Home Cognitive test anxiety in high-stakes oral examinations: Face-to-face or computer-based?
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Cognitive test anxiety in high-stakes oral examinations: Face-to-face or computer-based?

  • Alberto Andujar EMAIL logo and Maria Soledad Cruz-Martínez
Published/Copyright: February 3, 2021
Language Learning in Higher Education
From the journal Language Learning in Higher Education Volume 10 Issue 2

Abstract

The present investigation explores Cognitive Test Anxiety (CTA) in a high-stake oral examination, taking into consideration how face-to-face and computer-based examination formats affect test-takers’ anxiety and consequently language performance. Two speaking tests – face-to-face and computer-based – were developed for a Spanish university’s ACLES B1 accreditation exam taken by 176 candidates. The Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale Revised (CTAS-2) and a structured interview were used to measure students’ anxiety as well as to observe students’ perceptions, individual behaviour, and how contextual characteristics and emotions have an effect on language test anxiety. Results indicated a moderate to high cognitive test anxiety on the part of participants and differences between the two contexts were found. Factors such as the absence of an examiner or not feeling observed or judged during the speaking test performance were found to be aspects that lowered test-takers’ anxiety levels.

Keywords: cognitive test anxiety; speaking test anxiety; language anxiety; validity; contextual factors
Corresponding author: Alberto Andujar, University of Almería, Almería, Spain, E-mail:

References

Bodas, Jaee, & Thomas, H. Ollendick. 2005. Test anxiety: A cross-cultural perspective. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review 8(1). 65–88. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-005-2342-x.Search in Google Scholar

Çağatay, Sibel. 2015. Examining EFL students’ foreign language speaking anxiety: The case at a Turkish state university. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 199. 648–656. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.07.594.Search in Google Scholar

Cassady, Jerrell C. & Ronald E. Johnson. 2002. Cognitive test anxiety and academic performance. Contemporary Educational Psychology 27(2). 270–295.10.1006/ceps.2001.1094Search in Google Scholar

CEFR. 2018. Retrieved from https://rm.coe.int/cefr-companion-volume-with-new-descriptors-2018/1680787989.Search in Google Scholar

Chalhoub-Deville, Micheline. 2003. Second language interaction: Current perspectives and future trends. Language Testing 20(4), 369–383. https://doi.org/10.1191/0265532203lt264oa.Search in Google Scholar

Chastain, Kenneth. 1975. Affective and ability factors in second‐language acquisition. Language Learning 25(1). 153–161. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1975.tb00115.x.Search in Google Scholar

Cheng, Liying, Don Klinger, Janna Fox, Christine Doe, Yan Jin & Jessica Wu. 2014. Motivation and test anxiety in test performance across three testing contexts: The CAEL, CET, and GEPT. Tesol Quarterly 48(2). 300–330. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.105.Search in Google Scholar

Gregersen, Tammy. 2009. Recognizing visual and auditory cues in the detection of foreign-language anxiety. TESL Canada Journal 26(2). 46–64. https://doi.org/10.18806/tesl.v26i2.414.Search in Google Scholar

He, Deyuan. 2017. How to Cope with foreign language speaking anxiety effectively? The case of university students in China. Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching 14(2). 159–174. Available at http://e-flt.nus.edu.sg/v14n22017/he.pdf.Search in Google Scholar

Hewitt, Elaine & John Stephenson. 2012. Foreign Language anxiety and oral exam performance: A replication of Phillips’s MLJ study. The Modern Language Journal 96(2). 170–189. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2011.01174.x.Search in Google Scholar

Horwitz, Elaine. 2001. Language anxiety and achievement. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 21. 112–126. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190501000071.Search in Google Scholar

Horwitz, Elaine K., Michael B. Horwitz, & Joann Cope. 1986. Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal 70(2). 125–132. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1986.tb05256.x.Search in Google Scholar

Huang, Heng-Tsung Danny. 2018. Modeling the relationships between anxieties and performance in second/foreign language speaking assessment. Learning and Individual Differences 63. 44–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2018.03.002.Search in Google Scholar

MacIntyre, Peter D. & J. Renée MacDonald. 1998. Public speaking anxiety: Perceived competence and audience congeniality. Communication Education 47(4). 359–365. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634529809379142.Search in Google Scholar

In’nami, Yo 2006. The effects of test anxiety on listening test performance. System 34(3). 317–340.10.1016/j.system.2006.04.005Search in Google Scholar

Lumley, Tom & Barry O’Sullivan. 2005. The effect of test-taker gender, audience and topic on task performance in tape-mediated assessment of speaking. Language Testing 22(4). 415–437.10.1191/0265532205lt303oaSearch in Google Scholar

MacIntyre, Peter D., Kimberly A. Noels & Richard Clément. 1997. Biases in self‐ratings of second language proficiency: The role of language anxiety. Language Learning 47(2). 265–287. https://doi.org/10.1111/0023-8333.81997008.Search in Google Scholar

Mohtasham, Leila & Maryam Farnia. 2017. English speaking anxiety: A study of the effect of gender on Iranian EFL university students’ perceptions. International Journal of Research in English Education 2(4). 66–79. Available at http://ijreeonline.com/files/site1/user_files_68bcd6/mfarniair-A-10-74-1-2440020.pdf.10.29252/ijree.2.4.66Search in Google Scholar

Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. & Charles, Teddlie. 2003. A framework for analyzing data in mixed methods research. Handbook of Mixed Methods in Social and Behavioral Research 2. 397–430.Search in Google Scholar

