Should we Teach to the Test?
Yes. Apparently we should teach to the test.
You can read the research here.
What the study was about:
For a long time, people have thought that too much focus on preparing students for tests (called "teaching to the test" or TTT) boosts test scores but damages students' motivation to really learn.
The researchers expected that TTT would make students care less about the subject but feel more confident that they could pass the test.
They also thought that if students noticed TTT happening more often over time, the effects would be stronger.
What they found:
Surprisingly, the results didn't match those expectations.
When they looked at students' motivation from grade 11 to grade 12, motivation (like enjoyment, feeling the subject was important, and confidence) actually went up, not down.
When they looked more closely, they found something interesting: if students noticed that their teachers were doing more TTT over time, their motivation improved in some areas.
But if no change in TTT was noticed, students' motivation stayed the same or dropped slightly.
This means that when students saw an increase in TTT, their enjoyment, sense of importance, and view of the subject as useful actually improved.
Even though TTT focuses on getting high marks (an external reward), students may have felt more confident and motivated because TTT helped them feel prepared and skilled, which made them more positive about learning.
One idea is that students might actually want teachers to teach to the test because passing exams is a key goal for them. If teachers focus on helping students pass, students might see that as useful and feel more motivated.
Why this might be happening:
At the end of school, everyone is focused on exams. If teachers make the exam seem important, students might start to see the subject itself as important too.
Students might also think that what they’re learning for the test will be useful later.
In some subjects (like languages), the test might include real-world skills, so preparing for the test might feel genuinely useful.
What it means for teachers:
This study challenges the common belief that teaching to the test harms motivation. Instead, it suggests that when teachers increase TTT in the lead-up to exams, it might actually help students feel more motivated.
However, teachers should still mix TTT with other teaching methods, as too much of any one approach isn’t a good idea.
Despite this, in the next post, I’ll try to show that teaching to the test has ruined English.
And then I’ll propose better ways of teaching to the test so that students both excel and love the subject.
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