EDU353: Assessment in Learning 2

Module #11

Name: _________________________________________________________ Class number: ______

Section: ____________ Schedule: __________________________________ Date: _____________

Lesson title: Affective Variables in Learning and Materials:

How to Measure Affective Learning highlighter, pencil or ballpen, SAS
Lesson Objectives:
References:
At the end of this module, you should be able
to:
Balagtas, M. et al. (2020). Assessment in Learning 2
• define the affective variables in learning;
and
• identify the assessment tools used to
measure affective learning.

Productivity Tip:
Eat Healthy! Before you start anything, make sure to eat healthy meals. This will keep your energy levels
high and studying more productive. Nutritious meals are your brain’s best friend! Hence, you have to
maintain a healthy diet because your productivity relies on a great immune system.
A. LESSON PREVIEW/REVIEW
1) Introduction
To start, let us have a brief recap on our previous lesson.

What is the taxonomy of affective domain in learning?

In the assessment of cognitive domain, you have used the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive
Processes identified as remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating.
The affective domain of learning, Krathwohl et al. (1964) developed taxonomy of affective qualities that
can serve as guide in doing affective assessment. As shown in

1. To receive: In this level of affective behavior, the learner demonstrates awareness in an

activity that is happening such that he/she gives attention to that activity. This level involves
willingness to receive the stimulus. For example, looking at the teacher during lecture is
awareness on a learning stimulus, but listening and paying attention indicate willingness in
receiving that stimulus.
2. To respond: In this case, the learner reacts to a given stimulus or information that has
been received. If a learner participates in a class discussion, and not merely listening, then the
learner is in this level of behavior. This behavior may be compliance to a given task, voluntary
engagement, or doing an activity with interest.
3. To value: This is the level where the learner demonstrates commitment to the object,
knowledge, or activity. Here, the learner has internalized a set of specific values such that these
values are manifested through overt behaviors. For example, picking up litters outside the
classroom without teacher's presence or saving money for a book, or putting off lights after class

1
 EDU353: Assessment in Learning 2
Module #11

Name: _________________________________________________________ Class number: ______

Section: ____________ Schedule: __________________________________ Date: _____________

on own volition are "valuing" behaviors.

4. To organize: This is the level where the learner has internalized and integrated his or her
feelings, emotions, beliefs, opinions, etc., resulting to actions where new values and traits
emerged. In this level, the learner is able to discern independently the right from wrong, and
he/she is able to make a decision on what is more valuable based on his or her own judgment.

2) Activity 1: What I Know Chart (Part I)

Instructions:
First, let us find out what you might already know about this topic through answering the
questions in the table (Column 2) below. I want you to fill-out the first column only of the table.
Thus, leave the third column blank for now. There are no right or wrong answers in this one.

What I Learned
What I Know Questions
(Activity 4)
1. 1. What are the
affective variables in
learning?

2. 2. What do you know

about Likert Scale?

B. MAIN LESSON
1) Activity 2: CONTENT NOTES
Prepare your highlighter to highlight important key points from the text and pencil or ballpen to
answer possible short exercises along the way. Let us start!

What are the affective variables in learning?

As mentioned earlier, a number of variables can be investigated using affective assessment and these
basically deal with how students feel or thin about a lesson, a person, or an activity. In the education
field, the most Common variables for affective assessment are the following:
1. Attitudes. This is the most talked about affective factor in a student learning. We always talk about
attitude toward something. This means we are referring to a person's reaction whether negative or
positive, favorable or unfavorable toward an object, activity, person, or environment. In teaching,
this will be concerned with the attitude toward learning, subject, teachers, classmates, homework,
and projects or even attitude with wearing of uniforms, attendance to flag ceremony, and others.
Here, we all desire to foster positive attitudes.
On the other hand, we also want students to have negative attitude on things like cheating,
bullying, fighting, drugs, absenteeism, and smoking.

2
 EDU353: Assessment in Learning 2
Module #11

Name: _________________________________________________________ Class number: ______

Section: ____________ Schedule: __________________________________ Date: _____________

It is important to note that attitude cannot be taken as solely affective. It also has a cognitive
component where the learner has the content knowledge that defines the worth or value of the
object or situation. For example, knowledge about the effect of smoking on health and
knowledge about nicotine ideally should make students have negative attitude toward smoking.
However, this is not always the case. One may have the knowledge but applying the knowledge
is another thing. Cognitive knowledge can just be a contributing factor to effect a desired
affective outcome.
Some empirical research reinforced the importance of assessing attitude. Othuon (2010) found
out that negative attitude toward English is the most affective and psychological factor that
results in the students' poor performance in English. The ability of students to master a second
language is not only influenced by the mental competence or language skills but also by the
students' attitudes and perceptions toward the target language (Abidin et al. 2012).