O’Sullivan, Barry 2000. Exploring gender and oral proficiency interview performance. System 28(3). 373–386.10.1016/S0346-251X(00)00018-XSearch in Google Scholar

Öztürk, Gökhan & Nurdan Gürbüz. 2014. Speaking anxiety among Turkish EFL learners: The case at a state university. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies 10(1). 1–17. Available at http://jlls.org/index.php/jlls/article/view/178.Search in Google Scholar

Phillips, Elaine M. 1992. The effects of language anxiety on students’ oral test performance and attitudes. The Modern Language Journal 76(1). 14–26. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1992.tb02573.x.Search in Google Scholar

Pintrich, Paul R. & Dale H. Schunk. 2002. Motivation in education: Theory, research, and applications. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.Search in Google Scholar

Suleimenova, Ziash. 2013. Speaking anxiety in a foreign language classroom in Kazakhstan. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 93. 1860–1868. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.131.Search in Google Scholar

Tanveer, Muhammad. 2007. Investigation of the factors that cause language anxiety for ESL/EFL learners in learning speaking skills and the influence it casts on communication in the target language. Unpublished Thesis, Faculty of Education, University of Glasgow. Available at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Muhammad_Tanveer16/publication/293263722_Investigation_of_the_factors_that_cause_language_anxiety_for_ESLEFL_learners_in_learning_speaking_skills_and_the_influence_it_casts_on_communication_in_the_target_language/links/56b6f15408ae3c1b79ad4ce7.pdf.Search in Google Scholar

Thomas, Christopher L., Jerrell C. Cassady & W. Holmes Finch. 2017. Identifying severity standards on the cognitive test anxiety scale: Cut score determination using latent class and cluster analysis. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment 36(5). 492–508. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282916686004.Search in Google Scholar

Woodrow, Lindy. 2006. Anxiety and speaking English as a second language. RELC Journal 37(3). 308–328. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688206071315.Search in Google Scholar

Zheng, Ying & Liying Cheng. 2018. How does anxiety influence language performance? From the perspectives of Foreign Language classroom anxiety and cognitive test anxiety. Language Testing in Asia 8(1). 13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468-018-0065-4.Search in Google Scholar

Supplementary material

The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/cercles-2020-2029).

Published Online: 2021-02-03
Published in Print: 2020-12-16

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Articles
  3. Celebrating CercleS: introductory notes to 30 years of professional activity in the field of language learning and teaching
  4. Voices from current and past CercleS Presidents
  5. Plurilingualism, learner autonomy and constructive alignment: A vision for university language centres in the 21st century
  6. Recent developments concerning the use of English for teaching and research purposes
  7. The underlying action-oriented and task-based approach of the CEFR and its implementation in language testing and assessment at university
  8. The language centre as a laboratory for innovation
  9. The development of a Language Centre. An example of best practice in a historical perspective
  10. Voices from European Language Centres and beyond
  11. Academic, cultural and social growth through the language of websites: A challenge for European University Language Centres
  12. An evaluation of culture teaching and learning in a Uniwide Language Program: Teachers and students’ perspectives
  13. Learner autonomy, self-regulation skills and self-efficacy beliefs – How can students’ academic writing skills be supported?
  14. Enhancing assessment in the recognition of prior learning with digitalisation
  15. The university language centre as an open-badge issuer: New directions in ESP assessment and accreditation
  16. Cognitive test anxiety in high-stakes oral examinations: Face-to-face or computer-based?
  17. Exploring the relationship between motivations, emotions and pragmatic marker use in English-medium instruction learners
  18. Raciolinguistic ideology in first-year university (non)heritage Chinese classes
  19. Reports
  20. Taking research from periphery to core in a Caribbean Language Centre
  21. Integrating entrepreneurial working life skills with foreign language teaching – two cases from the University of Oulu
https://doi.org/10.1515/cercles-2020-2029
Keywords for this article
cognitive test anxiety; speaking test anxiety; language anxiety; validity; contextual factors

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Articles
  3. Celebrating CercleS: introductory notes to 30 years of professional activity in the field of language learning and teaching
  4. Voices from current and past CercleS Presidents
  5. Plurilingualism, learner autonomy and constructive alignment: A vision for university language centres in the 21st century
  6. Recent developments concerning the use of English for teaching and research purposes
  7. The underlying action-oriented and task-based approach of the CEFR and its implementation in language testing and assessment at university
  8. The language centre as a laboratory for innovation
  9. The development of a Language Centre. An example of best practice in a historical perspective
  10. Voices from European Language Centres and beyond
  11. Academic, cultural and social growth through the language of websites: A challenge for European University Language Centres
  12. An evaluation of culture teaching and learning in a Uniwide Language Program: Teachers and students’ perspectives
  13. Learner autonomy, self-regulation skills and self-efficacy beliefs – How can students’ academic writing skills be supported?
  14. Enhancing assessment in the recognition of prior learning with digitalisation
  15. The university language centre as an open-badge issuer: New directions in ESP assessment and accreditation
  16. Cognitive test anxiety in high-stakes oral examinations: Face-to-face or computer-based?
  17. Exploring the relationship between motivations, emotions and pragmatic marker use in English-medium instruction learners
  18. Raciolinguistic ideology in first-year university (non)heritage Chinese classes
  19. Reports
  20. Taking research from periphery to core in a Caribbean Language Centre
  21. Integrating entrepreneurial working life skills with foreign language teaching – two cases from the University of Oulu
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 23.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/cercles-2020-2029/html
Scroll to top button