CHAPTER III

Assessing Affective Learning Outcomes

Introduction
In assessment of Learning I, the ways of constructing instructional objectives and how to
assess cognitive domain are discussed. Cognitive domain calls for outcomes of mental activity
such as memorizing and drawing conclusions. In this chapter, we shall discuss how to assess
affective domain covers behaviors with regards to attitude, beliefs, and feelings. Networks of
attitudes, beliefs, and feelings from the students’ values. Values are perceptions or ideas of
worth, while beliefs are perceptions of fact. It also emphasizes n feelings, emotions, and degrees
of acceptance or rejection.

Affective Traits and learning Outcomes

According to Hohn (1995), as cited by Mcmillan (2001), the term affective refers a wide
variety of traits and dispositions that are different from knowledge, reasoning, and skills. The
term “affect” is general in nature, it is better for teachers to se specific behavior when developing
learning target. In Mathematics education, some scholars define affect as motivation,
dispositions, beliefs, and attitudes (Chouinsard & Roy, 2008; Shin, Lee, & Kim, 2009, Gresalfi,
2009; Davis, 2009; Else-Quest, Hyde, & Hejmadi, 2008; Frenzel, 2003). Anderson and Bourke
(2000) pointed out that motivation and affect may be redundant in the sense that motivation is
implicit in all aspects of affect.

Affective Traits
The table below is a summary of affective traits where most student’s affect involves both
emotional and cognitive beliefs. This was adopted from Mcmillan (2001).

Trait Definition
Attitude Predisposition to respond favorably or unfavorably to specified situations,
concepts, objects, institutions, or persons.
Interest Personal preference for certain kinds of activities
Value Importance, worth, or usefulness of mode or conduct and end state of
existence.
Opinions Beliefs about specific occurrences and situations.
Preference Desire or propensity to select one object over another.
Motivation Desire and willingness to be engaged in behavior and intensity of
involvement.
Academic Self Self-perception of competence in school and learning.
Concept
Self-Esteem Attitude toward oneself, degree of self-respect, worthiness, or desirability
of self-concept.
Locus of Self-perception of whether success and failure is controlled by the student
Control or by external influences.
 Emotional Growth, change, and awareness of emotions and ability to regulate
Development emotional expression.
Social Nature of interpersonal interactions and functioning in group settings.
Relationship
Altruism Willingness and propensity to help others.
Moral Attainment of ethical principles that guide decision making and behavior.
Development
Classroom Nature of feeling tone and interpersonal relationship.
Environment

Affective Domain od the Taxonomy of educational Objectives

Affective domain describes learning objectives that emphasize a feeling, tone, emotion, or
degree of acceptance or rejection. Affective objectives vary from simple attention to selected
phenomena to complex, but internally with objectives in the literature expressed as interests,
attitudes, values, and emotional sets or biases (Krathwohl, 1964 as cited by Esmane, 2011).

