Investigating the Relationship between Proficiency Level and Perceived Test Consequences: A Case Study of Iranian High School Students

Aimed at promoting the consequential validity of high-stakes test, unexpected aspects of assessment process which negatively affect the learning process have been investigated by researchers in the last decades. Since discovering those variables that contribute to adverse test consequences is necessary for any successful intervention, the current study was an attempt to shed light on the relationship between proficiency level of examinees and their perception of test impacts. To this purpose, 63 third grade male students studying for a high-stakes exam were selected through convenience sampling from three different high schools in the city of Birjand. A teacher developed proficiency test was then administered and participants were either assigned to high-proficiency group (N=34) or low-proficiency group (N=29). Then, using an interview protocol and conducting a content analysis of the interviews, students were either placed at social or psychological impact groups on the bases f the frequency of their answers to different items of the interview. The obtained data were entered into SPSS (version 21) and analyzed through Chi Square test to determine the goodness of fit. A significant interaction was found (X2 (1) = 6.647, p = 0.01). It was concluded that high proficiency students are more likely to perceive test consequences (54.0%) than low-proficiency group (46%). Besides, on the basis of Phi and Crammers’ V symmetric measures, the strength of the association between the variable was 0.325 which shows a medium effect of proficiency level on type of perceived test consequence. These findings have implication for language teachers, language learners, researchers and educational decision makers.