Children’s Perceptions of Tests: A Content Analys

Year 2018, , 159 - 167, 15.04.2018

Gokce Bulgan

https://doi.org/10.12973/eu-jer.7.2.159

Abstract

Anxiety that students experience during test
taking negatively influences their academic achievement. Understanding how
students perceive tests and how they feel during test taking could help in
taking effective preventive measures. Hence, the current study focused on
assessing children’s perceptions of tests using content analysis. The sample
consisted of 1143 participants (566 females and 570 males) attending 3rd (n =
320), 4th (n = 420), 5th (n = 197), and 6th (n = 206) grade classes in three
public schools in Istanbul, Turkey. The findings indicated that three main
domains emerged from the data. The domains and the categories under each domain
were as follows: evaluation (grades, success vs. failure, learning and
development, and intelligence), emotions (excitement, fear and anxiety,
happiness, curiosity, mixed feelings, and disappointment), and experiential
process (answering questions, studying, difficulty, thinking, having fun,
cheating vs. honesty, and silence). Understanding students’ experiences with
testing early on in their education will give researchers and practitioners the
chance to plan effective applications for treatment and prevention, which would
influence students’ future achievement and experiences. The study findings
could also help teachers and school counselors plan more effective teaching and
counseling programs that take into account students’ anxiety levels during tests.

Keywords

Testing, test anxiety, children, school, educational psychology

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