Dialogic Mediation as a Pedagogical Instrument for Removing Test Anxiety: An Applied Experiment on Using Tents of Vygotskian Cognitive Psychology for Nurturing Growth in Writing

The findings of empirical studies in the literature have suggested that test anxiety has debilitative consequences for learning and academic test performance. Deeply situated within Vygotskian sociocultural view of learning, dialogic mediation suggests psychological support for nurturing students' development through collaboration and working within zone of proximal development. This study sought to use principles of this framework as a pedagogical instrument for treating test anxiety and removing psychological barriers to promote writing. To this end, a sample of 65 pre-university male students participated in the Test Anxiety Inventory. Sixteen students with the highest level of test anxiety were chosen as the experimental group whose anxiety scores in the pre-test; post-test and delayed conditions were calculated. Moreover, a writing test was developed and administered to the group in the pre-test and the post-test time points to track growth after mediation. Data were analyzed using a micro genetic method, a Within-Subjects ANOVA, and a paired-samples t- test. The innovatory findings of microgenesis and numerical analysis revealed that dynamic mediations alleviated the diagnosed categories of test anxiety symptoms detected during test conditions to a significant level; F-(1.089, 16.336) = 151.047, p<.05) and bore growth in writing performance; t-(15) = -10.492, p = 0.000. In sum, this experiment diagnosed chronic test anxiety signs and proposed a psychological, time-saving, economical plan to remove them. The findings of this innovative psychology-based study contribute to the second and foreign language pedagogy, psychologists, psychotherapists, counselors, instructors, and curriculum decision makers.