Levels of Affective Domain

The affective taxonomy has five levels of affective targets namely: receiving, responding,
valuing, organization, and characterization by value set.
Level 1: Receiving(Attention). it is concerned with getting holding, and directing student’s
attention. this can be assessed through interest inventories and can be rated using the
Likert scale. Attention concerns the student’s willingness to attend to a classroom
activity and being directed by the teacher.
Student’s attention is illustrated when listening attentively to the discussion of the
teacher, participating to all classroom activities, and being aware of the importance of
learning and classroom proceedings.
Example: Listening to the ideas of others with respect
Verbs appropriate for objectives written at the receiving level are; ask, choose,
describe, follow, give, hold, identify, locate, name, point to, select, sit, erect, reply, and
use.
Level 2: Responding (interest). It is concerned with the active participation of the learners by
showing interest on what they are doing. This can be assessed through observation in
terms of FSRN (frequently, sometimes, rarely, never).
Interest can be shown by completing the assigned work, active participation of
students in class discussion, volunteering for tasks, showing interest in the subject,
enjoying helping others, and willingness to answer questions.
Example: Participating in class discussions actively.
Verbs appropriate for objectives written at the responding level are: answer,
assist, aid, comply, conform, discuss, greet, help, label, perform, practice, present, read,
recite, report, select, tell, and write.
Level 3: Valuing (Preference/appreciation). Refers to the willingness to be perceived by the
others as valuing certain ideas, materials, phenomenon, or behavior.
 Preference or appreciation can be shown on the general reaction to a series of
questions that the teacher gets from the students. Students may express strong opinions
under discussion, demonstrate a problem-solving attitude, show concern for the welfare
of others, and demonstrate commitment to social improvement. This can be assesses
using the Likert Scale such as SA-Strongly Agree- A-Agree, U-Undecided, D-Disagree, SD-
Strongly Disagree.
Examples: (1) Demonstrating belief in the democratic process and; (2) showing the ability
to solve problems.
Verbs appropriate for objectives written at the level are: complete, demonstrate,
differentiate, explain, follow, form, initiate, invite, join, justify, purpose, read, report,
select, share, study, and work.
Level 4. Organization (Philosophy of Life). It is concerned with the development of Philosophy
of life by bringing out the values of the students together to form a value system that
will determine relationships among values and resolve conflicts. This can be assessed by
determining whether the learner has developed a concept of value or belief.
Philosophy of life can be shown by accepting responsibility for his behavior,
understanding and accepting own strengths and weaknesses, and formulating a life plan
in harmony with his abilities, interests, and beliefs.
Examples: (1) Explaining the role of systematic planning in solving problems, and (2)
prioritizing time effectively to meet the needs of the organization, family, and
self.
Verbs appropriate for objectives written at the organizing level are adhere, alter,
arrange, combine, compare, complete, defend, explain, formulate, generalize, identify,
integrate, modify, order, organize, prepare, relate, and synthesize.
Level 5. Characterization by a Value (Lifestyle). It is concerned with how the students act
consistently with values internalized.
Lifestyle can be illustrated by demonstrating self-reliance in working
independently, cooperating in a group activity, punctually, and self-discipline, and
demonstrating a lifestyle by consistency of his daily actions.
Examples: (1) showing self-reliance when working independently and (2) valuing
people for what they are, not how they look like.
Verbs appropriate for objectives written at the characterizing level are, act,
discriminate, display, influence, listen, modify, perform, practice, propose, qualify
questions, revise, solve, and verify.

Methods of assessing Affective Learning Outcomes

Affective learning Outcomes
There are three different methods of assessing affective learning outcomes: teacher
observation, student self-report, and peer rating. Since affective traits are not directly
observable, it is best to infer from the students’ behavior or what they say about themselves or
others. There are several psychological measures to assess affective traits, but they are seldom
used, in the classroom. Hence, teachers rely only on their observation and students self-report.
According to Mcmillan (2001), there are three considerations when assessing affect. These
are emotion and feelings, use of different approaches, and the result. Emotions and feelings are
not stable attitudes of young children and during early adolescence because most of them are
unpredictable. To obtain a valid and desirable student’s emotion or feeling, the teacher is
suggested to conduct different assessments over a considerable amount of time.in this case, he
can obtain the dominant or prevalent affect of the students. If you consider only a single
assessment, there is a high probability that what you assess is not an entire sign of the trait.
Hence, it is better to measure repeatedly over several periods of time.
When assessing affective traits, it is advisable t use several approaches as much as possible.
Do not rely on a single approach because it has a limitation. As an example, when utilizing student
self-report, the student can hide his feelings and he can fake his answers and this cam greatly
affect the result. In this case, you can verify the result using teacher observation. If the result is
not consistent with the observation of the teacher, then the result is invalid. However, if the
result is consistent with the observation of the teacher, stronger and valid result can be inferred
from it. Dobbin, Jing-Lih, and Werbel (1993), and Cassady (2001) found out that low-performing
students tend to overreport behavior more than high performing students, especially when they
perceive specific levels of performance that are socially desirable.
The last consideration is the result. Do you need an individual result or group result? Decide
whether you need an individual student result or group result. The purpose is related and
significant used in assessing affective traits. For example, if the purpose of assessing the affective
trait of students for reporting performance to parents, consider individual result. Several
methods of collecting information are needed over a period of time, and records are kept to
verify teacher’s observation. On the other hand, use group result when the purpose of
assessment is for improvement of classroom instruction.

