producedthe greatest changes

Anthony J & Christine E (1996) had a study on the relative contributions ofexamination-taking coping strategies and study coping strategies to test anxiety: Aconcurrent analysis Both examination-taking coping strategies and study copingstrategies are determinants of test anxiety This study examines the contributions made

by these two types of coping strategies on the anxiety/performance relationship, undertwo types of examination conditions Twenty-six graduate students, who were enrolled

in an intermediate-level statistics course, were assigned randomly to either an untimed

or a timed examination condition Both types of coping strategies made a significantcontribution in explaining variance in test anxiety Overall, students in the timedcondition performed more poorly than did students in the untimed condition Asignificant interaction was found between examination-taking coping strategies andexamination condition: Students with poor coping strategies did not perform as well in

coping strategies and examination condition The results appear consistent with aninformation-processing interpretation, which suggests that different processes related totest anxiety affect examination performance Implications for counselors assistingstudents with inadequate coping strategies are discussed.

The effect of a story-based cognitive behavior modification procedure on reducingchildren’s test anxiety before and after cancellation of an important examination wasexamined by Aydin G & Yerin O (1994) This study was originally planned toexamine the effects of a story-based cognitive behavior modification procedurespecifically designed to help the fifth grade elementary school students to manage theiranxiety before they attend a nation-wide secondary school entrance examination Theexamination was cancelled after the children attended This naturally occurred treatmentwas included in the study and the effect of the cancellation on the maintenance of thetreatment outcome was also investigated Twenty subjects (10 girls, 10 boys) wereselected out of a total of 144 fifth grade children who would attend the exam, on thebasis of the Turkish version of Test Anxiety Inventory and, assigned to treatment andcontrol groups The results showed that the story based cognitive behavior modificationprocedure was more effective than no treatment in reducing the subjects' test anxietyand the effect was maintained after cancellation of the first and three days prior to thesecond examination The results also demonstrated that the effectiveness of theprocedure was superior in modifying the emotionality component of test anxiety andthis effectiveness continued after the cancellation of the examination

2.4.4 Studies on using test-taking strategies in taking tests

To explore the relationship of test-takers’ use of cognitive and metacognitivestrategies to EFL reading test performance, Phakiti (2003) employed both quantitativeand qualitative data analyses 384 students enrolled in a fundamental English course at

a Thai university took an 85-item, multiple-choice reading comprehensionachievement test and filled in a cognitive–metacognitive questionnaire Then,eight of them were selected for retrospective interviews The results suggested that(1) the use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies had a positive relationship to thereading test performance; and (2) more successful test-takers reported significantlyhigher metacognitive strategy use than less successful ones

In order to investigate test-taking strategies on multiple-choice comprehension tests,Xiao (2006) recruited 204 Chinese first-year undergraduates The researcher foundthat comprehension strategies were the most frequently used when the students weredealing with content items and discourse items as were memory strategies whendealing with pragmatic items The study also revealed the most often used strategieswere elimination, key words, returning to the text, guessing, monitoring, translation,and using background knowledge The other two findings were: (1) strategy usewas affected by passage difficulty; and (2) more successful students used moremetacognitive strategies than less successful peers

In a study on the effect of computer delivery on reading test performance andtest-taking strategy use via questionnaires and interviews, Zhang (2007) found that themost frequently used strategy reported by 181 second-year Chinese university studentswas underlining and marking when taking paper-based reading comprehension tests

Purpura’s (2002) research was on the relationships between test takers’ reportedcognitive and metacognitive strategy use and patterns of performance on languagetests The researcher administered an 80-item cognitive and metacognitive strategyquestionnaire and a 70-item standardized language test to 1,382 students in Spain,Turkey and the Czech Republic Using structural equation modeling as a primaryanalytical tool, Purpura found that metacognitvie strategy use had a significantlypositive and direct effect on cognitive strategy use but had no significantly directimpact on SL test performance The researcher also discovered that cognitive strategyuse had no significant, direct effect on reading ability, but influenced readingindirectly through lexico-grammatical ability To be specific, the comprehendingprocesses had no significant, direct impact on reading or lexico-grammatical ability,and the retrieval processes yielded a small, but significant positive effect on lexico-grammatical ability; while the memory processes had a significantly direct negativeeffect on lexico- grammatical ability Alternatively, the more test takers invokedmemory strategies in a speeded test situation, the worse they performed on the test,while the less they utilized them, the better they performed

These findings further confirm the implication that relationships between strategy useand second language proficiency are extremely complex, and at times very subtle,given the multidimensional nature of the constructs involved and the number ofpossible interactions that could occur between and among various variables.

