Effects of test anxiety on children's performance as a function of instructions and type of task.

Abstract

2 tasks were administered to 28 high test-anxious (HA) and 28 low testanxious (LA) 4th-grade boys. 4 of each group received test instructions and i received game instructions. The 1st hypothesis was that HA Ss perform as if being tested regardless of instructions. On a simple gamelike tracing task, LA Ss in the test condition made fewer errors than LA Ss in the game condition, while HA Ss in the 2 conditions did not differ. The 2nd hypothesis was that fear of failure is basic to the arousal of test anxiety. On a 2-part drawing task Ss were required to make "a picture" and to draw a "poskon." No anxiety group differences were found for the free drawing; in drawing a "poskon"-the failure task-HA Ss made smaller drawings and verbalized less. In addition, HA Ss tended to switch colors and materials more in the test than in the game condition while the reverse was true for LA Ss.Research supporting the theory of test anxiety developed by the workers at Yale (Sarason, Davidson, Lighthall, Waite, & Ruebush, 1960) indicates that test anxiety in children interferes with performance on testlike tasks (

Motivational processes affecting learning.

“…This has been done, for example, by instituting a competitive versus individual reward structure (e.g., Ames, 1984;Ames, Ames, & Felker, 1977), by varying the alleged diagnosticity of the task vis vis important abilities (e.g., Nicholls, 1975), by introducing an audience or evaluator versus allowing the individual to perform privately or focusing his or her attention on the task (e.g., Brockner & Hulton, 1978;Carver & Scheier, 1981;E. Diener & SruU, 1979), and by presenting the task with "test" instructions versus "game" or neutral instructions (e.g., Entin & Raynor, 1973;Lekarczyk & Hill, 1969;McCoy, 1965;Sarason, 1972).…”

Social anxiety and self-presentation: A conceptualization model.

“…Subjects who were instructed to make a favorable impression reported feeling significantly more shy than those who were not. McCoy (1965) found that telling children they would be working on a "test" rather than a "game" decreased their verbalizations, and Gynther (1957) found that arousing evaluation apprehension in college students reduced their communication efficiency; these responses are usually associated with anxiety.…”

Test Anxiety: A Major Educational Problem and What Can Be Done about It

“…For instance, Stevenson and Odom (1965) showed that high-anxious children did less well than low-anxious children on a concept-formation task, because their anxiety interfered with their ability to remember the concepts. Anxious children also do poorly compared with low-anxious children when they are asked to perform quickly (S. Sarason et al 1960) or when the task is introduced as a test of ability (Barnard, Zimbardo, & Sarason 196 1;Lekarczyk & Hill 1969;McCoy 1965). Other work shows that anxious children tend to work very cautiously in many evaluative situations (Ruebush 1963) and perform less well when an adult observer is present (Cox 1966(Cox , 1968.…”