Effects of online language testing on final examination

Abstract

Many tertiary language courses have some online components as part of their blended learning initiatives. These online activities could be part of assessments, and online quizzes/tests can be used as preparation for the demanding final written examination. This study attempts to shed some light on the effects of online tests on final examination performance. Results obtained from beginners’ Japanese language students at a tertiary institute were examined by conducting three-way comparisons amongst the average scores and average number of attempts of the online tests, and the final examination score in order to ascertain the relationship between the number of attempts of online tests and the online test scores and the final examination scores. The results indicated that the number of attempts of quizzes cannot be used as an indicator of possible good final examination score, although the contents of quizzes and the final examination were closely related. In addition, although the online quizzes were created as preparation for the final examination, even the quiz average score cannot be the direct indicator for a successful final examination score.