2.5 Gaps in the existing literature

Test anxiety seems like a benign problem to some people, but it can be potentiallyserious when it leads to high levels of distress and academic failure in otherwise capablestudents Because test anxiety is common in older students with learning disabilities, it

is surprising that little research has been done on ways to reduce the distress thesestudents experience in test situations

Despite the use of test-taking strategies in reducing test anxiety and the amount ofrelated research, the above literature review reveals several gaps First, there are fewstudies on the effect of test-taking strategies on reducing test anxiety Hence, this studywas conducted to examine whether test-taking strategies instructions had any effects onreducing test anxiety A second gap in the literature is that the participants in previousresearch are university or primary students Thus, the present study examined highschool students Third, the relationship between language anxiety and readingcomprehension, listening, oral and writing performance has been investigated That wasthe reason why a research on written tests needed to be studied Moreover, it isnecessary to conduct a research that deeply investigates the effect of test-takingstrategies on reducing test anxiety The achievement test form at high school nowadays

is formally focused on multiple-choice tests As a result, the present researcher appliedgeneral test-taking strategies as well as test-taking strategies instructions in specific testform situation of multiple-choice tests to groups of high school students to examine theeffect of them on reducing test anxiety

2.6 Summary

As shown in the studies reviewed above, the finding revealed that most students seemed

to be nervous and worried before and during the tests, which do not reflect truly thestudents’ competence The causes of test anxiety were a lot such as students’ lowcompetence, poor preparations, parents’ expectations and so on, in which lack of test-taking strategies is an important cause In addition, being anxious when taking testsresulted in some consequences on psychological and biological problems, which canbring about bad effect to students However, there is a serious lack of research on testanxiety reduction programs for primary, secondary and high school students

The previous researcher also found that test anxiety was one of the most obstacles formost students, but it could be solved Among the solutions to reduce test anxiety leveland increase the test results, teaching test-taking strategies was considered as a usefulone Moreover, at Duong Xa High School students reveal that when taking tests, theyare too nervous to recall the knowledge and they become confused Besides, they alsoface very important coming examinations such as the SCSE examination and theentrance university examination, which can be the most challenging and make studentsnervous most before, during and after taking the tests

For some reasons mentioned above, the present research was implemented to examinethe effects of test-taking strategies instructions on reducing Duong Xa High Schoolstudents’ test anxiety and as a result improving their test result In addition, theimportant examinations such as the SCSE examination and the entrance universityexamination have form of multiple-choice questions in which reading comprehensionpart always challenges the students most Consequently, General Strategies, MultipleChoice Tests, and Strategies of Reading Comprehension Multiple Choice Tests in thetest room were chosen to be investigated in this study

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

The review of literature relating to the present study in the previous chapter hasprovided a theoretical basis for developing its methodology This chapter aiming atdepicting the methodology addresses the following issues: The research questions; thedata collection instruments; the subjects of the study; the research procedure descriptionand data analysis

3.1 Research questions

As stated in chapter 1, the purpose of the research is to examine the effects of taking strategy instructions on reducing students’ test anxiety and as a result improvingtheir test results at Duong Xa High School To achieve this aim, the study provides theanswers to the two following research questions (RQ):

test- Are there any significant differences between students who receive taking strategy instructions and those who do not in terms of their testanxiety level and test results?

test- What are the participants’ opinions of test-taking strategy instructions used

to reduce their test anxiety and improve the test results?

3.2 Subjects

Two intact groups of classes taking English as a compulsory subject at Duong Xa HighSchool, Gia Lam, Ha Noi were selected to take part in the study The two classesconsisted of 96 students with the age of 16-17, in which there were 42 males and 54females The students in both classes shared the similarity in terms of number,proportion of gender, the interest towards English subject The present researcher wasthe teacher of English in both classes Based on the academic results in grade 10, it wasbelieved that the participants’ education background and their experience with testanxiety and test-taking strategies were similar The students in the two classes wereassigned as the experimental group and the control group respectively