Abstract: Despite widespread concerns that teaching to the test (TTT) as an (excessive) test preparation strategy undermines students' motivation, research has mainly focused on teacher statements and associations with achievement. Studies examining whether perceived TTT increases as exams approach and how this impacts students' motivation are lacking. Using Expectancy-Value Theory, this study longitudinally investigates changes in perceived TTT and academic motivation among N = 1855 secondary school students nearing graduation. Latent change score models revealed a significant increase in intrinsic motivation, importance, and grade self-efficacy but no influence of initial perceived TTT on motivational development. Perceived TTT increased significantly from grade 11 to 12, predicting changes in intrinsic motivation, importance, and utility but not perceived cost or self-efficacy. These findings challenge the belief that TTT inherently harms motivation, suggesting it may enhance some aspects of motivation when used strategically before exams. However, more studies are needed to understand the underlying mechanisms fully. Educational relevance statement Teaching to the test (TTT) is a most often negatively discussed phenomenon in the context of education. However, studies about the impact of perceived TTT on student outcomes other than achievement in the respective test are largely lacking. To fill this gap, the present study longitudinally examined how perceived TTT influences secondary stu-dents' motivational development (in terms of expectancy and value aspects for the subject English). Our results suggest that TTT might not have the detrimental effects that researchers and educators fear and can even enhance student motivation. These findings may reduce teacher anxiety about test preparation, allowing them to approach it more positively and creatively and inspire test designers to potentially incorporate more authentic, engaging question types, as they show that exposure to test formats might not inherently reduce motivation.
Zitierung: Muth, J. & Lüftenegger, M. (2025). Teaching to the test: Unraveling the consequences for student motivation. Learning and Individual Differences 121:102707, 1-11. 10.1016/j.lindif.2025.102707
