مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - THE EFFECTS OF EVALUATION INSTRUMENTS USED FOR ASSESSMENT AND MEASUREMENT AT HIGHER EDUCATION ON STUDENTS EXAM ANXIETY THE EXAMPLE OF THE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AT CELAL BAYAR UNIVERSITY

Abstract :

Exam anxiety can be described as the variable which prevents the efficient use of the student’s knowledge during the exam and decreases the success. However, a study about the effects of form and quality of the assessment and evaluation instruments used in higher education on exam anxiety, is not encountered. Seventy 4th grade students from Celal Bayar University, Faculty of Education, department of social sciences education, 37 of whom took part in the experiment group and 33 of whom formed the control group, participated in this study which aims to search for the effects of assessment and evaluation instruments on students’ exam anxiety. Three assessment instruments are applied to these students. First assessment instrument is a multiple-choice instrument which is prepared according to the 20 traditional question writing rules, has only one true answer and in which students look for the solution of an imaginary condition. This traditional multiple-choice test is applied to the control group. The other assessment instrument expresses the current and real education situations taking place in the faculty they are attending, based on their lives. This assessment instrument is applied to the experiment group. Also a opinion scale is applied in which the students are asked to express their anticipated success and to what extend they understand the subjects. This scale is applied both before and after the exam so as to determine whether traditional and new assessment instruments increase students own learning and success perceptions. Collected data is subjected to item analysis and analysis of covariance. When the study findings are examined, it is seen that applying the alternative exam positively affects the students’ exam anxiety and thus their exam success.