Chapter 2

AFFECTIVE LEARNING COMPETENCIES

TOPICS

1. Importance of Affective Targets

2. Affective Traits and Learning Targets
3. Methods of Assessing Affective Targets

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
1. Craft affective learning outcome for the different levels in the affective
domain.
2. Develop instruments for assessing affective learning.

Besides students’ academic performance, there are other dimensions of learners that
need to be assessed also. These are aptitudes and attitudes that are related to the
academic achievement of learners (Tanner 2001).

Information about learners’ experiences with a subject or an activity is only part of

what is needed as input in order to explain their performance. In a class, it would be
obvious evidence that experience appears to be consistent from student to student
(since they belong to the same class and were given the same activity), still some
perform better than others. And this difference among students needs to be part of
information to assess students better.

The learners’ attitudes towards academic tasks influence their achievements (Harter,
1988; Lefrancois, 1994). Attitude is associated with what is called the individual’s
affective domain, and affect adds a significant dimension to assessment. If there is a
relationship between how students feel about a task and their performance, it is but
necessary for teachers to assess affect and then do something to influence affect. It is
not just to help the students like the activities they do but to do it better. Attitude
measures are part of the broader category of personality measures. This area of
assessment is significant since information about personality characteristics gives more
information that will help in predicting how a particular set of learners will likely
respond to certain learning situation. In the general psychology course, a more detailed
study about personality is covered, but in this book the focus is its connection to school
and learners’ achievement.

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 TOPIC 1: IMPORTANCE OF AFFECTIVE TARGETS
Researches have established the clear link between affect and cognitive learning
(Ormrod, 2004). Students are more proficient in problem-solving if they enjoy what
they do. Students who are good mood and emotionally involved are more likely to pay
attention to information, remember it meaningfully and apply it. Too much anxiety
obstructs learning, and greater motivation is necessary for maximum performance. A
more positive environment fosters good student engagement and learning than in a
classroom with negative climate (Fraser, 1994).

Though the linkage of affect and learning of students has been well-established, there
remains very little systematic assessment of affect that is applied in classroom
instruction. (McMillan, Workman & Myran, 1998; Stiggins & Conklin, 1992). Motivation
and involvement of students in learning activities are affected by students’ attitude
toward learning, respect for others, and concern for others. Though these factors are
known to teachers, yet most teachers do not utilize any kind of formal affective
assessment. Possible reasons are: (1) school routines are organized based on subject
areas; and (2) assessment of affective targets is fraught with difficulties (McMillan,
2007).

Cognitive subject matter targets are agreed on as desirable for all students. This places
affect in a position of importance but still secondary to cognitive learning. It also makes
difficult to determine which affective targets are appropriate for all students. It is
simply not easy to define attitudes, values, and interests.

The second possible reason is that many potential sources of error in measuring
affective traits often result in low reliability. Motivation is of primary concern. Students
need to take such assessments seriously to provide accurate results, but still many may
restrain form giving honest answer if the responses are not treated with anonymity and
confidentiality. It would be easier to fake responses to self-report instruments if the
results are to be used for grading or some other purpose. Students may want to please
the teachers with positive responses. Other possible source of error is that some
affective traits are easily influenced by momentary or temporary moods. This is true
for younger students who may report more negative affect after a bad d ay or session.
Teachers’ bias may also contribute significantly on what may be recorded or perceived.

Though a lot of demotivating instances were mentioned in the previous paragraphs,

these discouraging instances should not hinder the assessment of the students’ affect.
Positive affective traits and skills are essential for:

• Effective learning
• Being an involved and productive member of our society
• Preparing for occupational and vocational satisfaction and productivity
(example: work habits, willingness to learn, interpersonal skills)
• Maximizing the motivation to learn at present and in the future
• Preventing students from dropping out of school

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Various ways by which teachers can signal to students that clearly defined positive
affect is important than just simply systematically assessing it. It begins with identifying
appropriate affect targets.

TOPIC 2: AFFECTIVE TRAITS AND LEARNING TARGETS

The word affective refers to a variety of traits and dispositions that are different from
knowledge, reasoning, and skills (Hohn, 1995). Technically, this term means the
emotions or feelings that one has toward someone or something. Nevertheless,
attitudes, values, self-concept, citizenship, and other traits are usually considered to be
non-cognitive, include more than emotions or feelings. Most kinds of student affect
involve both emotion and cognitive beliefs.

