Investigating the Relationships Between Classroom Environmental Perceptions and Test Anxiety with the Mediating Role of Achievement Goals: (A Causal Model)

In this study, the structural relationship between classroom environmental perceptions and test anxiety was investigated through the mediation of achievement goals in the form of a causal model. The statistical population included all students of Shahid Rajaei Technical College (N=550). Simple random sampling method was used to select 200 people with Cochran's formula. Data collection instrument were Jantari et al.'s (2002) classroom environmental perception questionnaires, Midgoli et al.'s (1998) achievement goals, and Abolghasemi et al.'s (1996) test anxiety. After confirming the validity, the reliability of questionnaires was calculated to be 0.93, 0.87 and 0.92, respectively. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 21 software and LISREL 8.50 software. Findings showed that the achievement goals were predictors of test anxiety and a mediator between classroom environmental perceptions and test anxiety. Moreover, the research model had a good fit. Achievement goal components also had an adverse effect on test anxiety. Also, the components of classroom environmental perception can predict the components of achievement goals including proficiency, approach-performance and approach-avoidance separately, and all components of achievement goals can predict test anxiety. The findings have important applications for those involved in higher education, the most important of which is to pay attention to the role of achievement goals as an influential and mediating variable on students' test anxiety and thus their better performance.