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Feedback, test anxiety and performance in a college course
J W Clark1, P A Fox, H G Schneider
1Department of Psychology, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28607, USA.
Psychological Reports
|April 1, 1998
Summary
High test anxiety in students increases attempts needed to pass unit tests. Students preferred immediate feedback, but anxiety levels did not influence this choice or impact initial performance.
Area of Science:
- Educational Psychology
- Learning Sciences
- Human-Computer Interaction
Background:
- Test anxiety significantly impacts student performance and learning experiences.
- Understanding the role of feedback mechanisms is crucial for optimizing educational outcomes.
- Self-paced, criterion-based learning environments offer unique contexts for studying student behavior.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of different test feedback forms on student performance.
- To examine the relationship between test anxiety and academic achievement in a self-paced course.
- To explore student preferences for feedback types and their correlation with anxiety levels.
Main Methods:
- 73 undergraduate students in an educational psychology course participated.
- Random assignment to three feedback groups: immediate, answer-until-correct, and delayed.
- Test anxiety measured using Sarason's Test Anxiety Scale and during testing; performance tracked over seven units.
Main Results:
- High test anxiety correlated with increased attempts to pass unit tests.
- Student preference leaned towards answer-until-correct feedback when given a choice.
- No significant relationship found between anxiety, feedback type, and initial performance on the second unit.
Conclusions:
- Test anxiety is a significant factor in learning persistence, requiring more attempts for mastery.
- While students prefer immediate feedback, its type does not mitigate anxiety's impact on performance.
- Feedback preferences are independent of measured test anxiety levels in this context.