Shown in the table below are the different traits and its corresponding description:

TRAIT DESCRIPTION
Attitudes Predisposition to respond favorably or unfavorably to
specified situations, concepts, objects, institutions, or
persons
Interests Personal preference for certain kinds of activities
Values Importance, worth, or usefulness of modes or conduct and
end states of existence
Opinions Beliefs about specific occurrences and situations
Preferences Desire to select one object over another
Motivation Desire and willingness to be engaged in behavior including
intensity of involvement
Academic Self-concept Self-perception of competence in schooling and learning.
Self-esteem Attitudes 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
Development regulate emotional expression.
Social Relationships Nature of interpersonal interactions and functioning in
group setting.
Altruism Willingness and propensity to help others
Moral Development Attainment of ethical principles that guide decision-
making and behavior
Classroom Nature of feeling tones and interpersonal in a class.
Development
(McMillan, 2007)

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Attitude Targets

McMillan (1980) defines attitudes as internal states that influence what students are
likely to do. The internal state can in come degree determine positive or negative
favorable or unfavorable reaction toward an object, situation, person or group of
objects, general environment, or group of persons. It does not refer to behaviors, what
a student knows, right or wrong in a moral or ethical sense, or characteristics such as
race, age or socio-economic status. In a learning institution, attitude is contingent on
subjects, teachers, other students, homework, and other objects or persons. Most
often, one can identify the positive or negative attitudes that a person intends to foster
or at least keep track of because these attitudes are related to current and future
behavior. Some of these attitude are listed in the table below:

A Positive Attitude Toward A Negative Attitude Toward

Learning Math, Science, English and Cheating
other subjects Drug use
Assignments Bullying
Classroom rules Cutting classes
Teachers Dropping out

In researches conducted by social psychologists, they found that attitudes consist of

three components or contributing factors (Forsyth, 1999):

1. An affective component of positive or negative feelings.

2. A cognitive component describing worth or value.
3. A behavioral component indicating a willingness or desire to engage in particular
actions.

The affective component consists of the emotion of feeling associated with an object
or a person (good or bad feelings, enjoyment, likes, comfort, anxiety, etc.). When the
teacher describes students as liking math or enjoying art, the teacher is focusing on the
affective component. The cognitive component is an evaluative belief (such as thinking
something as valuable, useful, worthless, etc.). In school, students can think history is
useless and science valuable. The behavioral component is actually responding in a
positive way. A strong and stable attitude is manifested when all three components are
consistent. Which means that, if a student like science, the student thinks it is valuable,
and reads science related materials at home, it translates that the student has a very
strong positive attitude. On the other hand, it is likely that for many students, these
components will contradict one another. For example, Juana may not like English very
much but thinks that English is important. The question is, what would her attitude be
in general sense, toward English? That would depend on what components of the
attitude is being measured. If it is only affective component then the attitude would be
negative; but if it is the cognitive component, it would translate to a positive attitude.

This trifocal conceptualization has significant implications for identifying attitude

targets. Does the assessment need to focus on feelings, thoughts, or behavior? If the
learning target for example is “students will have a positive attitude toward school”

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then the assessment needs to include all the three components since the general
nature of target would need to be consistent with the assessment. But, if the target is
“students will like coming to school,” then it would suffice that the assessment focus
only on the affective component.

Value Targets

Generally, values refer either to end states of existence or to modes of conduct that
are desirable or sought (Rokeach, 1973). End states of existence refer to conditions
and aspects of oneself and the kind of world that a person wants such as safe life, world
peace, freedom, happiness, social acceptance, and wisdom. And modes of conduct are
manifested in what a person believe is appropriate and needed in everyday existence
such as being honest, cheerful, ambitious, loving, responsible, and helpful. Each of
these values can be placed into categories consistent with different areas of person’s
lives. Hence, the aspects of moral, political, social, aesthetic, economic, technological,
and religious values.

McMillan (2007) suggested that in setting value targets, it is necessary to stick to non-
controversial and those that are clearly related to academic learning and school and
department of education goals. Some values that are commendable and non-
controversial are described in the table below:

Value Sample Value Target

Honesty Students should learn to value honesty in their dealing with others.
Integrity Students should firmly observe their own code of values.
Justice Students should support the view that all citizens should be the
recipients of equal justice from government law enforcement
agencies.
Freedom Students should believe that democratic countries must provide the
maximum level of freedom to their citizens.
(Phopham, 2005)

McMillan (2007) and Popham (2005) suggested other non-controversial values (aside
from those mentioned above) like kindness, generosity, perseverance, loyalty, respect,
courage, compassion, and tolerance. Both of them believed that there should be a limit
to the number of affective traits targeted and assessed. It is better to do an excellent
job assessing a few important traits than to try to assess many traits casually.

