STRESS MANAGEMENT IN TAKING TESTS: THE ROLE OF EFL LEARNERS' STRESS COPING STRATEGIES IN THEIR TEST ANXIETY AND TEST-TAKING STRATEGIES

The purpose of the current study was to examine the effectiveness of some strategies (stress coping and test-taking strategies) in diminishing Iranian EFL learners’ test anxiety. The sample consisted of 152 adult participants, 48 males and 104 females aged 20 to 35 with Persian as their first language. The instruments used in this study consisted of three questionnaires, the coping inventory for stressful situations (CISS), test anxiety questionnaire, and test taking strategy questionnaire. The results of path analysis demonstrated that among the coping strategies, task (β= .35, t= 5.00) and avoidance (β= .32, t= 4.32) are positive predictors of test-taking strategies and emotion negatively predicted test-taking strategies (β= -.21, t=  -3.26). Test anxiety is influenced by task (β= -.17, t= -2.18) and avoidance (β=- .33, t= -4.25) negatively and positively by emotion (β= .23, t= 3.43). It was also found that test-taking strategies and test anxiety are negatively associated (β= -.25, t= -3.17). In addition, results of independent sample t-test showed that there is a significant difference between male and female students with respect to stress coping strategies, test taking strategies, and test anxiety. Finally, the findings were discussed with reference to the context of Iran.