Test Anxiety: Benign or Malignant for Students with Vision Impairment?

Abstract

Test anxiety has been identified as a threat in evaluative situations and academic performance by sighted students. Students with vision impairment are no exception to it. This study investigated the test anxiety scores of the students with vision impairment in South Australia. It also provided insights into the reasons for high test anxiety in the participants studied. This study was divided into two Stages-1 and 2. The Spielberger’s Test Anxiety questionnaire was administered on students with vision impairment in Stage 1. Interviews were conducted in Stage 2 with participants with vision impairment, their parents and teachers. The Stage 1 results revealed that the majority of the adult females with vision impairment and all adult males with vision impairment obtained high test anxiety scores. The majority of the adolescent females and males with vision impairment were noted to have test anxiety scores in the high to moderate range. A great number of participants with vision impairment scored higher in the emotionality in comparison to the worry subscale of test anxiety. The high test anxiety scores are congruent with the interview responses obtained from the three groups of respondents. A number of factors have been identified as the major determinants of test anxiety in students with vision impairment.

Keywords: test anxiety, participants with vision impairment, worry, emotionality, South Australia