Motivation Targets

In education, motivation can be defined as the extent to which students are involved
in trying to learn (McMillan, 2007). This includes the students’ initiation of learning, the
intensity of effort exerted, the students’ commitment, and the students’ persistence.
In other words, motivation is the determined engagement in learning in order to gain
mastery of knowledge or skills; students take learning seriously and give importance
to opportunities to learn.

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Researches on motivation can be organized according to the Expectancy X Value
Framework (Brophy, 2004; Pintrich & Schunk, 2002). The model implies that
motivation is determined by students’ expectations, their beliefs about whether they
are likely to be successful, and the relevance of the outcome. Expectations refers to
the self-efficacy of the student. Self-efficacy is the student’s self-perception of his or
her capability to perform successfully. Values are self-perception of the importance of
the performance. That is, the student see the relevance of the activity. For example,
the students evaluate the activity they engage in if it is enjoyable or satisfying.; Will
it meet some social and psychological need? (such as self-worth, competence, or
belonging); Will it help the student meet an important goal? Students who believe that
they have the capability to be successful and that the activity they engage in
themselves are important for them and relevant, they will be highly motivated to learn.
Even if they value the outcome, and yet the students believe that they don’t have the
capability to attain success, their motivation will be weak. Similarly, there are many
students capable but are unmotivated because the activity that they are asked to do
holds no importance for these students.

Like attitudes, motivation is too ambiguous to use the general definition as an outcome
because it is difficult to pinpoint the source of lack of effort and involvement. McMillan
(2007) suggests that motivation targets should focus on self-efficacy and value, distinct
by academic subject and type of learning (like knowledge, understanding, reasoning).
Below are some examples of motivation targets:

• Students will believe that they are capable of learning how to write simple
computer programs using Java. (self-efficacy)
• Students will believe that it is important to know how to write simple computer
programs using Java. (value)

In assessing motivation, it is important to consider why students are learning the

reasons students’ give for their actions. When students do something or engage
themselves in activities because they find the activities interesting, enjoyable, or
challenging, they are intrinsically motivated. While extrinsic motivation is doing
something because it leads to a reward or punishment. Likewise, it has been shown
that students who are motivated by a need to understand and master the task (mastery
orientation) show more positive behavior and thinking as compared to those who are
doing something for the result or outcome (performance operation). Students who are
for mastery orientation are more engaged, have in general, inclination to generate
solutions to difficulties, and generate more positive credits to success and failure
(success attributed to ability and moderate effort; failure to lack of effort).

Academic Self-Concept Targets

Extensive literature on self-concept and self-esteem are available for references. Most
educators refer to these characteristics when dealing with students who have
problems with school and learning (e.g., “Juan has a low self-concept,” Juana has a low
opinion of herself”). It is accepted that these beliefs are important even when
controversy over whether self-concept and self-esteem proceed or result from

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academic learning. Some level of positive self-efficacy is needed for achievement
(McMillan, 2007). It is likely that the said aspect of self-concept is formed, at least in
part, when children experience meaningful success with moderate effort.

In setting targets, it is helpful to remember that self-concept and self-esteem are

multidimensional (Marsh & Craven, 1997). There is bodily self, an athletic self, a
mathematical self, a social self, and others. Each person has a self-description in each
area, that form one’s self-concept or self-image. Moreover, individuals have a sense of
self-regard, self-affirmation, and self-worth in each area (self-esteem). Hence, a
student can have a self-concept that he is tall and thin, but feel very comfortable with
it and accept the description. On the contrary there can be another student who has
the same self-concept but feel inferior or inadequate, thus, have a low self-esteem.

In assessing the academic self-concept, universal self-concept, and self-esteem targets

must be avoided including self-description and an evaluation of that description.
General self-concept measured through attitudes and motivations is not beneficial
since general self-concept are from areas not directly related to academic learning.
Through specifying academic self-concept or self-concept in academic ability a more
valid indication of what students think of themselves as learners will be known. Targets
that are specific to subject areas will yield to a more useful information. In addition, it
is also helpful to know where students draw the line between descriptions of
themselves and if they like those descriptions. For cases of more serious mental or
emotional problems, a general measure may be needed, however, it is best to leave
those kind of assessments for such cases to school psychologist or counselor.

Social Relationship Targets

A complex set of interaction skills, including identification of and appropriate responses

to social indications, defines social relationships. The table below contains examples of
the nature of social relationships that can be used as targets.

peer relations friendship

cooperation collaboration
taking a stand conflict resolution
functioning in groups assertiveness
prosocial behavior* empathy
*Behaviors that are intended to help others.

The examples cited in the table are mostly relevant in basic education, specifically in
the elementary level as these social traits are needed skills in their academic
achievement. And at the secondary level, social traits that enhances interpersonal
abilities are becoming more important as the schools work with the business
community to assess the need, specifically those needs pertaining to skills necessary to
be successful in the workplace. Moreover, social interaction is a key element of
knowledge construction, active learning, and deep understanding (Borich & Tombari,
2004). As long as there are interactions that happen, students need to make necessary
adjustments in their thinking and actions so as to accommodate others’ viewpoints, to

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defend their ideas to others, and to share their opinions. These exercises encourage a
deep understanding and keep student involved. In addition, interaction can help
promote good reasoning, and problem-solving skills through observation and
engagement in such activities.

Presented in the table below are some examples of social relationship areas and
corresponding targets.

Social Target Concern Example

Relationship
Peer Showing interest in others Students will share their
Relationship Listening to peers ideas in a small group
Sharing to a group discussion
Contributing to group activities
Cooperative Sharing Students will demonstrate
Skills Listening that they are able to
Volunteering ideas and suggestions negotiate with others and
Supporting and accepting others’ compromise
ideas
Taking turns
Criticizing constructively

Collaborative skills needed to work in small groups may include four components
namely: (1) basic interaction; (2) getting along; (3) coaching; and (4) fulfilling particular
roles (Borich & Tombari, 2004; Hoy & Greg, 1994).

A general target regarding “improved social relationships” or “improved collaboration

skills” does not provide specifics to focus instruction and assessment.

Classroom Environment Targets

In every classroom there is a unique climate that is felt at every point in time. Some
manifest a comfortable atmosphere, others have relaxed and productive ambiance. As
a result, there are classes that are happy and content while others are serious and
tensed due to the effect of the classroom climate. It follows that students behave
differently as dictated also by the classroom climate, some shows warm and supportive
class while others register as cold and rejecting. All these situations are what is known
as classroom environment, classroom climate, or classroom culture.

As affective target, learning should seek to establish student feelings, relationships,

and beliefs that promote positive classroom environment.

Characteristic Description
Affiliation The extent to which student like and accept each other
Involvement The extent to which students are interested in and engaged
in learning

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 Task Orientation The extent to which classroom activities are focused on the
completion of academic tasks
Cohesiveness The extent to which students share norms and expectations
Competition The emphasis on competition between students
Favoritism Whether each student enjoys the same privileges
Influence The extent to which each student influences classroom
decisions
Friction The extent to which students bicker with one another
Formality The emphasis on imposing rules
Communication The extent to which communication among students and
with teacher is honest and authentic
Warmth The extent to which students care about each other and
show concern
(McMillan, 2007)

One of the relevant inputs to improve the classroom environment is to compare

students’ perspectives with those of teachers’ perspectives as far as classroom
ambiance. For example, the students perceive that there is a need to establish a more
positive classroom environment while on the other hand, the teachers see that the
classroom environment is more positive. The difference on the perceptions of the
students and the teachers with respect to the level of positivity of the classroom
environment is a good source of information to identify what areas to improve in the
classroom environment so as to maximize student learning.

Affective Domain of the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives

In 1964, David R. Krathwohl, together with his colleagues, extended Bloom’s Taxonomy
of Educational Objectives by publishing the second taxonomy of objectives, this time
giving emphasis on the affective domain. Krathwohl and his collaborators attempted
to subdivide the affective realm into relatively distinct divisions. Five different levels of
affective objectives were described in the affective taxonomy. These levels are
described in the following table.

