Does expressive writing or an instructional intervention reduce the impacts of test anxiety in a college classroom?

Sarah J Myers,Jason C K Chan,Sara D Davis

doi:10.1186/s41235-021-00309-x

Abstract

Test anxiety is a major concern in education because it causes uncomfortable feelings in test-anxious students and may reduce the validity of exam scores as a measure of learning. As such, brief and cost-effective interventions are necessary to minimize the negative impact of test anxiety on students’ academic performance. In the present experiment, we examine two such interventions: expressive writing (Experiment 1) and an instructional intervention (Experiment 2), with the latter developed from a similar intervention for stereotype threat. Across four authentic exams in a psychology class, students alternated between completing the intervention and a control task immediately before completing the exams. Neither intervention was effective at reducing test anxiety or improving exam performance. The present results suggest that these interventions may not be successful in addressing the impacts of test anxiety in all classroom settings.

Highlights

As tests continue to be a fundamental aspect of higher education, test anxiety remains a critical concern for both students and educators (Zeidner, 1998, 2007)
Bayes factors provide a ratio of the likelihood of the data given the alternative hypothesis relative to the null hypothesis, expressed as BF10
Unlike null hypothesis significance testing, Bayes factors can indicate that the null hypothesis is more probable than the alternative hypothesis

Summary

Introduction

As tests continue to be a fundamental aspect of higher education, test anxiety remains a critical concern for both students and educators (Zeidner, 1998, 2007). Test anxiety refers to negative thoughts, emotions and bodily symptoms triggered by evaluative situations such as quizzes and exams. The problem of test anxiety is twofold: does test anxiety produce uncomfortable reactions in students, it can reduce their test performance, thereby leading to an underestimation of these students’ academic aptitude. Test results might not be a valid measure of ability for test-anxious students, making identification of interventions to reduce the impact of test anxiety on performance of paramount importance. Treatment options for test anxiety are still limited.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion