Saudi EFL Learners’ Test Anxiety Levels during CBT and PBT (2019).

Journal Article

2019

Published in: Saudi EFL Learners’ Test Anxiety Levels during CBT and PBT

Alwazzan, Osama Ahmed . 2019

Individuals’ attitudes toward computer-based testing (CBT) can either increase or decrease their test anxiety

level. As a result, they may be highly resistant to change or they may have different types of behavior. It is,

therefore, pertinent to investigate individual students’ attitudes toward computers before administering CBT.

This study investigated the effectiveness of CBT when compared to traditional paper-based testing (PBT) in

terms of reducing test anxiety among Saudi learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). The participants

were forty undergraduate male students enrolled in a first-year preparatory EFL course at a Saudi university.

The students were divided into two groups, a CBT group and a PBT group, and took the same assessment in

the two test formats. The participants completed two questionnaires to examine their anxiety levels before and

during each test, and to collect information regarding their prior experience with and attitudes toward either

testing format. An analysis of variance comparison was used to compare anxiety levels between the CBT and

PBT groups. The findings showed that students had a neutral attitude toward both types of tests. Furthermore,

the students’ attitudes did not have a significant impact on anxiety levels for either testing format. Rather,

anxiety levels experienced in both testing formats were significantly correlated with each other and the attitude

factor. Further research is required to delineate factors that may contribute to test anxiety as well as provide

further insight into the under-represented student subgroup that participated in the study.

• Publication Work Type: Scientific Paper
• Volume Number: 16
• Issue Number: 2
• Magazine \ Newspaper: Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching (ISI Jourenal)
• Pages: 215-229