Level Description Example

Receiving Concerned with student’s sensitivity Student foes mathematics
(Attending) to the existence of certain activities for grade.
phenomena and stimuli, that is, with
student’s willingness to receive or to
attend to this stimuli. It is
categorized in three subdivisions
that shows the different levels of
attending to phenomena:
1. Awareness of the phenomena
2. Willingness to receive the
phenomena
3. Controlled or selected attention to
phenomena

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 Responding Concerned with responses that go Student gives special
beyond merely attending to attention to the discussion
phenomena. Students are of Mathematics lessons to
sufficiently motivated that they are be able to answer the
not just “willing to attend” but are activities
actively attending
Valuing Reflects the student’s holding of a Student actively and
particular importance or value. consistently participates
Students display behavior with in the discussion and
sufficient consistency in appropriate interestingly answers all
situations that are perceived as the activities in
holding this value. Mathematics.
Organizing Students successively internalize Student integrates the
values, they encounter situations in lessons learned in Math
which more than one value is with Science.
relevant. This requires the necessity
of organizing their values into a
system such that certain values
exercise greater control.
Characterizing Internalization has taken place in an Student applies the
by a Value or individual’s value hierarchy to the lessons learned in
Value Complex extent that he or she can be Mathematics in daily
characterized as holding a particular activities such as buying,
value or sets of values. cooking, and others.

The aforementioned affective taxonomy serves as a valuable part of assessment of

affect. Through them, standard or level of affect that is part of the target is determined.
In addition, it also provides good suggestions for using student behaviors as indicators
of affect at each of the levels.

TOPIC 3: METHODS OF ASSESSING AFFECTIVE TARGETS

There are three feasible methods of assessing affective traits and dispositions. These
methods are: teacher observation, student self-report, and peer ratings (McMillan,
2007). Since affective traits are not directly observable, they must be deduced from
behavior or what students say about themselves and others. There are variety of
psychological measures that assess affective traits, but due to sophistication of such
instruments, classroom teachers rarely use them. Instead, own observations and
students’ self-reports are mostly used.

There are three considerations in assessing affect. These are:

1. Emotions and feelings change quickly most especially for young children and
during adolescence. Which means that to obtain a valid indication of an
individual student’s emotion or feeling, it is necessary to conduct several

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 assessments over a period of time. A single assessment is not enough to see
what prevalent affect is. It needs to be repeated over several times.

2. Use varied approaches in measuring the same affective trait as possible. It is

better not to rely on single method because of limitations inherent in that
method. For example, students’ self-report maybe faked hence may
significantly meddle in the results. (However, if the self-reports are consistent
with the teacher’s observation, then a stronger case can be made.)

3. Decide what type of data or results are needed, is it individual or group

data? Consideration of what the purpose of assessment is will influence the
method that must be used. For reporting or giving feedback to parents or
interested individuals about the learner, individual student information is
necessary. Thus, multiple methods of collecting data over a period of time and
keeping records to verify judgments made is appropriate. If the assessments is
to improve instruction, then results for group of whole class is more proper to
use. This is one of the usefulness of affective assessment. It is more reliable to
use anonymous student self-reports.

1. Teacher observation

Teacher observation is one of the essential tools for formative assessment. However,
in this chapter, the emphasis is on how to use this method so that teachers can make
more systematic observations to record student behavior that indicates the presence
of targeted affective traits.

In using observation, the first thing to do is to determine in advance how specific

behaviors relate to the target. It starts with a vivid definition of the trait, then followed
by list of student behaviors and actions that correspond to positive and negative
dimensions of the trait. Behaviors and actions are identified initially by listing that the
students with positive and negative behaviors and another list for the negative student
behaviors. These lists will serve as the initial or starting point of what will be observed.
he and negative attitude toward learning.

Student Behaviors Indicating Positive and Negative Attitudes Toward Learning

Positive Negative
rarely misses class is frequently absent
rarely late to class is frequently tardy
asks lots of questions rarely asks questions
helps other students rarely help other students
works well independently without needs constant supervision
supervision is not involved in extracurricular
is involved in extracurricular activities activities
he or she likes school says he or she doesn’t like school
comes to class early rarely comes to class early
stays after school rarely stays after school

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 volunteers to help doesn’t volunteer
completes homework often does not complete homework
tries hard to do well doesn’t care about bad grades
completes extra credit work never does extra credit work
completes assignments before they are never completes assignments before the
due due date
rarely complains complains
is rarely off-task sleep in class
rarely bothers other students bothers other students
stares out window

These behaviors provide foundation in developing guidelines, checklists or rating

scales. The positive behaviors are called approach behaviors while the negative ones
are termed avoidance behaviors. Approach behaviors results in direct, frequent, and
intense contact. On the other hand, avoidance behaviors result in less direct, less
frequent, and less intense contact. These dimensions are helpful in describing the
behaviors that indicate positive and negative attitudes.

These behaviors may serve as vital input on how to perform observation, , particularly
the teacher observation.