2. Values and Beliefs. Values are characteristics or traits that a person holds in high importance.
These include principles that one considers to be right, and consequently which guides the person's
future actions and decisions. In a school setting, values that are included in the curriculum are honesty,
patience, perseverance„ respect for others, cleanliness and order, care for environment, etc. Beliefs, on
the other hand, refer to our convictions or opinions we hold to be true even without evidence. While
beliefs are traditionally associated with religion, they have been talked about in the field of education.
There are such things as beliefs about mathematics, freedom, gender equality, etc.
Beliefs emanate from multiple sources, from what one hears, sees, reads, and experiences. Values are
developed from beliefs. Beliefs, as well as values, can change over time from learned experiences. As
such, it is important that teachers provide positive learning experiences to students because from these
experiences, they form beliefs that lead to the formation of values that are desired. Further, these
beliefs and values determine attitudes which are correlated with a learner's performance. This
sequential relationship reinforces the importance to assess these affective factors that can aid teachers
in developing their instructional plan intended curriculum goals and objectives.

3. Interest. Interest is a psychological state that draws a person's attention to an object, idea, or
event. In a classroom setting, it is what students are "into" or the learner's disposition about a topic,
such as reading, science, mathematics, history, etc. It is interest that drives the learner to be attentive
to the topic of discussion or engage in any academic activity. Interest may be personal or situational. If
a student reads a book or saves money to buy books, even if this is not a course requirement, this
means that he/her has personal interest in reading. However, if a student has a liking for mathematics
because he/she likes his or her mathematics teacher, then his or her interest in mathematics is
situational. Whether personal or situational, it is important for the teacher to know how students are
receptive on the content that is covered in the lesson. If there is low interest as revealed from the
assessment results, the teacher can think of intervention strategies to address the problem, like
creating learning experiences that are more exciting to engage students in interaction with peers, or
with teachers. Interest is directly linked with enjoyment and joy in doing something.
4. Motivation. Brown (1987) defines motivation as an inner drive, impulse, emotion, or desire that
moves one to a particular action. It arouses and sustains behavior. It can lead to increased effort and
energy to pursue a goal. If a learner is highly motivated, he/her is willing to give his or her time and

3
 EDU353: Assessment in Learning 2
Module #11

Name: _________________________________________________________ Class number: ______

Section: ____________ Schedule: __________________________________ Date: _____________

effort to reach a goal. It brings a learner to excitement and enjoyment to an academic task and
enhances cognitive processing and improves learning.

Motivation has other intrinsic factors like curiosity, appreciation, valuing for learning, as well as
extrinsic factors like praise, grades for completion, certification, etc. Ausubel (1968) has identified
six needs and desires that are integral parts of motivation: (1) the need for exploration, (2) the
need for manipulation, (3) the need for activity, (4) the need for stimulation, (5) the need for
knowledge, and (6) the need for ego enhancement. From this list, we see the critical role of
teachers in creating a learning environment that can provide for these needs in order for the
learners to reach the highest level of motivation. Consequently, assessment in this aspect of
affective domain is of importance.

5. Self-confidence. This refers to how a person feels about his or her abilities to accomplish a
task or reach a goal. It is the person's perCeption of himself/ herself and his or her capabilities to
perform successfully the task given to him/her. Empirical studies showed self-confidence is associated
with academic success. In particular, Stankov et al. (2012) have found that students who think they are
skilled in Math tend to perform well on Math and English tests. In the same study, the researchers
contend that confidence tests as an assessment tool can benefit both learning and teaching. For
example, the scores from the self-confidence tests on subject contents provide Students with insights
into the topics they are weak in.

What assessment tools are used to measure affective learning?

Measurement of affective traits is more challenging compared to measuring cognitive and

psychomotor dimension of learning. Such measurement may be direct or indirect. The direct
assessment of affective learning outcomes is more attainable at the lower levels in the affective
learning taxonomy of Krathwohl et al. (1964). Teachers, for example, can take attendance to measure
pupil's willingness to receive information. Likewise, teachers may consider the number of times the
pupil raised his or her hand to answer or ask questions, or the number of completed assignments and
projects. These are sample evidence at "responding" level. However, in this age of globalization, where
character and morals of citizens are becoming more critical, educators are giving more attention to
higher levels of affective taxonomy. But then, behaviors at these levels are less amenable to direct
measurement because affective learning outcomes (e.g., attitudes, values, beliefs, etc.) are internal
states that exist in the mind and thoughts of the learners. Because of these, indirect measurements are
thought to be less reliable. Nevertheless, researchers and educationists are in continuing effort to
overcome these perceived difficulties.

The information generated from the use of indirect assessment of affective learning outcomes
can come from different sources—student himself/herself, teachers, or peers. A variety of methods for
indirectly assessing intended affective learning outcome have been espoused. Some of the most
common assessments include self-report inventory, questionnaire, opinionnaire, semantic differential,
observation, and interview.

