Abstract:

In today’s world, consumer-driven and highly competitive, second/foreign language test-taking strategies should be inherent to any learner’s survival study skills. What is more, in some educational contexts L2 acquisition has become more synonymous with achieving nothing but high marks in school or international examinations. Yet the question still remains: how do “noncompetitive” L2 learners handle exam anxiety? Can learners who come from non-assertive cultures really do well in an exam-driven education system? Relatively little research has been conducted to explore the learners’ perspective on test-taking strategies in cultures that are non-assertive. This study discusses the response to a survey done during Fall 2012 semester in the Centre for English Proficiency at the American University in Dubai among 46 low-intermediate students who identified exam anxiety as the main reason for exam failure. An analysis of the results reveals that the participants’ attitude towards stress management in class is almost entirely linked to taking exams individually and is not connected to graded pair work or group presentations. The learners also correlated exam anxiety to mismanaging exam time and, collaterally, to losing face in front of their families and groups of friends. At the same time, the study shows that very few respondents associated exam anxiety with professional failure or loss of self-esteem. This student-centered research study concludes that non-assertive learners can manage exam anxiety relatively better when educators keep at the core of their teaching philosophy a deeper understanding of the cultural/societal parameters involved in education systems that are exam-driven and score-oriented.

Keywords:

Exam anxiety, fear of testing, exam success, exam failure.