McMillan (2007) suggested that the best approach is to develop a list of positive and
negative behaviors. Although published instruments are available, the unique
characteristic of a school and its students are not considered in these instruments
when they were developed.

After the list of behaviors has been developed, the teacher needs to decide whether to
use an informal, unstructured observation or a formal one and structured. These two
types differ in terms of preparation and what is recorded.

Unstructured Observation

Unstructured observation (anecdotal) may also be used for the purpose of making
summative judgments. This is normally open-ended, no checklist or rating scale is used,
and everything observed is just simply recorded. In using unstructured observation, it
is necessary to have at least some guidelines and examples of behaviors that indicate
affective trait. Thus it is a must to determine in advance what to look for, however, it
should not be limited to what was predetermined, it also needs to be open to include
other actions that may reflet on the trait.

Unstructured observation is more realistic, which means teacher record everything

they have observed and are not limited by what is contained in a checklist or rating
scale. There is no problem if specific behaviors are not displayed and behaviors
previously listed can be added. The disadvantage is that it is not practical to record
much about the student behavior on a regular basis. It is hard to find time most
especially when the teacher is pre-occupied with other learning activities.

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Structured Observation

Structured observation is different from unstructured observation in terms of

preparation needed as well as in the way observation is recorded. In structured
observation, more time is needed since checklist or rating forms are to be made since
it will be used to record observations. The form is generated from a list of positive and
negative behaviors to make it easy and convenient in recording.

Below are the things that should be considered if teacher observation method will be
used to assess affect.

 Determine behaviors to be observed in advance

 Record student’s important data such as time, data, and place
 If unstructured, record brief descriptions of relevant behavior
 Keep interpretations separate from description
 Record both positive and negative behaviors
 Have as much observations of each student as necessary
 Avoid personal bias
 Record immediately the observations
 Apply a simple and efficient procedure

2. Student Self-Report

There are varied ways to express students’ affect self-report. The most common and
direct way is while having a casual conversation or interview. Students can also
respond to a written questionnaire or survey about themselves or other students.

Student Interview

There are different types of personal communication that teachers can use with their
students, like individual and group interviews, discussions, and casual conversations to
assess affect. It is similar to observation but in here, there is an opportunity that
teachers can probe and respond for better understanding. It is important that trust
must be established so that students’ true feelings and beliefs will be revealed.
Without trust, students have an opportunity to qualify or elaborate on previous
responses. This procedure helps avoid vagueness, a problem normally experienced
with measuring affect.

Surveys and Questionnaires

The second type under self-report method is questionnaires and surveys. The two types
of format using questionnaires and surveys are: (a) Constructed-Response format; and
(b) Selected-Response format.

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Constructed-Response Format

It is a straight forward approach asking students about their affect by responding to

simple statement or question. Another way to implement constructed-response
format is by means of an essay. Essay items provide more in-depth and extensive
responses than that of the simple short sentences. Reasons for their attitudes, values
and beliefs are expressed better using essays.

Selected-Response Format

There are three ways of implanting the selected response format in assessing affective
learning outcomes. These are rating scale, semantic differential scale, and checklist.
These three ways will be discussed in detail in the succeeding part of this chapter:

The advantage of selected-response formats is that its assures anonymity. It is an

important aspect when considering the traits that are personal such as values and self-
concept. This self-response formats are considered to be an efficient way of collecting
information.

Checklist for Using Student’s Self-Report to Assess Affect (McMillan, 2007):

 Keep measures focused on specific affective traits

 Establish trust with students
 Match response format to the trait being assessed
 Ensure anonymity if possible
 Keep questionnaires brief
 Keep items short and simple
 Avoid negatives and absolutes
 Write items in present tense
 Avoid double-barreled items

Peer Ratings

Peer ratings or appraisal is the least common method among the three methods of
assessing affect. Because of the nature of learners, they do not always take this activity
seriously and most often than not they are subjective in conducting this peer rating.
Thus, peer rating is seen as relatively inefficient in terms of nature of conducting,
scoring, and interpreting peer ratings. However, teachers can accurately observe what
is being assessed in peer ratings since teachers are very much engaged and present
inside the classroom and thus can verify the authenticity of results of peer rating. The
two methods of conducting peer ratings are: (a) guess-who approach; and (b) socio-
metric approach. These approaches can be used together with observations and self-
reports to strengthen assessment of interpersonal and classroom environment targets.

