How Students understand teacher communications about exams

Psychology in the Classroom

In this episode Dr Hannah Wilkinson talks about her doctoral research which focused on re-evaluating teachers’ use of test-taking practices from a psychological lens; unpicking how students appraised these types of communications and how it affects their engagement in the classroom. Essentially we will consider the messages that we, as teachers, give to students when we talk about exam preparation specifically and the different ways that students might interpret these communications and how, hopefully we can make them more impactful. We talk about threat and efficacy appeals. Papers Hannah Mentioned: Wilkinson, H. (2024). Efficacy Appeals in the High-Stakes Classroom: Re-Examining Teachers' use of Test Preparation Strategies (Doctoral dissertation, Liverpool John Moores University): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215091920300018?casa_token=DxwxBEbesPIAAAAA:TUTqZCb43dZAokxGby9v6k2sfGKV9FosFhbi7Lhux0xjlYsgtYw8Hk_U_GeQjJsdkmWQ13Gw Putwain, D. W., Symes, W., Nicholson, L. J., & Remedios, R. (2021). Teacher motivational messages used prior to examinations: What are they, how are they evaluated, and what are their educational outcomes?. In Advances in motivation science (Vol. 8, pp. 63-103). Elsevier: https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/22471/2/2024wilkinsonphd.pdf