CHUYÊN ĐỀ:
How to Help Students Overcome test anxiety
Thiều Thị Thu Dung
Trường THPT Chuyên Nguyễn Tất Thành, tỉnh Yên Bái
TABLE OF CONTENT
Content
Page
Part 1: Introdction
1. Reasons for choosing the study
2
2. Aims and significance of the study
2
Part 2: Content
I. Characteristics of test anxiety
3
II. Suggestions to help students overcome test anxiety
1.Make test preparation fun
4
2.How to proceed
5
3.Tips for giving your students success on test
7
4.Some other pieces of advice to reduce the level of anxiety
8
III. Effectiveness of the study
13
Part III: Conclusion and recommendation
14
1. Conclusion
14
2. Recommendation
15
REFERENCENCES
16
How to Help Students Overcome test anxiety
PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Reasons for choosing the study
Anxiety is a basic human emotion consisting of fear and uncertainty that
typically appears when an individual perceives an event as being a threat to the ego
or self-esteem (Sarason, 1988). In some instances, such as avoiding dangerous
situations, anxiety can be helpful. However when taken to extremes, it may produce
unwarranted results. One of the most threatening events that causes anxiety in
students today is testing. When students develop an extreme fear of performing
poorly on an examination, they experience test anxiety. Test anxiety is a major factor
contributing to a variety of negative outcomes including psychological distress,
academic underachievement, academic failure, and insecurity (Hembree, 1988).
Many students have the cognitive ability to do well on exams but may not do so
because of high levels of test anxiety. Because of the societal emphasis placed on
testing, this could potentially limit their educational and vocational opportunities
(Zeidner, 1990).
Tests are essential because they allow both you and your students to evaluate
their performance. You will discover what areas they are struggling with and they
will find out where they need to focus their attention. Tests may hold the key to our
educational success—as long as educators are willing to commit the time and effort
required to design tests that foster learning rather than impede it.
2. Aims and significance of the study
This study aims at:
- Introducing some characteristics of test anxiety
- Providing both teachers and students of English some suggestions to
overcome the problems.
PART 2: CONTENT
I. Characteristics of Test Anxiety
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Test anxiety is composed of three major components: cognitive, affective, and
behavioral. Students who experience test anxiety from the cognitive perspective are
worriers lacking self confidence. They may be preoccupied with negative thoughts,
doubting their academic ability and intellectual competence (Sarason & Sarason,
1990).
Furthermore, they are more likely to overemphasize the potential negative
results and feel helpless when in testing situations (Zeidner, 1998). Some students
may feel the need to answer every question on the test correctly. When this does not
occur they may think of themselves as being incompetent, thus fueling negative
thoughts such as, "I knew I was not going to pass this test," "I know I am going to
make a poor grade," or "Everyone knows I am not smart." In order for students to
have the best opportunity for academic success, negative thinking must be
minimized and controlled.
From the affective perspective, test anxiety causes some students to experience
physiological reactions such as increased heart rate, feeling nauseated, frequent
urination, increased perspiration, cold hands, dry mouth, and muscle spasms
(Zeidner, 1998). These reactions may be present before, during, and even after the
test is completed. In conjunction with the physiological reactions, emotions such as
worry, fear of failure, and panic may be present. When students are not able to
control their emotions, they may experience higher levels of stress, thereby making
it more difficult for them to concentrate.
Test-anxious students express anxiety behaviorally by procrastinating and
having inefficient study and test-taking skills. Zeidner (1998) contends that testanxious students have a more difficult time interpreting information and organizing
it into larger patterns of meaning. In addition, some students may physically feel
tired or exhausted during test administration because they do not have a healthy diet,
have poor sleeping habits, and fail to routinely exercise.
II.Suggestions to help students overcome test anxiety
1. Make test preparation fun
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Your current unit has come to a close, and you have put your heart and soul
into your classroom activities over the past weeks. Your students have had a good
time and have learned, too, and now comes the most dreaded part of all. It is not the
unit end test but getting your students ready to take it. With all the creativity and
energy you put into the lessons along the way, how can a review of the material be at
all interesting? Here are some ideas to try the next time you have to get your
students ready for the test.
