A model of interplay between student English achievement and the joint affective factors in a high-stakes test change co
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A model of interplay between student English achievement and the joint affective factors in a high-stakes test change context: model construction and validity Parvaneh ShayesteFar 1 Received: 16 August 2018 / Accepted: 9 June 2020/ # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Research on test change often documents high-stakes English test impact on English language learning, whereas evidence for simultaneous impact on affective predictors of learning is still missing. We tested a theoretical model positing that changing high-stake English tests (English Language Requirements for University Entrance, in this study) influences learners’ attitude, perceived test-anxiety, learning stress, and motivation for learning, and that perceived motivation, test-anxiety, and learning stress mediate the link between attitude and achievement (English language achievement). Results of a structural equation modeling (SEM) confirmed the model yielding support for the strong total effects of attitude and motivation on achievement (N = 468 EFL learners). Under such a program, test-anxiety and learning stress negatively correlated with attitude, mediated the effects of attitude on achievement, and their joint effect negatively influenced motivation having the second strongest direct effect on achievement. Motivation was also documented as important mediator of the effects of attitude, textanxiety, and learning stress on achievement. The model was used as a means to validate the new tests in terms of their perceived consequences and effectiveness and, in effect, helped observe a discrepancy between the idealized policy behind the change and the real practices within the change context. Educational implications are discussed. Keywords Test consequences . Test change . High-stakes tests . University entrance
examinations . Affective predictors
* Parvaneh ShayesteFar [email protected]
1
English Department, Farhangian Teacher Education University, Tehran, Iran
Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability
1 Introduction Student performance on high-stakes tests has been used as part of statewide accountability systems since the 1990s. Such test-based accountability systems are based on the beliefs that attaching incentives to standardized achievement tests is a relatively potent policy for improving student performance (Hamilton et al. 2002). Many educational programs view such a test-based accountability as being an integral part of students’ learning process, but not only as a mere means for measuring what they know or do not know. In the light of test-based accountability, improved testing would improve the quality of learning, teaching, curriculum, and pedagogy (Hill and McNamara 2011). It is not surprising, thus, to find that any educational policies deliberately taken to improve high-stakes tests can potentially entail promotion of the quality of learning (Decker and Bolt 2008; Wall 2000) and credible forms of accountability (Black 1998). Given these consequential effects, many testing programs have moved beyond the “tradi
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