A Study on Test Anxiety and its Relationship to Test Score and Self-actualization of Academic EFL Students in Iran

Abstract

This study set out to explore the relationship between test anxiety and self-actualization as well as test score. The role of gender in the participants’ level of test anxiety was also taken into consideration. To this end, two classes of BA students studying non-English majors in the University of Tehran were selected. They all had taken a course in English as a foreign language (N=55); they all knew at least one language aside from their mother tongues. The questionnaire of test anxiety developed by Carver and Scheier (1991), and the Self-Actualization Index (SAI) by Jones and Crandall (1986) were administered to the participants. Participants were also asked to write their feelings regarding the anxiety they had gone through in that particular exam. The results of Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient revealed a significant negative relationship between test anxiety and self-actualization(R= -0.67). The findings of independent-samples t-test also indicated that neither males nor females tend to experience a higher level of anxiety in exam settings. The relationship between test anxiety and test score is examined with regard to the whole sample in general and the extreme scores in particular. Participants’ psychological experience before taking the test is also descriptively discussed. The results of this study suggest that test anxiety could be one of many variables which have a potential influence on the exam score. Therefore, rather than solely relying on a final exam, using ongoing assessments like portfolio or dynamic assessment seem more appropriate.