Assessment of Learning 2 | 1

Module 3: Assessing Affective Learning Outcomes

Time Table: 5 Hours

Topic Learning Outcome:

a. Define the different concepts related to assessing affective learning outcomes

b. Appraise the concept about assessing affective learning outcomes
c. Formulate objectives in the affective domain.

Enabling Activity

Deepen!

Assessing Affective Learning Outcomes

In this module, we shall discuss how to assess affective domain. Affective domain covers
behaviors with regards to attitudes, beliefs and feelings. Networks of attitudes, beliefs and feelings
form the student’s values. Values are perceptions or ideas of worth, while beliefs are perceptions of
fact. It also emphasizes on feelings, emotions and degrees of acceptance or rejection.

Affective Traits and Learning Outcomes

According to Hohn (1995), as sited by Mcmillan (2001), the term affective refers to 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 teacher to use specific behavior when developing
learning target.

Affective Traits

The table below is a summary of affective traits where most students affect involves both
emotional and cognitive beliefs. This was adapted from Mcmillan (2001).
Trait Definition
Attitude Predisposition to respond favorably or unfavourably 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.
 Assessment of Learning 2 | 2

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 Control Self-perception of whether success and failure is controlled by the student
or by external influences.
Emotional Growth, change and awareness of emotions and ability to regulate
Development emotional expression.
Social Relationship Nature of interpersonal interactions and functioning in group settings.
Altruism Willingness and propensity to help others.
Moral Development Attainment of ethical principles that guide decision making and behavior.
Classroom Nature of feeling tone and interpersonal relationships in a class.
Environment

Affective Domain of the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives

Affective domain describes learning objectives that emphasize a feeling, tone, emotion,
or degree of acceptance or rejection.

Levels of Affective Domain

Level 1: Receiving (Attention). It is concerned with getting, holding and directing student’s
attention.

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.

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.

Examples: (1) Demonstrating belief in the democratic process and; (2) showing the ability
to solve problems.
 Assessment of Learning 2 | 3

Verbs appropriate for objectives written at the valuing level are: complete, differentiate,
explain, follow, form, initiate, invite, join, justify, propose, 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.

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.

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, question, revise, serve, 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.

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 to 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 Observations

There are two methods of assessing affective learning outcomes using the teacher
observation: these are unstructured observation and structured observation.
 Assessment of Learning 2 | 4

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.
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 behavioural
incidents.
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. 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, sometimes,
seldom and never are utilized.

2. Student Self-report

Student self-report is a method of assessing affective learning outcome that allows

students to express their feelings or attitudes toward a given specific classroom activity.

There are two methods of assessing affective learning 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, though 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 casual 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 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 statement.

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 interest of the participants.

(1) Rating scale

Rating scale is a set of categories designed to gather information on quantitative

attributes in social sciences. In this case, Likert scale or 1 – 10 rating scales is the most widely
used to assess attitude.
 Assessment of Learning 2 | 5

(2) Semantic Differential 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.

(3) Checklist

Checklist is the easiest tool to develop compared to rating scale and semantic differential
scale. It consists of simple items that the students or teacher mark as “present2 or “absent” of a
certain attribute that describes the affective traits.

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.

On the other hand, 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.