Language, Anxiety, and Digital Assessment: Exploring Online Standardized Test Anxiety in English and Thai among University Students at a Thai University
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This article aimed to study (1) the prevalence and profile of online standardized test anxiety among university students for English and Thai subjects, (2) the relationship between test anxiety (in its various dimensions) and students’ performance in online standardized tests, and (3) the primary challenges, preferences, and perceptions reported by students regarding the administration, technical systems, and processes of online standardized testing. The sample was 347 third-year undergraduate students from a university in Thailand. They were selected by purposive sampling. The instrument used to collect data was a set of validated multidimensional anxiety scales, institutional performance data, and student perception surveys for both English and Thai online exams. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including frequency distributions, percentages, means, and standard deviations, to summarize anxiety levels and survey responses. Inferential statistical analyses were conducted using bivariate (Pearson’s correlation) and multivariate (regression) techniques to examine the relationship between each anxiety dimension and students' performance in both English and Thai exams. The results of the study found that: 1. Psychological anxiety was highest for English and significantly lower for Thai, confirming the strong influence of language context. 2. Psychological anxiety negatively predicted test performance in both subjects, while technical anxiety was only significant for Thai. This finding is consistent with students’ satisfaction results: although overall satisfaction levels were not markedly different between the two systems, the Thai online exam system received lower satisfaction ratings than the English system in several areas, including interface clarity, equipment availability, system standardization, and system suitability. 3. Students expressed high satisfaction with digital infrastructure and support but ongoing concerns about pressure in high-stakes English exams and fairness of administration. The study highlights the importance of targeted, context-sensitive strategies for addressing test anxiety in multilingual online assessment contexts.
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