Impact of Test Anxiety on Test Scores of Pre-service Teachers in Northern Cyprus

Abstract

A lot has been written with regards to the subject of anxiety and its role on influencing learning outcomes yet it seems the issue of anxiety is continuously debated by research and academic scholars. While teachers may think that issues of anxiety in education are either overhyped or overemphasized, learners think otherwise. To analyze the views of the preservice teacher on the concept of test anxiety especially on its influence on the academic performance of students, a mixed research design was adopted for this study. An experimental approach followed by semi-structured interviews were used to elicit information on the impact of test anxiety on the academic performance. A total of 42 participants were purposively chosen which were divided into 2 groups, A (control group) and B (experimental group). A reliable and validated post-test was administered where there was an induced stress on the experimental group before commencing an examination. The findings of this study argued that though test anxiety affected students test scores to a large extent, other possible factors were responsible for learner's test scores as well. The study suggests the need for rethinking ways through which examinations are organized to reduce incidence of test anxiety among test takers. The major limitation of the study was the small sample size. Thus, the use of a larger sample for future researches must be considered.

Improving Communicative Competence Levels of Pre-Service Teachers Through Spoken-Based Reflection Instruction

“…This analysis found evidence to show that the normal language teaching approach in SLA classrooms does not have a positive impact on language learners' communicative competence in this context. In line with the reasoning of similar studies (Ironsi, 2020;Ironsi & Popescu, 2021b), it can be concluded that the normal teaching approach does not improve learners' communicative competence contrary to the assumption of some studies (Diane, 2019;Sifakis, 2019;Schedlitzki, 2019;Tavoosy & Jelveh, 2019;Wilson et al, 2019). The results of the experiment clearly argue for the use of a different language teaching method that can inevitably improve language learners' communicative competence.…”

“…During the lessons, learners are encouraged to participate, interact and use language meaningfully. These findings are in tandem with studies that support that appropriate method, language exercises, strategies and approaches must be used in a language classroom, they emphasize that these variables are essential for the success of teaching four language skills (Chang, 2019; Ironsi, 2020; Ironsi & Popescu, 2021b). Obviously, it is novel that students confirmed that this type of teaching improved their listening and speaking skills.…”

“…Some authors have also noted that two main techniques of reflection are mirroring and paraphrasing (Coulson & Harvey, 2013;Stavroulia & Lanitis, 2019), and they believe that using these techniques will help in conducting effective reflection in the classroom. Recent literature emphasizes that the affective filter of language learners should be minimized to facilitate effective reflection, as this eliminates problems of anxiety in language learning especially while engaging in reflection (Ironsi, 2020) Importantly, some evidence in studies has shown that reflection, whether student-centered or teacher-centered, plays a paramount role in teaching. Reflection has been used in various ways to enhance learning and is a common practice in language teaching and learning.…”

“…Some authors have also noted that two main techniques of reflection are mirroring and paraphrasing (Coulson & Harvey, 2013; Stavroulia & Lanitis, 2019), and they believe that using these techniques will help in conducting effective reflection in the classroom. Recent literature emphasizes that the affective filter of language learners should be minimized to facilitate effective reflection, as this eliminates problems of anxiety in language learning especially while engaging in reflection (Ironsi, 2020)…”

“…Previous and recent studies have recognized that learners may not be motivated to learn a language and this may lead to a loss of eagerness to learn the language, which may inevitably affect communicative competence (Ghani & Azhar, 2017;Joe et al, 2017). Language teaching and learning literature also acknowledge that the teaching methods or strategies used in the language classroom can also determine the level of communicative competence and engagement of language learners (Farooq, 2015;Ironsi, 2020;Lukyanova et al, 2015;Vasilyevna & Georgievna, 2017). It is well documented in studies that various strategies are used to improve language learners' communicative competence (Bakar et al, 2019;Yu & Ja Kang, 2017).…”