Date Awarded

1991

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Education

Advisor

Roger R. Ries

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a program of self-instructional training, presented as part of the regular classroom guidance curriculum, in the reduction of test anxiety and improvement of test performance in third grade children.;The sample consisted of 88 third grade students enrolled in regular education in an elementary school. Intact classes were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. A nonequivalent control group research design was used. Dependent variables were test anxiety, academic achievement, and test performance and were measured by the Test Anxiety Scale for Children, the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement, and the Coding subtest of the WISC-R. Data was analyzed using an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Four null hypotheses provided the basis for testing whether or not there would be a significant difference (.05 level) between the treatment and control groups.;The results of this data analysis indicated that students in the experimental group achieved lower scores on the self-report test anxiety questionnaire than did students in the control group. The 4-week program of self-instructional training was effective in reducing test anxiety. In contrast, the treatment program was not effective on the variables of test performance and academic achievement.;Recommendations include using a larger sample across more grade levels, having the teachers present in the classroom during the self-instructional training, replication of the study with younger children, and follow-up testing to determine the stability of results over time.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.25774/w4-e13s-s181

Rights

© The Author

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