1.1 Let your students write the test
Maybe you do not want them to write the test themselves, but you may want
to let your class write the review questions. By assigning each person to write a
specific number of review questions, either in class or for homework, they become
the teachers during the review. As any teacher knows, teaching a subject only makes
you know it even better, so having your students write the review and conduct their
parts in class will make them experts on the information assigned to them.
Depending on what your unit covered, you will need to break the information up
among individuals or groups in your class. You can divide the information by page
numbers (give each person one or more pages and the information on those pages),
by topic (assign certain topics you have covered to individuals or groups), or
randomly assign content by pulling topics out of a hat. No matter how you break the
information into pieces, assign each person or group to write five or more
review/potential test questions that cover the information. You may want to motivate
them to do the best job they can by choosing to include one or more of the best
questions in the test itself and letting them know you will be doing it. That way, the
writer of that question should have no problem getting the answer right and neither
should your class if they pay attention during the review!
1.2 Foster creativity
Another way to let your students do the review starts once again by assigning
topics to groups of students. This time, instead of writing review questions, ask each
person to do one of two things. The first option is to teach the material to the class a
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second time. They can use any method they choose, and making them responsible
for the review will ensure that they engage throughout the process. The second
option is to present the information to the class in a creative way. They may choose
to do a skit, a song or another presentation that will free them to think out of the box.
The more outrageous the presentation, the more of an impact it will have on the
viewers, and your class will be sure to remember the information during the test. If
you make a habit of reviewing in this manner, your students just may get competitive
about how creative they can be, and the end of every unit will become a celebration
and students will look forward to it with energetic anticipation!
1.3 Make a game of it
Perhaps the best method of test preparation is to play games with your class .
You can find several ideas for ESL games. They work well specifically for review of
material. Not only will your students have fun, they will be energized with creativity
and showmanship. To review content, try Jeopardy with your students. Though you
will have to write the questions ahead of time, your students will have fun buzzing
in, working in teams and getting in some terrific practice forming questions in
English. If your students wrote test review question in the first activity, use those
questions to play classroom baseball. Divide your class into two teams and get one
team “up at bat” first. Designate each corner of the room as a base. Ask a question,
and if the first person answers correctly, he walks ahead a base. If the answer is
incorrect, he is out. Continue to play and only count points as players pass home
plate. After three outs, the other team is up at bat. If you really want to make things
tough on the teams, let the team “in the field” choose the review questions to ask of
the players at bat. They must know the answer to the question they ask, but they can
use their books and notes and work together to come up with the questions. If the
team asking the questions gives a bad question, the other team automatically scores a
point.Test review does not have to be the most boring part of the unit.
In fact, it can be fun and engaging and something your students look forward to the
day before a test. By putting the material in the hands of your students, they not only
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review the material but also put themselves in the role of teacher cementing the
information in their minds like no other activity can.
2. How to proceed
You may have horrible memories of taking tests as a student but now that you
are teaching, it is important to test your students on the material you cover in
class. Here are some things to remember when testing students
2.1Frequency
Rather than save material from the whole year to include in one massive
exam, consider quizzing students at the end of each chapter and then every quarter or
semester to break material up into more reasonable amounts. It may seem like
students are always preparing for a quiz or test but as long as they have clear goals
and material is covered thoroughly, they should adapt to the routine easily. Another
benefit is that with more tests, each one is a lower percentage of the overall grade so
there is less anxiety about performance on individual tests.
