Investigating the Effects of Test Takers’ Perceptions on their Writing Performance

Abstract

This paper explores the effect that test takers’ perceptions have on their writing performance. This study also investigates the extent to which test takers’ perceptions of the writing test contribute to their performance, controlling for general English proficiency. The test instrument employed in this study is a newly-developed process-oriented ESL writing assessment. 100 international students took an institutional ESL test which allowed test takers to reflect, interact with other task takers, and revise the essays. Participants were asked to fill out a survey right after the test and 10 closed-response items concerning test format, length, perceptions of test validity, and anxiety were used as an indicator of their attitudes toward the test. The test takers were divided into 3 groups based on their ‘fair average’ scores on these 10 items obtained through multifaceted Rasch measurement. Results showed that students who were positively disposed to the test received slightly higher scores than students who were not, although different perceptions did not lead to statistically differential performance. The results of ANCOVA by controlling for TOEFL scores as the covariate showed that students who were more favorably disposed towards the test instrument did not turn out to be significantly more able, compared with those who were less favorably disposed. There was no relationship between test takers’ perceptions and their performance. Although positive attitudes toward the test did not lead to a statistically significant level of performance in this study, it is suggested that language testers nonetheless need to be aware that attitudes toward the test can be a significant factor in test performance.