CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

This chapter presents the background of the study, the statement of the problem, the objective of the study, research questions, significance of the study, justification of the study, scope, and delimitations of the study, and operational definition of terms.

1.1 Background of the Study

Test anxiety for the past years has been a serious problem to learners’ performances in school. As students usually pay attention in class, take notes in detail, attending extra classes or tutorials, do all their assignments, study hard and think they have a grip over the material.  All effort is to perform well during a test or an exam. When the day of the test or exam comes, a student suddenly feels blank or nervous, that they cannot recall the information to respond to those questions they knew the answers well just so before. If this experience sounds familiar, then you might be suffering from what is known as test anxiety.

It is normal to feel a little nervous and stressed before a test or an examination just as everyone does. A touch of nervous anticipation can keep a student at peak performance while taking the test. Nervous students feeling before a test can be so strong that it interferes with their concentration or performance. Test anxiety varies considerably from one person to another. Some people might feel like they have ‘butterflies’ in them, while others might find it difficult to concentrate on the test. Others may experience a heartbeat and a sense of shakiness. In the most severe cases, people can feel nervous and short of breath (Mandler and Sarason, 1952).

Test anxiety is not the same as doing poorly in a certain test or examination not because the teaching-learning process was incomplete. It may be as a result of distraction. Most students know that having other things on their minds such as a breakup or the loss of someone close can also interfere with students’ concentration and prevent them from doing their test or preparing for it. Learners are expected to perform or succeed well after preparing for a test or examination but most of them fail not because they did not know but just because of the anxiety before and during a test, it affects their performance.

The most common causes of test anxiety are said to be; students who worry a lot or who are perfectionists and students who are not prepared for tests but care about doing well. Though test anxiety keeps increasing in the test process, others still find their test anxiety dropping and giving them away to think appropriately (Hembree, 1988).

According to Hebb (1972), the theory of arousal, which is useful in explaining the relationship between test anxiety and academic performance, was an adaptation of YerkeDodson’s law (1908). The theory states that students seek out an optimal level of arousal such that too low arousal brings about boredom while too high arousal leads to stress. This theory predicts a U-shaped function between arousal (anxiety) and performance. It assumes that both low and high levels of arousal (anxiety) produce minimum performance while a moderate level results in maximum performance. Arousal can be high at times of excitement or panic.

According to Mandler and Seymour (1950), highly test anxious students score about twelve percentile points below their low anxiety peers; Test anxiety is prevalent amongst student populations of the world. It is in this light that the researcher seeks to investigate the impact of test anxiety on students’ academic achievement.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

To meet the challenge of higher education standards and higher expectations in education, the issue of test anxiety on students’ performance has to be treated appropriately. In other words, for teaching-learning process to be completed, there must be a valid and reliable assessment tool and evaluation of learners which justifies the uses of tests.

Although most often teachers together with learners try to always cover the syllabus in each subject, providing all the facilities such as teaching aids or instructional materials, no matter how the student masters the content of the subject, performance may below.  Literature shows that amongst other factors, test anxiety may be responsible for this low performance. The problem therefore is: To what extent does test anxiety affect students’ academic achievement in Njikwa subdivision?

1.3 Purpose of the Study

1.3.1 Main Objective

The purpose of this study is;

To examine the impact of test anxiety on students’ academic achievement in the Njikwa Sub-Division

1.3.2 Specific Objectives

The study seeks:

1. To find out the impact of fear (nervousness/shakiness/heartbeat) on performance.
2. To investigate the impact of lack of concentration on performance.
3. To find out the impact of test anxiety due to students’ mastery of subject matter on achievement.
4. To investigate the impact of test anxiety due to the student-teacher relationship on performance.
5. To find out how test anxiety can be reduced in students.

1.4 Research Question

1.4.1 General Research Question

What is the impact of test anxiety on students’ academic achievements?

1.4.2 Specific Research Questions

1. How does fear (nervousness/shakiness/heartbeat) affect students’ academic achievement?
2. How does lack of concentration affect students’ academic achievement?
3. How does test anxiety affect students’ mastery of subject matter on achievement?
4. How does test anxiety due to the student-teacher relationships affect students’ academic performance?
5. How can test anxiety be reduced in students?