2.2Content
Sometimes tests should focus on very specific material while others should be
more comprehensive. It is important to check that students are retaining information
in the long term and not just memorizing information. Use questions or question
types that students have already seen in class. Springing a new type of question or
activity on them during an exam can be incredibility confusing while including the
exact questions from the study guide can be too easy. Take the middle ground
here. Use familiar formats and ask different questions or variants of questions . This
will give students the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned without
getting bogged down in reading directions
2.3Variety
If possible try to include a variety of exercises in your tests. Not every school
is able to do this but interview tests can be very effective because students have to
demonstrate their ability to listen and speak as well as read and write. Since the first
two are critical for students who will have the opportunity to speak English outside
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the classroom, they are also very important in the evaluation process. You can also
use projects to grade students if you are willing to attempt something new. Perhaps
for one semester skits can be the primary factor in determining overall grades. While
these can be a challenge to evaluate compared to multiple choice questions, they also
give students who do not perform well on tests the chance to more fully demonstrate
their abilities
2..4 Preparation
It is important to help students prepare for exams so that they can feel
confident going in to them. By creating a study guide, reviewing material in class,
giving students information about the test, and answering any questions students
have, you will help them immensely. Stress can reduce student performance so
simply encourage them to study the material and do their best. By reducing their
anxiety, you have ensured that they will be more successful.
2.5Incentive
You can also set goals for your students when it comes to exams so that they
have something specific to work towards. Depending on your students, you should
consider individual and class goals. Make these reasonable but challenging and do
not reveal individual test scores to the class as this might cause some students some
embarrassment. You may decide the goal should be a class average of 85%.
Assuming that students performed about this well on past exams, this should be a
reasonable and attainable goal. The incentive might be that you will not
assign homework for one week which will help motivate students to achieve their
target score.
2.6 Review
After returning the graded tests to students, go over the answers so that
students can figure out what they did incorrectly. Simply telling them the answers
will not help them understand their mistakes. You can mark the papers without
correcting them and then go over each and every question in class so that students
can correct their answers and ask questions. While students really should take
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advantage of this opportunity to correct their mistakes so that they have correct
material to review another time, you may need to use an incentive to encourage
students to make corrections.
3. Tips for giving your students success on tests
3.1 Practice makes imperfect
One struggle many ESL students have when taking standardized tests is over
preparation. Now, I don’t mean students can know too much English or have too
advanced skills to take a test. What I do mean is that some students have taken too
many practice exams. For some students, taking practice exams can actually hinder
their ability to succeed on standardized tests. The students who tend to overtake
practice exams are those who feel insecure in their language abilities to begin with.
And the combination of the two can lead to lack of confidence when it comes to
taking the real test. In other words, students can psych themselves out. Eliminate this
problem before your students get to it by limiting the number of practice tests you
administer and encouraging students not to take too many on their own time, either.
3.2 Lather, Rinse,Repeat
You can overcome lack of confidence in your students (which will have a
detrimental effect when they sit down to take standardized tests) by repeating
activities in class. By giving students an activity that they have already done at least
once in class, your students will be primed for success. Try repeating a worksheet or
activity as an opener for class or as a review activity. Not only will your students
feel good when they know the answers, an encore performance of given activity will
solidify those concepts in your students’ minds, eliminating questions as well as lack
of confidence.
3.3 The circle of life
Repeating a particular activity in class isn’t the only way to give students
confidence and prepare them for success. Try covering the same topic in class at
regular intervals. You can either teach the same material (with different methods, of
course) several days in a row, or spend one day each week teaching a particular piece
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of information. Do this until students find the task or material easy, and then add a
second or third element to your instruction (while still teaching the material you
already covered). This way, students build on what they already know instead of
tossing out the old unit when it’s time to start the new one.
3.4 Slow and steady
Your students, no matter what standardized test they are planning to take, will
have a listening portion. And preparing them for this section of the exam is
necessary for success. But sometimes throwing them into exam level material, even
if you cover it in small chunks and review it copiously in class, isn’t good enough.
Some students will benefit far more from a simple slowing down of the listening
material. If you have a good classroom tape player or digital recorder, you should
have a slowdown function where you can adjust the speed at which the recorded
information is played. Try slowing down your listening material for your students
until they can successfully perform the task you assign them. Then, as the days and
weeks go by, speed the material up little by little until your students are able to
successfully accomplish their tasks with the tape running at normal speed, the speed
they will have to manage on the exam.
3.5 Clozed for practice
Cloze activities are great for getting an overall read of your students’ skills in
English. When you replace a blank every five to ten words in a given reading
passage, your students will have to rely on all of their language skills to successfully
complete the exercise. You can create a simple cloze activity with any reading
passage your students have read or will read. Don’t require students to fill in the
blanks with specific words. As long as what they write is grammatical and makes
logical sense, they have succeeded at the task.