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Utilizing the Different Methods or Combination of Methods in Assessing Affect

Each of the three methods (observation, self-report, peer ratings) that was discussed
previously has its own advantage and disadvantages. In choosing for which method or
methods to use, consider the following factors:

I. Type of affect that needs to be assessed

A general reaction to something or someone can best be gathered through

observation. However, if attitude components is to be diagnosed, a self-report will
give a better information. Observation can be supported by peer rating method if the
target is socially-oriented affect.

II. If the information is from grouped or individual responses

If grouped response and tendencies are needed, selected response self-report method
is suited because it assures anonymity and is easily scored.

III. The use of information

If the intention of the affective assessment is to utilize the results as supporting input
to grading, then multiple approaches is necessary and be mindful of the possibility of
having fake results from self-report and even from peer judgment.

To sum it up, the choice of method or combining these methods, is dependent upon
the context, targets and the level of comfort in utilizing any particular method or
combination of methods.

Affective Assessment Tools

The affective domain encompasses behaviors in terms of attitudes, beliefs, and

feelings. Sets of attitudes, beliefs, and feelings comprise one’s value. There are various
assessment tools that can be used to measure affect.

I. Checklist

Checklist is one of the effective formative assessment strategies to monitor specific

skills, behaviors, or dispositions of individual or group of students (Burke, 2009).

Checklists contain criteria that focus on the intended outcome or target. Checklist help
student in organizing the tasks assigned to them into logically sequenced steps that will
lead to successful completion of the task. For the teachers, a criteria checklists can be
used for formative assessments by giving emphasis on specific behaviors, thinking
skills, social skills, writing skills, speaking skills, athletic skills or whatever outcomes are
likely to be measured and monitored. Checklists can be used for individual or group
cases.

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The following table shows an example of a checklist format.

Observation Checklist
Student: Subject: Date:
Type of Assignment:
Not Yet Sometimes Frequently
Work Habits
• Gets work done on time _________ _________ _________
• Asks for help when needed _________ _________ _________
• Takes initiative _________ _________ _________
Study Habits
• Organizes work _________ _________ _________
• Takes good notes _________ _________ _________
• Uses time well _________ _________ _________
Social Skills
• Works well with others _________ _________ _________
• Listens to others _________ _________ _________
• Helps others _________ _________ _________

Comments:
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

Note: Adapted from Kay Burke

Criteria for Checklists

In planning for criteria that will be used in checklists, the criteria must be aligned with
the outcomes that need to be observed and measured. Generally criterion is defined
as a standard that serves as reference for judgment or decision. Popham (1999)
explains that when teachers set criteria, the main emphasis is to use these criteria in
making judgment regarding the adequacy of student responses and the criteria will
influence the way the response is scored.

Why Use Checklists

Checklists should be utilized because these

a. make quick and easy way to observe and record skills, criteria, and behaviors
prior to final test or summative evaluation.
b. provide information to teachers if there are students who need help so as to
avoid failing.
c. provide formative assessments of students’ learning and help teachers monitor
if students are on track with the desired outcomes.

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Rating Scale

According to Nitko (2001), rating scales can be used for teaching purposes and
assessment.

1. Rating scales help students understand the learning target/outcomes and to

focus students’ attention to performance.
2. Completed rating scale gives specific feedback to students as far as their
strengths and weaknesses with respect to the targets to which they are
measured.
3. Students not only learn the standards but also may internalize the set
standards.
4. Rating helps to show each student’s growth and progress.

Example: Rating Scale (Attitude towards Mathematics)

Directions: Put the score on the column for each of the statement as it applies to you.
Use 1 to 5, 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest possible score.

Score
1. I am happy during Mathematics class.
2. I get tired doing board work and drills.
3. I enjoy solving word problems.

Types of Rating Scales

The most common type of rating scales are:

I. Numerical Rating Scales

A numerical rating scale translates the judgments of quality or degree into numbers.
To increase the objectivity and consistency of results from numerical rating scales, a
short verbal description of the quality level of each number may be provided.

Example:
Directions: Indicate the degree to which the student contributes to team activity by
encircling the appropriate number. The numbers represent the following values: 4 -
constantly appropriate and effective; 3 – generally appropriate and effective; 2 – needs
improvement, may do other unrelated tasks; and 1 – unsatisfactory, disruptive and do
other tasks not related to activity.

• To what extent does the student participate in team meetings and discussions?

1 2 3 4

• To what extent are tasks being done related to team activity?

