Pupil perceptions of national tests in science: perceived importance, invested effort, and test anxiety

The role of test-taking motivation for students’ performance in low-stakes assessments: an investigation of school-track-specific differences

“…Eklöf assumed that test-taking motivation had no effect because most of these Swedish Grade 8 students, having not previously experienced receiving grades or taken external tests, did not perceive the test as a low-stakes one. Eklöf and Nyroos's (2013) analyses of data pertaining to performance of Grade 9 students on the Swedish national test of science achievement in 2009 supported the findings from the 2003 TIMSS data: a significant relationship between performance in science and (a) reported effort (r = 0.25), (b) perceived importance of the test (r = 0.20), and (c) test anxiety (r = −0.10). However, the authors could not consider the domainspecific aspects of motivation in their analyses because data on this matter were not collected during the assessment.…”

Validity considerations ensuing from examinees’ perceptions about high-stakes national examinations in Cyprus

“…Additionally, it has been found that examinees consider a wider range of testtaking skills as necessary than those intended by test developers (Xie, 2008); and that perceived assessment demands may have minor but significant effects on exam performance (Xie, 2011). Perceived importance and invested effort and motivation were found to positively relate to performance (Eklöf & Nyroos, 2013). The impact of high-stakes assessments is not limited to student perceptions and behaviours, but extends to classroom teaching practice, school curricula and educational policies (Au, 2007;Hodgson & Spours, 2008;Stecher, 2002).…”

“…In low-stakes contexts, students may put less effort in performing well on a test, leading to lower test scores (Wise & DeMars, 2005). In high-stakes exams, students may approach the situation with higher motivation and invest more effort which positively relate to performance, while also reporting higher levels of anxiety (Eklöf & Nyroos, 2013). As long as low effort or test anxiety influence performance, they constitute construct-irrelevant variance and harm the validity of the test results.…”

“…How examinees comprehend the content of an assessment and the skills necessary to take an exam, which scoring procedures are implemented and how scores are subsequently used, influence in complex ways their experience with the assessment; moreover, their reaction to the assessment situation may influence the assessment outcome (Eklöf & Nyroos, 2013). For example, perceptions of assessments are considered to influence students' approaches to learning and strategies for test preparation (e.g.…”

Predictability in high-stakes examinations: students’ perspectives on a perennial assessment dilemma*

“…Furthermore, others were interested specifically on how such testing regimes impacted differentially with low achieving groups (Roderick and Engel 2001), or with ethic minority students (Walpole et al 2005). With the rise in importance of testing and assessment generally within education policymaking world-wide, many more studies internationally have sought out students' perspectives to understand the impact of assessment regimes on them specifically: for example, students' conceptions of assessment and how these relate to academic outcomes (Brown and Hirschfeld, 2006); perceived importance, invested effort and test anxiety amongst students in national tests (Eklof and Nyroos, 2013); students' stress and its relationship to achievement on examinations and tests (Putwain, 2009); and views about testing and its impact on enjoyment of, and achievement in, particular subjects (Murphy et al, 2012).…”