3.6 Keep it simple
But sometimes testing all areas of language at the same time is not the right
choice, and that is particularly true when preparing ESL students for standardized
exams. Instead of focusing on all areas of language competency at one time, try
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choosing only one area for a preparation activity. If you are creating a cloze exam,
replace only verbs or only conjunctions. This way students will focus on one area of
language competency rather than all areas at one time. In so doing, students will gain
confidence from the more manageable challenge.
3.7 Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Using one reading passage for multiple tasks in test preparation will also
be of benefit to your ESL students. Try using a reading passage as the basis for a
cloze activity, then having students do a reading comprehension activity with
the same material, and then using it again for a grammar lesson.
3.8. All in This Together
Multiple choice activities don’t have to give students a choice from A to D
for every question. Instead, try mixing up all of the answer choices at the bottom
of the page with several questions. We often do this with a word bank for cloze
activities and fill in the blanks, but you can change things up with any multiple
choice acidity this way, too. In addition to finding the correct answers to your
questions, students will also have to determine which answers can be used with
each of the questions, adding an element of grammar and comprehension to any
multiple choice exercise.
3.9 Give them the answers
Can it really help your students if you give them the answers to questions
that are supposed to test them? Yes! Giving your students a set of questions with
the answers already marked will challenge them in a different way. Instead of
trying to find the correct answer to the question, you can ask them to explain
why that answer is the right one. That might entail going to a source paragraph
and locating specific information, or it may be that they explain a grammatical
concept or particular vocabulary word. Either way, when students are on the
explaining end of instruction, they will understand the information better and
remember it more easily.
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3.10. Make prioritizing a priority
Timed tests are a challenge, but with standardized exams, all the
questions are worth the same amount of points. You can help your students
succeed on test day by teaching them to answer the easiest questions first. Give
your students some exam style questions, and have them skim through the list
without answering any questions. Instead, have them mark the questions they
immediately know the answers to with a star, the questions they think they can
answer with a circle, and the toughest questions, the real stumpers, with an
exclamation point. Then have students answer the questions in that order –
starred, circled, and then exclamation pointed. Point out to them that they
should follow this pattern on test day, looking to answer the easy questions first
before going back to do the tougher ones. It may make a big difference in how
many points they are able to score on the big day.
4. Some other pieces of advice to reduce the level of anxiety during an exam
4.1General preparation/building confidence:
Review your personal situation and skills
Developing good study habits and strategies
Managing time(dealing with procrastination, distractions, laziness)
Organizing material to be studied and learned
Take a step by step approach to build a strategy and not get overwhelmed
outside pressures
Reviewing your past performance on tests to improve and learn from
experience
Use whatever strategies you can to personalize success: visualization,
logic, talking to your self, practice, team work, journaling, etc.
View the exam as an opportunity to show how much you've studied and to
receive a reward for the studying you've done
Learn your material thoroughly and organize what materials you will need
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for the test. Use a checklist
Avoid thinking you need to cram just before
Strive for a relaxed state of concentration
Avoid speaking with any fellow students who have not prepared, who
express negativity, who will distract your preparation
A program of exercise is said to sharpen the mind
Get a good night's sleep :the night before the exam
Don't go to the exam with an empty stomach
Fresh fruits and vegetables are often recommended to reduce stress.
Stressful foods can include processed foods, artificial sweeteners, carbonated
soft drinks, chocolate, eggs, fried foods, junk foods, pork, red meat, sugar, white
flour products, chips and similar snack foods, foods containing preservatives or
heavy spices
Take a small snack, or some other nourishment to help take your mind off
of your anxiety.