1. Teacher Observation
Observation technique was already introduced in the Assessment of Learning I as a tool of
assessing student’s performance during instruction or during formative assessment. in this
section, the emphasis of teacher observation is o make a systematic record on the
observation about the presence or absence of affective outcomes.
a. Steps in Using Teacher’s Observation
(1) Determine in advance the specific behavior related to the targets.
(2) Develop a list of positive and negative behaviors.
(3) Decide the type of observation you want to use.
b. Two Methods of Teacher Observation
There are two methods of assessing affective learning outcomes using the teacher
observation: these are unstructured observation and structured observation.
Unstructured observation. Is also known as open-ended observation. Here, the
teacher does not use any rating scale, or checklist to record observations; it allows the
teacher more freedom to record what information is to be observed and how it is
recorded. Recording observations can be done through note taking mental note taking,
or diary keeping.
The teacher should have determined in advance the effective traits to be observed.
However, it is important to note that the teacher should also consider other actions that
may reflect on affective traits. Therefore, there should be at least guidelines and
characteristics of the affective traits to be assessed.
 In this time of observation, the teacher monitors his students in a natural classroom
setting, taking notes of the observations about the classroom environment and the
behaviors and characteristics of the students being assessed. He must use simple
descriptions, such as always ask questions; keeps standing and going around; or talking
with seatmates. Even so, he must avoid making conclusions about what he observes using
terms such as lonely, happy, motivated, etc. Using unstructured observation allow him to
quickly determine affective traits and utilize them to make adjustment in the instructional
processes.
Anecdotal record can be utilized by the teacher when using unstructured
observation type. Anecdotal record is a description of student behavior or a report of
observed behavioral incidents. The following is an example of anecdotal record.

Name of Student: John Emil R. Pulma

Year & Section Teacher Date/Time Anecdote

IV-Gold Mr. Renz A. Gabuyo 9:00-10:00 A.M. When Renz came to class this
morning, he seemed very
tired and slouching in his
seat. He did not take part in
class discussion and showed
no interest in what was
discussed. This is very
unusual of him because he
often participates and
monopolizes the class
discussion.

Structured Observation is another way of assessing the affective traits of students.

This type of observation is somewhat different from unstructured observation because
more time is needed for the preparation of the materials and the process of recording the
observation.
Structured observation usually involves the utilization of checklist, rating scale,
and sometimes the use of rubrics. With the behaviors listed, it allows the observer to focus
on the more important affect to be assess. He only has to mark the behavior to indicate
the times it has been shown. The behaviors can be listed in different formats: through the
checklist or through the rating scale. Using the checklist, the teacher indicates a behavior
by marking yes or no, observed or not observed, presence or absence, etc. With the use of
rating scale, terms such as always, often, seldom, and never are utilized.

2. Student Self-report
The second method of assessing affective learning outcomes is through the use of
student self-report. Standard self-report is a method of assessing affective learning
outcomes that allows students to express their feelings or attitudes toward a given specific
classroom activity. It limits the response
 of the students to what they can only do and say. The teacher must motivate them to
respond properly and seriously, because they might take the activities for granted, or else
the information gathered is not reliable.
There are two methods of assessing affective earning outcomes using the student self-
report: the interview method and the questionnaire and survey methods. Interview
method allows the teacher to probe and clarify information in order to avoid ambiguity,
through the students cannot be unanimous with their information and is time consuming
to conduct. In this method, the first thing the teacher does is to establish trust among
students for them to reveal their true feelings and beliefs regarding a certain fact, activity,
or situation. This can be done using individual or group interviews, round table discussions,
or causal conversations.
The second type is through the use of questionnaire or survey methods. There are
two types of format of assessing affective learning outcomes using these methods: the
constructed-response format and the selected-response format.
a. Constructed-response format is done using a completion item or an essay item. In the
completion item, the teacher asks the students about their feelings to respond to a
simple statement by writing a word or phrase to complete the said statemen. Examples
of statements about completion type are as follows:
1. I think Science is ____________________________________________________.
2. What I like about my friend is _________________________________________.
3. The topic I like most I Assessment of Learning is ___________________________.
4. Mathematics is _____________________________________________________.
5. When I have enough money I like to ____________________________________.
6. I am happy when ___________________________________________________.
7. I am interested in History subject because _______________________________.
8. I want to sit beside him because _______________________________________.
9. I do not like to be in her group because _________________________________.
10. What I like least about our teacher is ___________________________________.

Another type of constructed-response is the essay item. In the essay item, the teacher let
their students organize their ideas to be written in paragraph form regarding a certain topic.
Examples of essay topics with specific instructions are as follows:
1. Write a paragraph you like most about your teacher in Assessment of learning. Cite
your reasons and the experiences that you like most with the teacher.
2. Describe yourself as a student. Are you one of the top performing students? If so, how
do you maintain your high grades? If not, what will you do to become a top student?
b. Selected -response Format
There are three types of selected -response format presented in this section. These are
rating scale, semantic differential scale, and checklist. They are usually used to assess attitudes,
beliefs, and interests of the participants.
(1) Rating Scale
Rating scale is a set of categorize designed to gather information on quantitative,
attributes in social science. In this case, Likert scale or 1-10 rating scales is the most widely
used to assess attitude. Students are required to rate their degree of agreement with
 certain statements. Their response will show both the direction (favor or not favor) and
the strength or intensity of the attitude. The rating scale requires the students to mark
whether they strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree about their attitude
toward something. Statement used in the Likert scale are either positive or negative.
Below is the list of opinions about Mathematics. Rate each item by putting a check
on the box that corresponds to your answer.

