Effects of Test Mode and Medium on Elementary School Students’ Test Experience

Abstract: The use of digital media in education can bring great benefits and its use in schooling is steadily increasing. Administrating paper- versus computer-based as well as fixed-item versus adaptive tests could create differences in test experience, which can threaten the comparability of test results. This study investigated how the pen-and-paper, computer-based, and computer-adaptive test formats of a standardized reading comprehension test affect test anxiety and motivation among German fourth-grade students. A within-class randomized field trial with 387 fourth graders (aged: 9–10 years; 46.3% female) was conducted. Repeated-measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed no differences in state test anxiety between the test formats when controlling for trait test anxiety and pre-test state anxiety, but state reading motivation was initially higher when reading on a screen, controlling for trait reading motivation. However, this difference diminishes over the course of the test. Implications for using digital media in elementary school test situations are discussed.