Twenty-eighth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

Test anxiety tools are developed to help us understand and predict the impact of test anxiety in different test settings. It is important to determine the reliability and validity of these tools so as to affirm the measures that they provide. The purpose of this study was to find out the psychometric properties of the 10-item Westside Test Anxiety Scale (WTAS) that was adapted for use in Kenya. The effect of test mode on test anxiety was also investigated. The study sample comprised 424 male and female pupils in public primary schools in Nairobi, Kenya. In a between-groups experimental set-up, 208 pupils were assigned at random to sit a computer-based science test and 216 pupils were assigned to the paper-based science test group. The WTAS was thereafter administered to pupils in both groups. An analysis of the test anxiety tool’s psychometric characteristics revealed adequate internal consistency and person reliability estimates. The tool also fulfilled the key Rasch model assumptions of unidimensionality, local independence and parameter invariance. Though all the items fitted the Rasch model, three items had categories that were disordered. The WTAS was conceived to have two dimensions of worry and incapacitation (interference). Exploratory factor analysis however revealed that there were two additional factors; physiological arousal and memory loss. An independent sample t-test showed that test mode had a small and insignificant effect on test anxiety. It was recommended that future studies consider developing test anxiety tools rather than adapting from foreign sources.