Opinions Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Agree (SA) (A) (N) (D) Disagree
5 4 3 2 (SD)
1
1. Mathematics is a boring
and dull subject.
2. I enjoy studying
mathematics at school
3. Mathematics is an
important subject for my
future
4. Mathematics is difficult
subject for me.
5. I am confident that I will
get a high grade in
mathematics
6. Mathematics does not
scare me at all.
7. Mathematics is a very
interesting subject.
8. I am happier in
Mathematics than my
other subjects.
9. I believe I am good at
solving mathematical
problems.
10. I am always confused
in my mathematics
subject.

2. Semantic Different Scale

Semantic differential scale is another type of selected-response format in which a pair of
adjectives are used to provide connections with feelings, beliefs, and opinions that can be
measured by degrees of agreement that show both opposite directions and intensity. The
teacher let the students check in between each pair of adjectives that describes the positive or
the negative aspects of a given trait.
 When developing semantic differential scales consider the following.
a. Bipolar objectives are simple and economical means of obtaining data about
students’ reactions.
b. Ratings on bipolar adjective scale tend to be correlated and the three basic
dimensions of response account for the most of the covariation in ratings.
c. Some adjective scales are almost pure measures of evaluation. Examples of
adjectives used in terms of their dimensions; difficulty (easy-difficult), potency
(powerful-powerless), and activity (slow-fast).

Example of Semantic Differential Scale:

Mathematics Test
Essay ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Difficult
3 2 1 0 1 2 3

Basketball Player
Weak ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Strong
3 2 1 0 1 2 3

Presentation
Dislike ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Like
3 2 1 0 1 2 3

(2) Checklist
Checklist is the easiest tool to develop compared to rating scale and semantic differential
scale. it consists of simple item that the students or teacher marks as “present” or “absent”
of a certain attribute that describes the affective traits.
Steps in Constructing a Checklist
According to Mcmilln (2001), there are three steps in developing a checklist.
(a) Enumerate all attributes and characteristics you wish to observe relative to
the concept being assessed.
(b) Arrange these attributes as a “shopping” list characteristics.
(c) Ask students to mark attributes or characteristics which are present and to
leave blank to those which are not.

Sample Checklist for Structured Observation in a Classroom

Observation Yes No
1. Student will attend class on time.
2. Students will submit assignments on time.
3. Students will actively participate in classroom discussion.
4. Students will follow instructions during examination.
5. Students will ask questions during classroom discussion.
3. Peer Rating
Peer Rating is the least method to be used in assessing affective learning outcomes. In this
method, the students are asked to assess or judge their classmates’ behavior. It can be used to
assess interpersonal traits. Frequency nomination or sociogram is used to analyze its results.
There are two approaches of obtaining peer rating: the guess-who approach and the sociometric
approach. In the guess-who approach, students are asked to write the name/s of their
classmate/s who is described in the form.

Guess-Who Form
Direction: Write the name/s of your classmate/s who is described in the following questions.
Your answer must remain confidential. No other students shall see your answer. Student/s
can be named more than once in each category.
1. Who is the most willing to work with others? ________________________________
2. Which student is concerned more about others? _____________________________
3. Who asks much help about his/her assignment? _____________________________
4. Which student is willing to cooperate with others? ___________________________

On the other, sociometric approach is used to assess social structure of the class and
interaction patterns among the students (McMillan, 2001). Using this approach, it allows the
teacher to learn about the social acceptance and the liking patterns of the students. The results
can be utilized in identifying small groups of students, cliques, popular students, and social
isolates.
 CHAPTER EXERCISES

1. Define the following terms briefly:

a. Affective learning outcome
b. Affective domain
c. Motivation
d. Attitude

2. Present and discuss the different level of affective domain. Give example for each level.

3. Develop affective learning objective in the levels of receiving, responding, valuing,

organization, and characterization by value.

4. Discuss the three methods of assessing affective learning outcomes.

5. Construct a rating scale for the following situations:

a. Measuring attitudes toward Science activities
b. Measuring study habits
c. Measuring attitudes toward laboratory activities

6. Construct a checklist for the following activities:

a. Group project presentation
b. Performing laboratory experiments