Avoid high sugar content (candy) which may aggravate your condition
4.2During the test:
Read the directions carefully
Budget your test taking time
Change positions to help you relax
If you go blank, skip the question and go on
If you're taking an essay test and you go blank on the whole test, pick a
question and start writing. It may trigger the answer in your mind
Don't panic when students start handing in their papers. There's no
reward for finishing first
Use relaxation techniques
If you find yourself tensing and getting anxious during the test:
Take slow, deep breaths
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Don't think about the fear
Pause: think about the next step and keep on task, step by step
Use positive reinforcement for yourself:
Acknowledge that you have done, and are doing, your best
Expect some anxiety
It's a reminder that you want to do your best and can provide energy
Just keep it manageable
Realize that anxiety can be a "habit" and that it takes practice to use it as a
tool to succeed
III. Effectiveness of the study
Design tests that will allow your students to succeed if they’re really
learning. Some of the most important sections of this study, though, are those
that will help me design tests that really evaluate my students based on whether
they’re learning. Instead of “high stakes” all-or-nothing questions, learn how to
design tools like informal assessments that allow me to give my students a
chance to really shine during testing. If your reviewing and testing is leading to
student dread, it’s time for you to read this topic today.
After applying these tips in my teaching I have found that my students are
more confident when doing the test. Moreover, it takes my students much less
time to come up with the answers so they have more time to devote to the other
parts of the test, therefore, produce rather good test results. As a part of the
plan, I evaluated the learners’ achievement after the applying the ideas. I
decided to use qualitative approaches to collect the data. Firstly, we made the
direct observations before, during and after applying to evaluate the learners’
behavior towards these new techniques of teaching. Then, we designed 2 fortyfive minute tests to examine the learners’ achievement after each lesson. Lastly,
we interviewed a group of 5 students in each class to show their opinion about
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issues. Here are the observation results after applying the study in class 10A
(majoring in English)
Group 10A:
The number of
The number of
The number of
The number of
students getting
students getting
students getting
students getting
mark 0-4
mark 5-7
mark 8-9
mark 10
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
applying
applying
applying
applying
applying
applying
applying
applying
the study the study the study the study the study the study the study the study
10/34 =
2/34
12/34
8/34 =
29,42%
=5,87%
=35,30% 23,53%
8/34 =
14/34 =
4/34 =
10/34 =
23,53%
41,18%
11,75
29.42
PART III : CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Conclusion
Test anxiety is something that impacts students from all ethnic backgrounds
and grade levels. Helping students learn to effectively manage such anxiety is a
challenging task that requires a genuine team effort. Students, parents, teachers,
school counselors, and school administrators must all find ways to be actively
involved in reducing test anxiety. We live in a test-taking society and when
students are anxious during tests, they are less likely to perform up to their
academic potential.
2. Recommendation
What I would like to recommend in this study is that how to avoid test
anxiety is an important part in the process of language learning. It makes the
teaching and learning process run smoothly, and helps students acquire knowledge
in a pleasant way. Thus, it is crucial that teachers of English find the ways to
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motivate their students in learning English in general and in developing their
skills in dealing with the problem.
Due to the limitation of knowledge and little experience in teaching, a lot of
defects and mistakes are unavoidable. I would like to thank all readers for their
criticism as well as comments for the betterment of the study.
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REFERENCES
Hembree, R. (1988). Correlates, causes, effects, and treatment of test anxiety. Review of
Educational Research, 58, 7-77.
Sarason, I. G. (1988). Anxiety, self-preoccupation, and attention. Anxiety Research, 1, 37.
Sarason, I. G., & Sarason, B. R. (1990). Test anxiety. In H. Leitenberg (Eds), Handbook
of social and evaluative anxiety (pp 475-496). New York: Plenum Press.
Syncamore, J. E., & Corey, A. L. (1990). Reducing test anxiety. Elementary School
Guidance & Counseling, 24, 231-233.
U. S. Department of Education (1993). Help Your Child Improve in Test-Taking.
Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.
Wilkinson, C. M. (1990). Techniques for overcoming test anxiety. Elementary School
Guidance & Counseling, 24, 234-237.
Zeidner, M. (1990). Does test anxiety bias scholastic aptitude test performance by
gender and sociocultural group? Journal of Personality Assessment, 55, 145-160.
Zeidner, M. (1998). Test anxiety: The state of the art. New York: Plenum Press.
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