1 2 3 4

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I. Descriptive Graphic Rating Scales

A better format for rating is this descriptive graphic rating scales that replaces
ambiguous single word with short behavioral descriptions of the various points along
the scale. Describing the points of the scale by behavior descriptions leads to increased
consistency of ratings across raters and students.

Example:
Directions: Make your ratings on each of the following by placing X anywhere along the
horizontal line under each item. In the space for comment(s), include anything that
helps clarify your rating.

1. To what extent does the student participate in team meetings and discussions?

Never Participates Participates

participates; as much as more than any
quite, passive other team other team
members member
Comment(s):

______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

Common Rating Scale Errors

The table below contains the common rating scale errors that teacher and students
must be familiar with in order to avoid committing such kind of errors during
assessment.

Error Description
Leniency Error Occurs when a teacher tends to make almost all rating
toward the high end of the scale, avoiding the low end of
the scale
Severity Error A teacher tends to make almost all ratings toward the low
end of the scale. This is the opposite of leniency error.
Central Tendency Error Occurs when a teacher hesitates to use extremes and
uses only the middle part of the scale.
Halo Effect Occurs when a teacher lets his/her general impression of
the student affect how he/she rates the student on
specific dimension.
Personal bias Occurs when a teacher a has a general tendency to use
inappropriate or irrelevant stereotypes favoring boys
over girls, from rich families over from middle-income
families, etc.

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 Logical Error Occurs when a teacher gives similar ratings to two or
more dimensions that the teacher believes to be related
where in fact they are not related at all.
Rater Drift Occurs when the raters, whose ratings originally agreed,
begin to redefine the rubrics for themselves.

Likert Scale

Another simple and widely used self-report method in assessing affect is the use of
Likert scale wherein a list of clearly favorable and unfavorable attitude statements are
provided. The students are asked to respond to each of the statement.

Likert scale uses the five-point scale: Strongly Agree (SA); Agree (A); Undecided (U),
Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD).

The scoring of a Likert scale is based on assigning weights from 1 to 5 to each position
of scale. In using attitude scale, it is best to ask for anonymous responses. And in
interpreting the results, it is important to keep in mind that these are verbal
expressions, feelings and opinions that individuals are willing to report. Even under the
most ideal conditions, it is best to supplement results for self-report method with
evidence from other sources.

Example: Likert Scale

Directions: Put a check on the column for each of the statement that applies to you.

Legend: SA - Strongly Agree

A – Agree
U – Undecided
D – Disagree
SD – Strongly Disagree

(SA) (A) (U) (D) (SD)

5 4 3 2 1
1. I am happy during Mathematics class.
2. I get tired doing board work and drills.
3. I enjoy solving word problems.

Constructing Likert Scale Instrument

Below are the steps in constructing Likert Scale instrument:

1. Write a series of statements expressing positive and negative opinions toward

attitude object.
2. Select the best statements (at least 10), with balance of positive and negative
opinions and edit as necessary.
3. List the statements combining the positive and negative and put the letters of
the five-point scale to the left of each statement for easy marking.

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 4. Add the directions, indicating how to mark the answer and include a key at the
top of the page if letters are used for each statement.
5. Some prefer to drop the undecided category so that respondents will be
forced to indicate agreement or disagreement.

Semantic Differential Scale

Another common approach to measuring affective traits is to use variations of

semantic differential. These scales use adjective pairs that provide anchors for feelings
or beliefs that are opposite in direction and intensity. Students would place a check
between each pair of adjectives that describes positive or negative aspects of the trait.

Example: Traits/attitude toward Mathematics subject

Mathematics:

Boring ---------------- Interesting

Important ---------------- Useless

Semantic differential like other selected-response formats, is that it makes it easier to

assure anonymity. Anonymity is important when the traits are more personal, such as
values and self-concept. It is also an efficient way of collecting information. Though
this may be an efficient way to not that it is not good to ask too many questions. It is
important to carefully select those traits that are concerned or included in the defined
affective targets or outcomes. It is also a good point to have open-ended items such as
“comments” or “suggestions”.

Sentence Completion

The advantage of using incomplete sentence format is that it captures whatever comes
to mind from each student. However, there are disadvantages too for this. One is
students’ faking their response thinking that the teacher will notice their penmanship,
hence students will tend to give answers favorable to the liked response of the teacher.
Another is scoring, which takes more time and is more subjective than the other
traditional objective formats.

Examples:

1. I think mathematics as a subject is ___________________.

2. I like my mathematics teacher the most because ________________.

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