Does test-taking motivation predict test results in a high-stakes testing context?

ABSTRACT

Test-taking motivation (TTM) has been associated with test performance in low-stakes testing contexts. However, there have been few studies about TTM in high-stakes testing contexts, and these have contradictory results. Our aim was to explore the relationship between test-taking effort and test performance in a real-life high-stakes testing context (n = 1,515). We collected time-based and self-reported data about test-taking effort and used a structural equation model (SEM) to predict test performance. We found that the motivational indicators added about 15% of predictive power to the SEM model, where gender and previous performance had been controlled for. Altogether, the SEM model predicted 69% of the variance in test results. We compared the findings to previous studies and concluded that the possible effect of TTM should be considered in various testing contexts, whether low-stakes or high-stakes.

KEYWORDS:

• Test-taking motivation
• test-taking effort
• Response Time Effort
• self-reported effort
• Student Opinion Scale
• high-stakes test

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Innove Foundation for their cooperation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The research has been supported by the European Regional Development Fund.

Notes on contributors

Gerli Silm

Gerli Silm is a PhD student and junior researcher in the Institute of Education at the University of Tartu. Her research interest is test-taking motivation.

Olev Must

Olev Must is a senior research fellow in psychometrics in the Institute of Education at the University of Tartu. His main research object is secular change in IQ scores over time (Flynn Effect).

Karin Täht

Karin Täht (PhD University of Tartu, 2012) is a senior researcher in mathematics education psychology in the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Tartu. She has mainly researched different topics in educational psychology, her main fields of interest have been related to students’ motivation to learn, and their use of digital devices and social media.

Margus Pedaste

Margus Pedaste is a Professor of Educational Technology at the Institute of Education at the University of Tartu, where he is leading the Centre for Educational Technology. He got his PhD degree from the University of Tartu in 2006. His main research themes are educational technology, inquiry-based learning, technology-enhanced learning and instruction, digital competences, learning analytics, and augmented reality, but he is also involved in several teacher education studies. He is an active member of several professional associations, for example, EARLI, AERA, and IEEE. Currently, he is the Vice-Chair of the IEEE Estonian section and associate editor of the EARLI journal Educational Research Review.