1. Self-Report Questionnaires. As the name implies, self-report or selfinventory is a type of

4
 EDU353: Assessment in Learning 2
Module #11

Name: _________________________________________________________ Class number: ______

Section: ____________ Schedule: __________________________________ Date: _____________

assessment where the respondent is asked to answer a question about himself/herself, his or her
behavior, emotions, feelings, or views. It serves many purposes to include diagnosis of students'
mental and emotional state. This is also popular in a pre-test and post-test design when the
teacher wants to assess change (e.g., in attitude, interest, motivation) before and after instructional
period. This assessment tool is easy to administer to get immediate results and information directly
from the person who is most knowledgeable about himself/herself. One limitation of this method is
the honesty of the person—his or her tendency not to write the truth of what he/she feels. Instead,
the student may choose a response that can satisfy the teacher, rather than actually writing the
truth. The respondent can also be personally biased because he/she is responding to a nonfactual
or subjective statement from his or her own point of view only. To prevent this possibility, the one
handling the assessment should try to ensure setting the right environment for getting the most
truthful data.

Self-report inventories use a variety of formats. The most common are presented in the following:

a. Likert scale. This measuring tool, invented by Rensis Likert, is a series of questions or items that
requires the respondent to select on a scale a rating reflecting the level of agreement or disagreement
on items that are related to a particular topic, experience, or issue. The responses, both in descriptive
and numeric form, range from one extreme to another, such as "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree",
where "5" is the numerical value of the extreme positive feeling and "1" for the extreme negative. This
kind of scaling gives deeper insight into what the students are thinking and feeling.

An example of Likert scale is shown below:

Rating Scale on Views About Mathematics and Mathematics Learning

5
 EDU353: Assessment in Learning 2
Module #11

Name: _________________________________________________________ Class number: ______

Section: ____________ Schedule: __________________________________ Date: _____________

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following views about Mathematics?

1. Mathematics is the study of formulas, rules and procedures in solving problems.

Strongly Agree Slightly Disagree Strongly Agree Agree Disagree

(5) (4) (3) (2) (1)

2. In mathematics, you can discover new things that can be exciting.

Strongly Agree Slightly Disagree Strongly Agree Agree Disagree
(5) (4) (3) (2) (1)

3. To be able to solve mathematics problems, you have to memorize and follow procedures as
taught in class.
Strongly Agree Slightly Disagree Strongly Agree Agree Disagree
(5) (4) (3) (2) (1)

4. Mathematics is an exact subject that requires precision and accuracy.

Strongly Agree Slightly Disagree Strongly Agree Agree Disagree
(5) (4) (3) (2) (1)

5. Mathematics is logic and reasoning.

Strongly Agree Slightly Disagree Strongly Agree Agree Disagree

(5) (4) (3) (2) (1)

From your review of research literature, you must have noted that most of the Likert scale instruments
indicate the numeric scale value as seen in the rating scale on Views About Mathematics:

Strongly Agree Slightly Disagree Strongly Agree Agree Disagree

(5) (4) (3) (2) (1)

2) Activity 3:Skill-building Activities

Directions: In the box below, write a 10-item rating sale about a survey on Environmental
Awareness using the Likert Scale.

6
 EDU353: Assessment in Learning 2
Module #11

Name: _________________________________________________________ Class number: ______

Section: ____________ Schedule: __________________________________ Date: _____________

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

3) Activity 4: What I Know Chart (Part II)

Are you done? Now let us go back to the first activity you had which you answered the first
column of the “What I know chart”. Now, I want you to review the lesson we had today and reflect on

7
 EDU353: Assessment in Learning 2
Module #11

Name: _________________________________________________________ Class number: ______

Section: ____________ Schedule: __________________________________ Date: _____________

what you have learned from it. Write your answers on the third column (Part 2) to the same
questions written in the second column based on what you now know.

What I Learned
What I Know Questions
(Activity 4)
2.
1. What are the affective
variables in learning?

2. 2. What do you know about

Likert Scale?

4) Activity 5: Check for Understanding

To check if you have understood the lesson, do the test below.
The following are 5 affective variables considered in assessing the affective domain of students.
Choose three out of five and describe why this particular variable is necessary.

Attitude Values and Beliefs Interest Motivation Self-confidence

1.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________.

2.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________.

3.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________.

C. LESSON WRAP-UP
1) Activity 6: Thinking about Learning
A. Work Tracker

8
 EDU353: Assessment in Learning 2
Module #11

Name: _________________________________________________________ Class number: ______

Section: ____________ Schedule: __________________________________ Date: _____________

Below is a work tracker which will help you track how much work you have accomplished and how
much work there is left to do. The numbers represent the lessons you need to go through for every
period. All you have to do is place a ✓mark on the box for every lesson you finished.

B. My Overall Learning Experience

Before we end this module, there are questions below which will ask you about your overall
learning experience on this lesson. There are no right or wrong answers in this one. Just be honest!
1. How was your overall learning experience in this module? Did all the activities help you
strengthen your understanding of the lesson?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________.
2. Were you able to meet all the learning targets set for this module? If not, which one were you
not able to meet? and Why?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________.