Attitudes towards objective testing: a cross-cultural perspective

Abstract

The present study investigated overseas and Australian students' attitudes towards objective testing and written examinations. Two hundred and ninety-three Bachelor of Business first-year students were surveyed after they had sat both traditional and objective mid-semester examinations. Significant differences between South East Asian and Australian students' attitudes were found. These findings have important implication for tertiary assessment procedures – particularly in light of the increasing numbers of full-fee paying overseas students entering Australian universities.

Keywords:

• objective testing
• overseas students
• tertiary assessment
• examination methods