Test Anxiety as Correlate of Secondary School Students’ Attitude towards Examination Malpractice in Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated test anxiety as correlate of secondary school students’ attitude towards examination malpractice in Imo State, Nigeria. Three research questions were answered, and one null hypothesis tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. Correlation research design was adopted for this study. The population for this study consisted of 33,922 senior secondary school (SS2) students. Research sample consisted of 3,520 students selected through multi-stage sampling method. The instruments used for the study were Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) and Examination Malpractice Attitude Scale (EMAS). Descriptive statistics, Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Regression analysis were used for data analysis. Results obtained from the study indicated that majority of students in Imo state have high level of test anxiety. The result also showed that most of the students in Imo state have negative attitude towards examination malpractice. Moreso, the result revealed high positive significant relationship between secondary school students’ test anxiety and their attitude towards examination malpractice. It was concluded among others that secondary school students’ test anxiety significantly correlated with their attitude towards examination malpractice. The study recommended, among others that Counsellors, teachers and researchers should strengthen their efforts in creating programmes that will help in reducing students’ test anxiety, so that students would feel less apprehensive and more prepared to face tests and examinations without any need to indulge in any form of malpractice.