Abstract:
A common lament heard by mathematics educators is, “I’m just not a test person.” Who is and is not a test person? How do educators create more students who identify as test people? Assessment and, in particular, the high stakes exam, continue to be ubiquitous in undergraduate mathematics for credible reasons. However, outside of testing anxiety little research has sought to understand how students’ beliefs and emotions about assessment-taking manifest and change in different forms of mathematics assessment. From a social cognitive perspective, student affect is shaped by and shapes their experiences of assessment, leading to reinforcement over time. In this thesis, I aim to explore how affect varies between mathematics assessment and gain a nuanced view of students’ affective experiences across a semester.
To do so, two studies were conducted in an undergraduate mathematics course. The first employed a mixed-methods approach to analyse students’ (N = 91) experiences and emotions in low stakes, online quizzes and a high stakes, invigilated test. In the second, I collected achievement measures and survey responses throughout a semester on students’ (N = 277) self-efficacy in two scenarios (a low stakes, online quiz and a high stakes, invigilated exam), stress mindset, and exam-specific emotions. The data were cross-sectionally and longitudinally examined using variable-oriented and person-oriented approaches.
I conceptualised the construct of assessment self-efficacy and operationalised it by developing the Measure of Assessment Self-Efficacy (MASE), which measures individuals’ beliefs in their abilities pertaining to specific assessments. Results from both studies demonstrated that student affective experiences vary between assessments. Empirical findings, including from cross-lagged panel analyses, together with theory are used to argue online quizzes may support the development of positive assessment affect.
Cluster analysis revealed five distinct assessment-related affective profiles, displaying different dynamics of affective constructs within and between individuals. The results illuminate the necessity of, not only mitigating negative, but promoting positive affect to support student achievement and possible approaches are discussed. This thesis introduces a call, motivated by student affect, to vary assessment for early undergraduate students, so to offer more chances for them to re-evaluate their abilities and disrupt proceduralised affective responses.
