Student Anxiety and Evaluation

Abstract

The increased prevalence and severity of academic-related distress is of significant concern on college campuses. Of particular relevance to instructors is the anxiety relating to classroom teaching and evaluation practices. Sources of evaluation anxiety include student uncertainty about the nature of the expected demands as well as their ability to meet these demands. This report presents work from a pilot study investigating correlations between evaluation anxiety and perceived evaluation fidelity for different evaluation techniques across four different disciplines. We also examined the potential mediating role of academic self-efficacy in the relationship between anxiety and expected grade. Our results provide insight into methods to reduce anxiety and increase performance: should instructors focus their efforts on modifying their evaluation tools or increasing academic self-efficacy?
 
 La prévalence et la gravité accrues de la détresse liée aux études sont une préoccupation importante sur les campus universitaires. L'angoisse liée aux pratiques d'enseignement et d'évaluation en classe est particulièrement importante pour les instructeurs. Les sources d'angoisse de l'évaluation comprennent l'incertitude des étudiants quant à la nature des demandes attendues ainsi que leur capacité à répondre à ces demandes. Ce rapport présente les résultats d'une étude pilote portant sur les corrélations entre l'anxiété de l'évaluation et la fidélité à l'évaluation perçue pour différentes techniques d'évaluation dans quatre disciplines différentes. Nous avons également examiné le rôle médiateur potentiel de l'auto-efficacité académique dans la relation entre l'anxiété et le grade attendu. Nos résultats donnent un aperçu des méthodes permettant de réduire l’anxiété et d’augmenter les performances: les instructeurs devraient-ils concentrer leurs efforts sur la modification de leurs outils d’évaluation ou sur l’amélioration de leur efficacité personnelle?

“I Like and Prefer to Work Alone”: Social Anxiety, Academic Self-Efficacy, and Students’ Perceptions of Active Learning

“…Despite the lack of a significant direct effect between social anxiety and grade in this instance, the mediation model demonstrated that academic self-efficacy can account for a significant portion of the shared variance between social anxiety and academic outcome. This pattern would seem to be generally consistent with existing literature on the relationships between anxiety, academic self-efficacy, and academic performance measures ( Seipp, 1991 ; Raufelder and Ringeisen, 2016 ; Hull et al. , 2019 ) and poses some considerations for practical takeaways from this study, is as described in Practical Implications .…”

“…Previous findings ( Hull et al. , 2019 ) indicate that there may be a mediating relation between academic self-efficacy and anxiety in predicting academic performance; that is, anxiety level may predict subsequent academic performance because it is associated in part with the amount of confidence one has in one’s ability to meet academic challenges.…”

Students Anxiety Experiences in Higher Education Institutions

“…The exams should meet different students' abilities to reduce their anxiety. Hull et al [35] indicate the importance of changing evaluation tools and improving students' self-efficacy.…”

Distance Learning: Cross-Cultural Characteristics of Stress Resistance of Russian and Chinese Students

“…The modular-rating training system itself, common for most universities, is also singled out as one of the factors increasing the level of anxiety among students (Hull et al, 2019). The need for constant activity during the academic semester, including regular answers at seminars and attending all the lecturessince points for skipping classes cannot be compensated -lead to an increase in the students' anxiety (Alieva and Tazhutdinova, 2009).…”