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example, in the interview, some students mentioned that they or their friends had taken the test at least twice, but they still failed.
2. Students’ Affective Attitudes towards TKBI Test
From the results of the questionnaire, it can be inferred that most students still had negative affective attitudes towards TKBI test. The fair affective attitudes
can be seen from the average score of 2.7, meaning that almost half of the students felt that they could not really handle their anxiety. Since they thought that
their English proficiency still needed much improvement, they were inevitably anxious and worried about taking the test. The score of 2.4 in the corresponding
item about anxiety shows that students ‟ fear of failure or making mistakes also
raised the feeling of anxiety, so it impaired their performance during the speaking test. However, half of the students were still able to manage themselves not to be
too anxious or worried during the test preparation and test taking. They were aware that their negative feelings could intrude on their performance. Instead of
feeling anxious, most students tried to feel relax, so that their feelings did not affect their performance on the test.
“The important thing was to put my anxiety aside, hearing the w
ord „test‟ raised anxiety.” controlledanxiety.P6.r12.p170
“If I felt nervous, I was obstructed, so I managed to be fluent and give the best
.” controlledanxiety.P9.r8.p175
The average score of 2.8 on the item regarding anxiety shows that the students tried to control their anxiety. They acknowledged that their anxiety
would lower the quality of their performance. In order to make themselves less
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anxious, they made their effort to optimize their performance. Even though they felt anxious, it did not interfere with their performance in answering questions
given by the interviewer. Some of the test takers even mentioned that they felt relax during the speaking test in the department or in TKBI. When they were in
the middle of TKBI test, they also managed themselves not to worry about taking the test. This conditions lead to constructive attitudes which could motivate them
to build their self-esteem or confidence that they were able to pass the test. This situation illustrates how anxiety could be facilitative. Unfortunately, not many
students were able to control their anxiety.
“I felt nervous because I once heard that it is difficult.” anxietyframebuilding.P10.r2.p176
“Nervous because it was my first time to speak in English.” anxiety.P7.r3.p171
“A little bit worried, how the lecturer was, what the test was like. I was worried actually, because my friends told me their
experience of taking the test.” anxietyframebuilding.P8.r5.p173
The interview results above show that most students felt that they were anxious. For these students, speaking test was anxiety-provoking. They shared
what they felt and how it affected their test preparation and test taking process, making them feel unconfident. The students became highly anxious because they
heard from their friends that the test was difficult. This condition shows how the social aspect can interfere students‟ anxiety. This social framing built their
pressumption that the test would be difficult and they became worried that they would not be able to pass. They were worried if they would find the same
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difficulty and experienced the same failure. The students also felt nervous because it was their first time speaking in English, so they had not experienced the same
test in the past. Therefore, they did not have any anticipation to handle the test. The finding confirms what Gardner mentions about frame-setting when the
students shape their own belief about test based on others‟ perception or
experience 1985, p. 45.
“Haha well, at first I was nervous, at first, but then not anymore.”
framechanging.P4.r9.p166
“On the test, I was nervous at first, then it was normal like having a conversation
.” framechanging.P7.r4.p171
“It turned out that the lecturer was great, so it was not scary.” framechanging.P8.r6.p173
“I was nervous because I once heard that it was difficult. It turned out that it was fun
.” anxietyframechanging.P10.r2.p176
On the contrary, for those who could manage their feelings and control their anxiety, the communication was smoother. During the speaking test, it was
normal that the students felt the tension of communicating with the examiner. Although the test was designed as a conversation test, most students felt that they
were nervous at the beginning of the conversation. As mentioned before, one source of students‟ anxiety was their presumption on the test which occured due
to the social inte raction. The students were affected by their friends‟ opinion
saying that the test was difficult. Hearing that the test was difficult made them think that the test was difficult and it affected their confidence to take the test.
Therefore, they assumed that they would experience the same failure in the test
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and grew anxious at first. However, their presumption could change after they experienced the test. By controlling their anxiety, these students felt that they
were not nervous anymore because they felt like having a conversation with the examiners. Instead of being scary, it turned out that the test was so much fun that
the students could enjoy the process.
“At that time the examiner was interactive, so I was enthusiastic to speak, I was encouraged to give my opinion on something. If there
was a question, just answer it, then the examiner responded to it.”
interaction.P5.r6.p167.
The interview result shows how the students managed the effective interaction with the examiners. The test itself was carried out as a normal and
interactive conversation. The examiners initiated the conversation by asking some questions, and the test-takers answered the questions. After the test-takers
answered the questions, the examiners would give their responses. Hence, the students said that they were enthusiastic to take the test. At the end of the test, the
test-takers were invited to ask questions, so the speaking test was carried out as a two-way interaction.
“I think it was because of the different characteristics of each examiner
. My examiner was nice, so I was helped if I could not answer. My friend got C or D because of the examiner. Although
he was excellent in class, the result was disappointing because we had different examiner. But probably there were other
factors.” interaction.P10.r3.p176
One of the students also mentioned a unique case in TKBI test related to
the examiners. He mentioned that one of his friends who took TKBI test together
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with him got lower score than him. In fact, this student had better English proficiency. During TKBI preparation in class, he was excellent. However, the
result of TKBI test was lower than expected, even lower than his friends whose English proficieny was not better than him. The different characteristic of the
examiner was considered as the factor. Lyons mentions that this condition occurs because language proficiency itself is hard to measure due to the less specified
parameters and various views on language 2007, p. 488. Some examiners view language as a body of knowledge and a set of skills or competencies, while others
think that language is a collection of performances. The students‟ language proficiency can be weighted from the meaningful utterances they produced or
from the accuracy of the linguistic elements they use. In other words, different views on language proficiency result in different scoring criteria.
Another factor that affected students‟ performance during speaking was the spontaneous interaction. The form of spoken language produced by students is
affected by time limitations and process of planning, memorization, and production under pressure Bygate, 2010, p. 11. When speaking, the students had
a very limited time to prepare for their speech, as a result, they became less accurate. They also produced the language under pressure because of the test
anxiety. Referring to the theory and the data analysis, students‟ anxiety during the TKBI test was concluded as the result of students‟ beliefs about language learning,
fear of failure, interaction between the test takers and examiners, and past performance on the similar test. In addition, Andersen and Cozart mention that
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oral test has low validity and reliability since something can happen in coincidence and involve amount of luck 2014.
Hahaha what? Score, because it is a graduation requirement, so I did not feel that much, after the test, I got the score, that
‟s it. perception.P1.r7.p162
It is very important for graduation..perception.P2.r2.p162 TKBI forced me to study English. perception.P8.r8.p174
I must be able to pass, I am in the last semester, I must graduate very soon. learninggoal.P3.r7.p164
In the questionnaire, most of the students mentioned that they were motivated to prepare for the test. Their personal judgement on their proficiency
level encouraged them to prepare better for the test. Most students mentioned that they had prepared themselves for more than three months. However, this was
considered as an extrinsic motivation. In the interview, almost all students mentioned that they learned English because they were required to pass TKBI to
earn their degree. They were forced to study English because of the consequence they had to take. The extrinsic motivation was due to the obligation to pass, unless
they could not earn their degree. As a result, they became score oriented because they learned to earn good score instead of improving their proficiency level.
When the students responded to the items regarding their self-perceptions about their competence and success expectancy, most of them showed positive
response. The score of 2.9 indicates that despite their language competence, the students had strong desire to pass the test. This condition naturally presents during
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high-stake test preparation because the students need to pass the test, unless they will fail and take the high consequence due to failing the test.
3. Students’ Behavioral Attitudes towards TKBI Test
