From L2 Comprehension Difficulty to Test Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Academic Stress Among Filipino University Students

Mhel Cedric D. Bendo

doi:10.70148/rise.v3i3.5

Pengarang

Mhel Cedric D. Bendo College of Business Administration, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Cavite, Philippines. Author https://orcid.org/0009-0004-6873-3910

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.70148/rise.v3i3.5

Kata kunci:

Academic stress, Test Anxiety, Second Language (L2) Comprehension Difficulty, Mediation Analysis, Educational Psychology

Abstrak

Dalam kajian ini, peranan pengantara tekanan akademik dalam hubungan antara kesukaran kefahaman Bahasa Kedua (L2) dan kebimbangan ujian dalam kalangan pelajar keusahawanan Filipina peringkat awal di Universiti Politeknik Filipina (Polytechnic University of the Philippines) – Cawangan Maragondon telah dikaji. Jumlah keseluruhan peserta kajian adalah seramai 80 orang, terdiri daripada 40 pelajar tahun pertama dan 40 pelajar tahun kedua yang mengikuti program keusahawanan di peringkat pengajian tinggi. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa masalah kefahaman L2 (teks dan tugasan akademik dalam bahasa Inggeris) berkait dengan tahap tekanan akademik yang lebih tinggi, dan keadaan ini secara signifikan meningkatkan kebimbangan ujian pelajar. Hasil kajian ini menekankan keperluan intervensi pedagogi yang merangkumi mekanisme sokongan L2 yang direka bentuk untuk mengurangkan tekanan akademik, kebimbangan ujian, serta meningkatkan prestasi akademik dalam kalangan pelajar universiti peringkat awal.

Biografi Pengarang

Mhel Cedric D. Bendo, College of Business Administration, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Cavite, Philippines.

Mhel Cedric D. Bendo is a student research author whose scholarly interests center on Educational Psychology, Curriculum and Instruction, and Educational Measurement and Evaluation. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), where he serves as a class auditor and contributes to student leadership, classroom accountability, and foundational management initiatives within the Entrepreneurship program.

His research applies advanced quantitative and psychometric methodologies to examine instructional effectiveness, learner behavior, and methodological rigor in educational research. His methodological expertise includes scale adaptation, reliability and validity assessment, incremental validity testing, and the evaluation of construct overlap and ceiling effects. He employs regression-based modeling techniques such as hierarchical regression, bootstrapped mediation analysis, and field-based quantitative experimentation, with a strong emphasis on accurate interpretation of intervention outcomes and the reduction of measurement-related false positives.

Bendo’s substantive research focuses on the implementation and evaluation of literacy interventions in secondary education, using program-evaluation frameworks to assess instructional impact and educational change. His work also extends to technology-mediated learning and assessment, including the study of digital behaviors such as mobile game addiction, task switching, micro-procrastination, and survey response patterns. This line of research incorporates mixed-methods designs, empirical field testing, and the evaluation of ICT- and AI-supported assessment tools.

As a sole author, Bendo has independently designed and conducted mixed-methods investigations addressing technology-mediated academic behaviors and learning outcomes, demonstrating proficiency in quantitative data analysis, qualitative thematic analysis, and multi-source data integration. In collaborative research contexts, he serves as a primary or lead researcher, contributing leadership in research design, measurement strategy, and data analysis. He has led large-sample evaluations of secondary-level literacy programs involving over 490 students using pre-test/post-test designs and descriptive quantitative approaches. His methodological work has been disseminated through research indexed in the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC; ED676636).

Bendo currently has multiple peer-reviewed manuscripts under active review in international journals examining educational psychology, literacy intervention, and applied educational research. His ongoing work emphasizes psychometric evaluation and statistical rigor, with particular focus on construct redundancy, ceiling effects, indirect effect estimation, and regression-based mediation modeling to strengthen the validity and interpretability of educational and behavioral research findings.

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