The effect of authentic assessment in listening performance on students with test anxiety

Abstract

The main objective of this research was to determine whether students with test anxiety perform any differently when doing traditional listening tests versus authentic ones. For this purpose, two learners, students of SENA, with high levels of test anxiety were selected to be participants of the study. Two sets of tests were designed by the researcher, each test containing an authentic part (a task that simulated real life communication practices) and a traditional part a task with multiple-choice questions. They were done by the students, one test with two parts every month. Interviews were also done to know students’ perceptions about the two types of tests. Findings show that students with levels of test anxiety perform better when doing authentic assessment. Among the main reasons for this finding are: the flexibility of the format, the context related to their lives, plus the type of task they were required to fulfil, which were similar to those that people do in real life.