2. Introduction
• Due to recent growth in human knowledge related to the role and
techniques of educational evaluation, testing has gradually begun to
occupy a prominent position in any educational scheme.
• One of the few things that a learner always remembered is the examination
experience. It can be damaging to the learner’s career or it can be very
useful and very educative for him/her. A test is an instrument of
measurement. Like all instruments, tests vary in sharpness and accuracy.
Some are accurate, well-made and very useful, others are inaccurate,
loaded with errors and consequently harmful
3. What is testing?
• Testing is by far the most common basis for assessment. The criterion for success is a
fixed level which the student is expected to reach; and the result is usually expressed
as a percentage. Tests are relatively easy to design and check, take place at pre-test
times and places, give clear-cut results, and are in general accepted as reliable bases for
course grades. ( Ur, 2012)
• Good tests provide the opportunity for learners to show how much they know about
language structure and vocabulary, as well as how they are able to use these formal
linguistic features to convey meaning in classroom language activities through listening,
speaking, reading, and writing. ( Hedge, 2008)
4. Test
• Bachman & Palmer (1996) said that, tests can be a valuable tool for
providing information that is related to several concerns in language
teaching process. They can provide evidence of the results of learning and
instruction, and hence feedback on the effectiveness of the teaching
program itself.
• Assessment refers to the general process of monitoring or keeping track of
the learners’ progress.
( Hedge, 2008)
• Assessment provides students with a tool to be more involved in their
learning, and give them a better sense of control for their own learning.
(Richards, 2002)
5. Language test
• According to Bachman (1996), testing is a main instrument for measuring
students’ knowledge of course material in many academic occupational
courses.
• According to Davies (2006) the purpose of taking language test is to
determine a person's ability and/or knowledge in the language and to
discriminate that person's ability from that of other fields of knowledge. Such
ability may be of different kinds; achievement, proficiency or aptitude.
6. • McNamara (2000) noted that, the essential to the activities of designing
tests and interpreting the meaning of test scores is the view of language
and language use embodied in the test. The term test construct refers to
those aspects of knowledge or skill possessed by the candidate which are
being measured
7. Anxiety
• Nemati (2012, p. 97) stated that, “Anxiety is one of the most basic human
emotions and occurs in every person. In educational setting, anxiety is
experienced often by the students when being evaluated such as when
taking a test which is called test anxiety”.
• Aydin (2013) stated that, anxiety is described as unpleasant emotional state
in which one feels powerless, uneasy and experiences tension in for an
expected threat.
• According to Larson (2009), “anxiety is a phenomenon that human beings
routinely encounter within their daily experience. It is considered to be one
of the most prevalent and pervasive human emotions, with a large sector of
world’s populations suffering from excessive and overbearing levels”, (p. 3).
8. • Chan (2004) stated that, anxiety is generally seen as a psychological
concept.
• According to Horwitz (2001), anxiety is the personal feeling of tension,
apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with a stimulation of the
autonomic nervous system.
• According to Riasati (2011), anxiety is one of the best documented
psychological phenomena. The term of anxiety ranges from a mixture of
overt behavioral characteristics that can be studied scientifically to
reflective feelings that are epistemologically inaccessible.
9. Types of Anxiety
• According to Riasati (2011), trait anxiety is the tendency of a person to be a
nervous or feel anxious irrespective of the situation he/she is exposed to.
• Andrade and Williams argued that, “state anxiety, which is nervousness or
tension at a particular moment in response to some outside stimulus”,
(2009, p. 2).
• Aydin (2009) stated that, situation specific anxiety, relates to apprehension
that is unique to specific situations and events.
10. Language anxiety
• Macintyre (1995) stated that, language anxiety can play an important causal
role in creating individual differences in both language learning and
communication. Burns (2004) argued that, test anxiety experienced by
learners may adversely affect the ability of testing to measure learners’
knowledge of course material
11. Test Anxiety
• According to Rezazadeh, “Test anxiety refers to a special case of general
anxiety consisting of phenomenological, physiological, and behavioral
response”, (2009, p. 69).
• According to Nemati (2012, p. 97), there are different factors that contribute
to the development of test anxiety. According to Bachman and Palmer (1996),
test performance is attributed to test-taker and test task characteristics, test
taker qualities consist of
• (a) topical knowledge,
• (b) language knowledge,
• (c) personal trait,
• (d) strategic competence,
• (e) affective schemata.
12. • According to (Rezazadeh, 2009), examination stress and test anxiety are
pervasive problems in modern society, alleviating test anxiety will also serve
to counteract the diminished access to educational and occupational
opportunities that is frequently experienced by test-anxious individuals.
• Test anxiety is one of a very difficult learner reaction that has both mental and
physical elements to it. A test usually takes place during the semester or at
the end of the semester, many students are usually busy with their homework
and other activities.
13. • According to Chaniotis and et al., test anxiety may be defined as “an
individual’s somatic, cognitive and behavioral response, which stimulates
negative feelings about an evaluation. As negative feelings are meant an
inability to think, recall information, tension, and difficulty in understanding
simple test questions or direction on an examination”, (2013, p. 201).
14. Reference
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