Construct the Self-Service Application "Release Test Anxiety (Retax)" for Adolescents (Phase 1): Comparison of Test Anxiety in Different Countries

Current research indicates that in countries with standardized testing systems, a substantial percentage of about 15%−30% of students suffer from test anxiety. Given this context, quickly testing students’ levels of test anxiety and helping them alleviate their anxiety becomes an issue of great importance in the field of education. This project proposes creating a mobile application called Release Test Anxiety (ReTax), which will be built over three years. The app will combine tools to measure student test anxiety, including the Examination Stress Scale (Exam SS) and the Coping with Examination Stress Scale (CESS), as well as features to help students reduce stress, such as the mindfulness and cognitive change group activities proposed in Chao et al. (2018). By utilizing up-to-date information and communication technology, the app will provide students with easier access to methods of stress relief. In addition, with this convenient mobile tool in place, we can also delve into other research questions, such as whether changes in examination policies increase or decrease levels of test anxiety among students, whether students in different countries share similar levels of test anxiety, whether reduction of test anxiety has to be carried out in an institutional counseling context, and which autonomous stress-reduction method is most helpful to students. Once the ReTax application has been deployed, we will gradually be able to answer these rarely posed but critical questions and to provide students with direct help. In this three-year project, we propose to carry out three major tasks in the first year: revision of the ExamSS, translation of the ExamSS, and system development and hardware deployment. Expected outcomes from the first year include a newly compiled CESS-R, ExamSS test questions and test results in eight languages, and system development specifications. The main task of the second year will be the development of the ReTax system itself, including database building, basic account management features, and testing and reporting features. It is expected that by the end of the second year, the first version of the ReTax system with account management features and ExamSS and CESS-R testing features will be complete. We will also apply for a patent. In the third year, we will focus on the development of autonomous stress-reduction modules and collect test anxiety data from various countries for comparison. It is expected that by the end of the third year, at least two stress-reduction modules for the ReTax system (cognitive change and mindfulness) will be complete. Comparison of test anxiety levels in different countries will be conducted and the norms in these countries will be updated. When the three-year project is complete, we plan to use experimental research and big data analysis to verify the efficacy of the ReTax system in test anxiety reduction. This project will make a significant academic and social contribution to the theory and practice of adolescent test anxiety.