Test anxiety and beliefs about testing in college students with and without learning disabilities. PDF
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UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff MMaassssaacchhuusseettttss AAmmhheerrsstt SScchhoollaarrWWoorrkkss@@UUMMaassss AAmmhheerrsstt Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-2000 TTeesstt aannxxiieettyy aanndd bbeelliieeffss aabboouutt tteessttiinngg iinn ccoolllleeggee ssttuuddeennttss wwiitthh aanndd wwiitthhoouutt lleeaarrnniinngg ddiissaabbiilliittiieess.. Seth A. Stevens University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn Stevens, Seth A., "Test anxiety and beliefs about testing in college students with and without learning disabilities." (2000). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 1277. https://doi.org/10.7275/61f5-y146 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/1277 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TEST ANXIETY AND BELIEFS ABOUT TESTING IN COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH WITHOUT LEARNING DISABILITIES A Dissertation Presented by SETH A. STEVENS Submitted to the Graduate School ofthe University ofMassachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements ofthe degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2000 Counseling Psychology © Copyright by Seth A. Stevens 2000 All Rights Reserved TEST ANXIETY AND BELIEFS ABOUT TESTING IN COLLEGE STUDENTS WITHOUT LEARNING DISABILITIES A Dissertation presented by SETH A. STEVENS Approved as to style and content by: Member Patricia Silver, Carole R. Beal, Menjbe;^ y Jackson, Dean tion To My Parents Digitized by the Internet Archive 2014 in https://archive.org/details/testanxietybelieOOstev ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the following individuals and groups who made this research possible, and who helped me through the process ofcompleting it: The students, staff, and my fellow case managers at Learning Disabilities Support services; the student volunteers who took the time to participate in the study; my dissertation committee members, for all oftheir support and advice; my mother for her encouragement and many dinners; and Ron, for "doing everything." V ABSTRACT TEST ANXIETY AND BELIEFS ABOUT TESTING IN COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH AND WITHOUT LEARNING DISABILITIES MAY 2000 SETH A. STEVENS, B.A., WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY M.A, SACRED HEART UNIVERSITY Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by Professor William Matthews : J. Differences in beliefs about, reactions to, and perceived control over testing between learning disabled and non learning disabled students at the postsecondary level were investigated. Additionally, the effect of the use ofsupport services by students with LD on their beliefs about and reactions to testing was also investigated. Students with and without LD were given published measures oftest anxiety and academic locus ofcontrol, as well as survey questionnaires/scales created for the study. Additional information on LD students' with diagnoses and use ofsupport services was gathered from archival data. Results LD indicated that students with reported significantly higher levels oftest anxiety, particularly test irrelevant thinking, than their non-LD peers. Students with and without LD also differed significantly in their anxiety ratings ofparticular evaluation conditions, academic subject areas, and modifications to the testing environment. An external academic locus ofcontrol was found to be related significantly to higher test anxiety for all students. For students with LD, use ofsupport services was not related to lest anxiety. High levels oftest anxiety were found to be related to reported avoidance oftesting intensive courses and subject areas for all students. Females consistently scored significantly higher than males on all generalized measures ofanxiety. Findings suggest that test anxiety is a phenomenon that varies both quantitatively and qualitatively as a function of individual differences in academic history, areas of academic strength and need, and as a function ofspecific aspects ofthe test situation (e.g., subject area testing is being conducted in, presence ofdistractions); in addition to its well documented negative effects on test performance, test anxiety may also have long term effects on academic and career choices. Support services appear to be perceived as useful by anxious students, however, utilization of such services vi does not appear to mitigate generalized test anxiety, though use ofsuch services is related to higher CPA. Based on study findings, a variety ofpossible modifications to the testing environment and to classroom grading procedures at the postsecondary level are suggested. vii 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ^ ABSTRACT VI LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES ^^i^ Chapter INTRODUCTION 1 LITERATURE REVIEW 1. 3 The Concept ofTest Anxiety 3 Definition and Brief History ofthe Construct 3 Components ofTest Anxiety 3 Effects ofTest Anxiety on Memory and Cognition 5 Effects ofAnxiety on Academic Tests and Performance 6 Effects ofTest Anxiety on Test-Taking Behaviors and Related Cognitions 7 Theoretical Models ofhow Test Anxiety Operates 8 Conclusion - General Concept ofTest Anxiety 1 Group and Individual Differences in Test Anxiety 11 Gender 1 Cultural/Ethnic Differences 12 Ability 14 At-Risk Students 14 Age/Grade Level 15 Students with Learning Disabilities 15 Differences in Classroom Personality Measures 18 Self-Concept Variables, Success/Failure Attributions, and Learned Helplessness 18 Conclusion - Group and Individual Differences 20 Environmental Variables Contributing to Test Anxiety 20 Curriculum 21 22 Test Construction Factors 22 Types ofQuestions Computer and SelfAdaptive Testing and Perceived Control 23 Presence of Defects on Tests 25 Constructing Tests for Students with Disabilities 25 26 General Testing Parameters and Conditions Take Home and Open Book Conditions 26 27 Untimed Testing viii
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