FLCT Obviously, intrinsic motivation is more beneficial than extrinsic motivation because intrinsic motivation

comes from within the person himself/herself. If that which motivates a person is something or someone outside,
Focus on the Classroom Processes the moment that person or that something is gone, the person’s motivation is also gone. Intrinsic motivation is
MODULE 17
evident when people engage in an activity for its own sake, without some obvious external incentive present.
Objectives: Reading for no reason other than the joy of reading illustrates intrinsic motivation.
 Make an outline of this module and give a lecturette on motivation by following your outline.
 Justify the role of extrinsic motivation in view of the development of intrinsic motivation. The Role of Extrinsic Motivation

CONCEPT NOTES Initially, extrinsic motivation is necessary to develop the love for learning among poorly motivated
students. If good grades, reward, praise or words of encouragement or fear of failing grade can motivate
Studying is a hard task. However, it ceases to be a task if you have the right kind and the right amount of
unmotivated students to study, why not? For as long as students hardly motivated, external motivation in the form
motivation.
of rewards, incentives or punishment play a significant role in the development of motivated students. It is
expected, however, that these extrinsic motivational factors be gradually replaced by internal motivation. In the
Motivation is an inner drive that causes you to do something and persevere at something. Motivation is an
concrete, this means that after motivating the students to study by way of reward, praise, encouragement,
inner drive that energizes you to do something. It is the strength of the drive toward an action. While ability refers
punishment, hopefully the students develop the genuine love for learning and becomes intrinsically motivated in
to what children can do motivation refers to what these children will do. Motivation refers to the initiation,
the process. In short, we may begin employing extrinsic motivation at the start but this should fade away as the
direction, intensity and persistence of behavior. When we get motivated to do something, it is not enough that we
students get intrinsically motivated themselves.
start working at that thing and we get attracted toward that thing. Our attraction toward that thing becomes so
intense that we persist working on that same thing through thick and thin.
Theories on Factors Affecting Motivation MODULE 18
Indicators of a High Level of Motivation
Objectives:
Your student’s level of motivation is shown in his/her choice of action, intensity, and persistence of effort.  Explain the following theories on the sources of intrinsic motivation
If you have a highly motivated student you have as student who is excited about learning and accomplishing o Attribution Theory
things. S/he takes the initiative to undertake learning tasks, assignments and projects without being pushed by o Self-efficacy Theory
his/her teachers and parents. S/he has goals to accomplish and dreams to realize. S/he is convinced that o Self- determination and Self-regulation Theory
accomplishing the things s/he is asked to accomplish in class helps her/him realize the goals s/he has set for o Goal Theory
herself/himself and his/her dream in life. S/he is willing to give up the satisfaction of immediate goals for the sake o Choice Theory
of more important remote goals. An example is s/he is willing to give up joining her/his barkada to watch a movie o Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
in order to prepare thoroughly for final examination.  Cite the implications of these theories to the facilitation of learning.

As a student who is highly motivated to learn enjoys learning and learns much more than one who is not as CONCEPT NOTES:
motivated. S/he persists and perseveres in her/his studies even when things turn out to be difficult. S/he does not
There is currently no unified theory to explain the origin or elements of intrinsic motivation. Most explanations
give up easily. As a result his/her performance will be satisfactory. In contrast, a student who is not motivated to
combine elements of Bernard Weiner’s attribution theory, Bandura’s work on self-efficacy, Maslow’s hierarchy of
learn does not enjoy learning, does not study unless “pushed”. When s/he feels the difficulty of study, s/he readily
needs, William Glasser’s choice theory, and other studies relating to goal orientation.
gives up. S/he lacks perseverance.
Attribution Theory
Types of Motivation
This theory explains that we attribute our success or failures or other events to several factors. For instance, you
Motivation is classified either as intrinsic or extrinsic. It is intrinsic when the source of motivation is
attribute your popularity to your popular parents or to your sterling academic performance. Or you attribute the
from within the person himself/herself or the activity itself. An example is when a student reads pocketbooks
poor economic condition you are in to the Land Reform of the Philippine Government (your lands were subjected
because s/he herself/himself wants to read pocketbooks or because reading pocketbooks in itself is enjoyable.
to land reform) or to the vices of your father. These attributes differ from one another in three ways-locus,
Motivation is extrinsic when that which motivates a person is someone or something outside him/her. When a
stability, and controllability (Ormsrod, 2004).
student studies because s/he was told by her/his teacher or because s/he afraid to fail and his/her parents make
her/him stop schooling, we can say that s/he is extrinsically motivated. 1.Locus (“place”): Internal versus external. If your student traces his good grade to his ability and to his hard
work, he attributes his good grade to internal factors. If your student, however, claims that this good
Type of Motivation in which is More Beneficial
 grade is due to his effective teaching of his teacher or to the adequate library facilities, he attributes his  Expose them to successful peers. Being with successful peers, your students will inhale success and
good grades to factors external to himself. get energized to succeed as well. Success will inhale success and get energized to succeed as well.
2.Stability: Stable versus unstable. If you attribute your poor eyesight to what you have inherited from your Success is infectious in the same way that failure is also contagious. (Ormrod, 2004).
parents, then you are attributing the cause of your sickness to something stable, something that cannot Other recommendations from motivation theorists are:
change because it is in your genes. If you attribute it to excessive watching of tv, then you are claiming
that your poor eyesight is caused by an unstable factor, something that can change. (You can prolong or  Provide competence-promoting feedback. Communicate to your students that they can do the job.
shorten your period of watching tv.) They have the ability to succeed.
3.Controllability: Controllable versus uncontrollable. If your student claims his poor academic performance is  Promote mastery on challenging tasks. Don’t give your students extremely difficult not extremely
due to his teacher’s ineffective teaching strategy, he attributes his poor performance to a factor beyond easy task. If the task you give is extremely easy, they do not get challenged and you do not draw
his control. If, however, your student admits that his poor class performance is due to his poor study the best from them, if it is extremely difficult, they get frustrated. Then it is best to strike the
habits and low motivation, he attributes the event to factors which are very much within his control. golden mean between the two extremes. A challenging task is one that encourages your students to
How does attribution affect motivation? stretch themselves to their limits.
 Promote self-comparison rather than comparison with others. Desiderata says: “If you compare
If your student attributes his/her success or failure to something within him/her and therefore is within yourself with others, you will become vain and bitter. For always there will be greater and lesser
his/her control or to something unstable and, therefore, can be changed s/he is more likely to be motivated. If, persons than yourself.”
however, your student traces his/her success to something outside him/her and therefore beyond his/her After encouraging your student to set their personal goals, ask them to evaluate
control s/he is likely to be less motivated. their progress against their own goals.
 Be sure errors occur within an overall context of success. (Ormrod, 2004). There will always be
This is something interesting. “People tend to attribute their successes to internal causes (e.g. high ability, errors or mistakes as we learn, as we go through life. But they cease to be mistakes once we learn
hard work) and their failures to external causes (e.g., luck, behaviors of others. Why so?) from them. But it is all errors that come one after another without a taste of success, chances are
your students will feel so down that they are robbed of the courage to proceed. “The learning
Self-efficacy theory process requires the challenge of new and different experiences, the trying of the unknown, and
therefore, necessarily must involve the making of mistakes. In order for people to learn, they need
A sense of high self-efficacy means a high sense of competence. Self-efficacy is the belief that one has
the opportunity to explore new situation and ideas without being penalized or punished for
the necessary capabilities to perform a task, fulfill role expectations, or meet a challenging situation
mistakes which are integral to the activity of learning”. (Ortigas, 1990).
successfully. When your students believe that they have the ability to perform learning activities successfully,
they are more likely intrinsically motivated to do such learning activities. The secret, therefore, to enhancing
intrinsic motivation is enhancing our students’ sense of self-efficacy. Social cognitive theorists identified
Self-determination and self-regulation theories
several self-efficacy –enhancing strategies:
Students are more likely intrinsically motivated when they have a sense of self-determination-when they
 Make sure students master the basic skills. Mastery of the basic skills like reading, writing,
believe that they have some choice and control regarding the things they do and the directions their lives take.
‘arithmetic will enable the child to tackle higher level activities. Imagine how miserable it is for a
Here are some suggestions from motivation theorists to enhance students’ sense of self-determination about school
student who has not mastered the basic skills. Unable to perform higher-level learning tasks that
activities and assignments.
require display and use of basic skills, your student will feel he is a failure in his school life.
 Help them noticeable progress on difficult tasks. You like to give up climbing a mountain when  Present rules and instructions in an informational manner rather than controlling manner. Here
you feel that it seems you are not making progress at all. When you have spent hours and hours on are examples on how to present rules in informational manner.
a difficult task and you seem not to be progressing, you are made to think that your efforts are  “We can make sure everyone has an equal chance to speak and be heard if we listen
leading you nowhere and you want to give up. That’s why, it is good that you are helped to see without interrupting and if we raise our hands when we want to contribute to the
progress while you are working on your difficult task. The knowledge that you are progressing discussion.”
inspires you to keep on.  “I’m giving you a particular format to follow when you do your math homework. If
 Communicate confidence in students’ abilities through both words and actions. Express confidence you use this format, it will be easier for me to find your answers and to figure out
that your students, with all their abilities, can easily tackle the learning task. Words like, “If you how I can help you improve.”
were able to do a more difficult task yesterday, what you are asked to do today is much easier than
 Provide opportunities for students to make choices. Several times a particular lesson objective
that of yesterday. Needless to say that your body language and your words expressing your belief in
can be reached by the use of varied strategies. Students will be more likely to be intrinsically
their abilities must match.
motivated to attain the objective when they are given the freedom to choose how to attain it, of
 course, within the set parameters. An example is, when we allow our students to choose their  Self-monitoring. Self-regulated learners continually monitor their progress toward their goals
manner of group work presentation to the class after the group activity. and they change their learning strategies or modify their goals, if necessary.
 Evaluate student performance in a non-controlling fashion. Communicate evaluation results to  Self-evaluation. Self-regulated learners determine whether what they have learned is sufficient
inform your students of their progress without passing judgement of some sort but to make for the goals they have set.
them see that they are strong in some points but not so in other items. The practice of self- A student who has self-determination and self-regulation is more likely to be intrinsically motivated and so
evaluation especially with the use of scoring rubrics will be of great help. Says renowned is more capable of self-regulated learning.
author, consultant and speaker Alfie Kohn, “rewards for learning undermines intrinsic
motivation.” (Kohn, Alfie, Punished by rewards: The trouble with gold stars, incentive plans, Choice theory
A’s, praise and other bribes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 1993, p.148) Eric Jensen, another
noted author and educational consultant in the area of brain-based learning states: Bob Sullo (2007) writes:
 If the learner is doing the task to get the reward, it will be understood on some level,
The choice theory is a biological theory that suggests we are born with specific needs that we are
that the task is inherently undesirable. Forget the use of rewards … Make school
genetically instructed to satisfy. All of our behavior represents our best attempt at any moment to satisfy our basic
meaningful, relevant and fun. Then you won’t have to bribe students. (Eric Jensen,
needs or genetic instructions. In addition to the physical need for survival, we have four basic psychological needs
Brain-based learning and teaching. Del Mar, CA: Turning Point Publishing, p. 242).
that must be satisfied to be emotionally healthy:
Help students keep externally imposed constraints in proper perspective. Let’s
 Belonging or connecting
remind our students that to study for extrinsic rewards like good grade, medals,
 Power or competence
scholarships is not bad but is it better and best to study for the inherent value and for
the joy of learning itself.
 Freedom
A student’s sense of self determination is demonstrated in his capacity for self-regulation. Self-  Fun
regulation refers to a person’s ability to master himself. He is the “I am the captain of my soul” type of person. He The need for belonging or connecting motivates us to develop relationships and cooperate with others.
is not a victim of circumstances. He is capable of directing himself. Without the need for belonging and cooperating, we would only strive to be independent.

What are indicators of self-regulation? They are the abilities to: The need of power is more than just a drive to dominate. Power is gained though competence,
achievement, and mastery. Out genetic instruction is to achieve, master new skills and to be recognized for our
 Set standards for oneself accomplishments…
 Monitor and evaluate one’s behavior against such standards, and
As human, we are also motivated to be free, to choose. Having choices is part of what it means to be
 Impose consequences on oneself for one’s successes or failures. (Ormrod, 2004)
human and is one reason our species has been able to evolve, adapt and thrive…
How does self-regulation relate to motivation?
Each time we learn something new, we are having fun, another universal human motivator. It is our
A student who is capable of self-regulation is more likely to be more intrinsically motivated because he sets
playfulness and our sense of discovery that allows us to learn as much as we do.
his goals and standards, he monitors his progress, and evaluates his own performance.
What do these imply to our task to facilitating learning? We have to come up with a need-satisfying
A student who is capable of self-regulation, is not only capable of regulating his behavior, he is also
environment. To motivate our students for learning, we should satisfy their need to belong, their need to have
capable of regulation his own learning. (Ormrod, 2004) cites the following processes involved in self-regulated
power by being competent, the need to have a free choice, and the need to enjoy learning and have fun.
learning:
How can these be done? If we create a sense of community in the classroom and make every student feel
 Goal setting. Self-regulated learners know what they want to accomplish when they read or
s/he belongs to the classroom community, s/he will more likely love to go to school. If we make use of
study.
cooperative learning structures, we strengthen the spirit of cooperation and collaboration and reduce, if not
 Planning. Self-regulated learners determine ahead of time how best to use the time they have eliminate, the spirit of cut throat competition. In a non-threatening atmosphere, students are more likely to
available for learning. perform.
 Attention control. Self-regulated learners try to focus their attention on the subject matter at
hand and clear their minds of potentially distracting thoughts and emotions. Let us teach our students that the source of authentic power is competence, not bullying and other
 Application of learning strategies. Self-regulated learners choose different learning strategies irresponsible behaviors. This way, they will learn the true road to real power.
depending on the specific goal they hope to accomplish.
 To motivate our students for learning, let us give them ample freedom to choose within parameters that are Learning goals versus performance goals. The goals we set for ourselves affect our level of motivation.
safe and responsible, developmentally appropriate, and supportive of learning for that is the ultimate purpose of There are several types of goals. In relation to learning we can speak of learning goal and performance goal. How
freedom, to help our students learn and grow into the responsible persons they are called to be. When our students do they differ?
are made to feel they have a lot of free choices, they are not driven to satisfy this need for freedom.
On the other hand, when our students perceive themselves to be so suffocated by our impositions and limits, they A learning goal is “desire to acquire additional knowledge or master new skills” while a performance goal
are most likely to behave in ways, even irresponsible ways, to get them the freedom they believe is not satisfied. is a “desire to look good and receive favorable judgements from others or else look bad and receive unfavorable
judgements”. (Ormrod, 2004) Between these two goals, with which type of goal is the intrinsically-motivated
Fun is a universal human motivator. If our students’ need for fun is satisfied, they are most likely to learn student occupied? Obviously, the ideal student is the student with a learning goal.
much. Glasser (1990) claims “fun is the genetic pay off for learning”. A joyless classroom does not motivate
students to perform. Let’s have fun while we teach. Without our knowing, our students are learning and mastering What about the extrinsically-motivated student? With which goal is he identified?
what we are teaching while we are having fun.
Self-determined goals. Personally relevant goals and self-determined goals enhance a student’s
“What happens outside of us has a lot to do with what we choose to do but the outside event does not cause motivation. When lesson objectives are relevant to the life of students, then students turn out to be more motivated
our behavior. What we get, and all we ever get from the outside is information; how we choose to act on that to learn. When the lesson objectives are owned by the students because they find them relevant to their life, most
information is up to us. (William Glasser, 1990 quoted by Bob Sullo, p.6) likely students become highly motivated for learning. This departs from de-contextualized teaching that happens
when all we do is deposit information into the minds of our students memorize, and we withdraw what we taught
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs every periodic examination.

A student’s lower-order needs must first be met before s/he works for the satisfaction of his/her higher- Goal setting. As a motivational tool, goal setting is effective when the following major elements are
order needs. The lower-order needs include first-level needs and second-level needs. The first-level needs are present: 1) goal acceptance, 2) specificity, 3) challenge, 4) performance monitoring, and 5) performance feedback.
basic survival and physiological needs for food, air, water, and sleep. The second-level needs are bodily safety and Thus, it is necessary that our students accept and own our lesson objectives and that our lesson objectives must be
economic security. SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Result-oriented, Time-bounded) and challenging. It is equally
important that we monitor our students’ learning. However, simply monitoring results is not enough. We have to
There are three (3) levels in the higher-order needs. The first (which is now the third-level Maslow’s need give our students feedback about their performance.
hierarchy) is the need for love and belonging. The needs at the fourth level include those for esteem and status,
including one’s feelings of self-worth and of competence. The fifth level need is self-actualization, which means
MODULE 19
becoming all that one is capable of becoming, using one’s skills to the fullest, and stretching talents to the
maximum. Motivation

Based on Maslow’s theory, a satisfied need is not a strong motivator but an unsatisfied need is. Research
proves that “unless the two lower-order needs (physiological and security) are basically satisfied, employees (in Students’ Diversity in Motivation
our teaching-learning context) will not be greatly concerned with higher-order needs. (Newstrom,1997)
Objectives:
 Reflect on your own experiences as you read through situations given in this module.
For us teachers, this means that we cannot teach students with hungry stomachs. We cannot teach students
 Present the social and cultural influences on the cognitive and motivational processes of learning by
when they feel afraid and insecure. While it is not our obligation to feed them, working with parents, the school means of a graphic organizer.
nurse and all others who can help can can help address the problem of students’ hunger, lack of sleep and the like  State and explain two principles on the social and cultural influences on motivation.
will be of great help.
CONCEPT NOTES:
Our students’ need for love and belonging is satisfied in a class where they feel they belong and are
accepted regardless of their academic standing in class, economic status, and ethnic background. Their need for Students who, by themselves are already as diverse, also differ in motivation. This diversity in motivation may be
self-esteem is satisfied when we help them succeed, recognize their effort and contribution no matter how traced to differences in age, developmental stage, gender, socio-economic and cultural background. How these
insignificant and praise their achievement. Doing so actually propels them to self-actualization. factors influence student’s motivation is the concern of this module.

Goal theory Our students’ motivation may vary on account of age, cultural, socioeconomic background, and special
education needs. Our class is a conglomerate of students with varying ages, and gender and most especially
cultural background and socioeconomic status. Our students’ motivational drives reflect the elements of the
culture in which they grow up – their family, their friends, school, church and books. To motivate all of them for
learning, it is best to employ differentiated approaches. “Different folks, different strokes”. What is medicine for - Treating students as people
one may be poison for another. - Avoiding the use of ridicule and preventing situations in which students lose respect in front of
their peers
Two principles to consider regarding social and cultural influences on motivation are: - Practice gender, racial and ethnic fairness
- Providing students with opportunities for students to participate and to succeed
1.Students are most likely to model the behaviors they believe are relevant to their situation.  Social Interactions with students – The specific behaviors of a facilitative social interaction are:
2.Students develop greater efficacy for a task when they see others like themselves performing task
- Consistently behaving in a friendly personal manner while maintaining professional distance
successfully. (Ormrod, 2004). What conclusion can be derived from the two principles? “Students need
with students
models who are similar to themselves in terms of race, cultural background, socioeconomic status,
- Working with students not for students
gender and (if applicable) disability. (Ormrod, 2004).
- Interacting productively by giving students responsibility and respect
Then it must be good to expose our students to models of their age and to models who come
- Allowing students to participate in decision making
from similar cultural, socioeconomic backgrounds.
- Willing to participate and demonstrating a sense of fun
- Have a sense of humor and is willing to share jokes
Do we have to limit ourselves to live models? Not necessarily. We can make our students read
 Enthusiasm and Motivation for learning shown in:
biographies and autobiographies and successful individuals who were in situations similar to them.
- Encouraging students to be responsible for their own learning
- Maintaining an organized classroom environment
MODULE 20 - Setting high standards
- Assigning appropriate challenges
Environmental Factors Affecting Motivation - Providing reinforcement and encouragement during tasks
 Attitude toward the Teaching Profession
Human Environmental Factors Affecting Motivation - Dual commitment to personal learning and to students’ learning anchored on the belief that all
students can learn
Objectives:
 Compose a poem/song describing teacher’s behavioral traits that are facilitative of learning. - Helping students succeed by using differentiated instruction
 Dramatize the de-motivating function of bullying in schools. - Working collaboratively with colleagues and other staff
 Mimic the behavioral traits of parents who are supportive of learning. - Serving as an example of a lifelong learner to his/her students and colleagues
 Reflective Practice
CONCEPT NOTES: - Reviewing and thinking on his/her teaching process
If environment is defined as the sum total of one’s surrounding then environmental factors that affect student’s - Eliciting feedback from others in the interest of teaching and learning
motivation include human as well as non-human factors. The immediate human factors that surround the learner Bullying and the Need to Belong
are teachers, the other student and his/her parents.
Students form part of the human environment of the learner. In fact, they far outnumber the teachers in the
Teacher’s Affective Traits learning environment.

Students suggest that management and instructional processes are key to facilitating learning but many The need to belong is a basic human need. Students who are accepted by teachers and classmates feel they
interview responses emphasizes the teacher’s affective characteristics or social and emotional behaviors, more belong to the class. Students who feel are part of the class look forward to attending class and participating in
than pedagogical practice. Researches cite the following affective characteristics of effective teachers (James H. class. The sense of belongingness enhances their learning and performance. The prevalence of bullying, however,
Stronge, 2002). obstructs the creation of a learning community where everyone feels s/he belongs. With bullying in schools, the
learning environment cannot be safe. Then by all means, bullying should be eliminated in schools. Bullying takes
 Caring- Specific attributes that show caring are: on several forms. It can be mild, it can be intense or deeply-seated and highly violent. Today safety in schools is
- Sympathetic listening to students not only about life inside the classroom but more about being raised all over the world especially with that tragic shooting incident that happened recently in Virginia,
students’ lives in general USA acclaimed to be the worst school tragedy in American schools. In that tragedy, more than thirty students
- Understanding of students’ questions and concerns were killed.
- Knowing students individually, their likes and dislikes, and personal situations affecting
behavior and performance Parents as Part of the Learners’ Human Learning Environment
 Fairness and Respect – These are shown in specific behaviors like:
 The learner spends at least six hours in school. The rest, s/he spends at home. Parents, therefore, are It is a classroom where:
supposed to have more opportunity to be with their children than teachers. How many of our parents use this
opportunity to support their children in their studies?  Specific classroom rules and procedure are clear.
 These classroom rules and procedure are discussed on the first days of class.
What parents’ behavioral traits are supportive of their children’s learning? Parents who are supportive of  Students are involved in the design of rules and procedures.
their children’s learning are observed to do the following:  Techniques to acknowledge and reinforce acceptable behavior and provide negative consequences are
employed.
 Follow up status of their children’s performance
 Clear limits for unacceptable behavior are established.
 Supervise their children in their homework/project
 There is a healthy balance between dominance and cooperation
 Check their children’s notebooks
 Teacher is aware of the needs of different types of students
 Review their children’s corrected seat works and test papers
 Teacher is fully aware of the happenings in class
 Attend conferences for Parents, Teachers and Community Association (PTCA)
 Students’ responsibility for their own behavior is enhanced.
 Are willing to spend on children’s projects and involvement in school activities (Marzano, et.al, 2003)
 Participate actively in school-community projects
 Confer with children’s teachers when necessary
 Are aware of their children’s activities in school MODULE 22
 Meet the friends of their children
The physical Learning Environment
 Invite their children’s friends at home
Unsupportive parent behaviors are the opposite of all those listed above. Objectives:
 Challenge yourself to design a favorable physical learning environment.
The interaction between the learner and the teacher, among the learners, and among the learner, teacher and
parents gives rise to the learning climate in the classroom. Whether the climate that comes as a by-product of the CONCEPT NOTES:
interactions nurtures or obstructs learning depends on the quality of these interactions.
We do not get affected only by the psychological climate in the classroom. We are also affected by the
MODULE 21 physical condition of the learning place. The learner is put at a disadvantage when the classroom is overcrowded,
dark and damp. We hear of teachers saying, “IT gets into my nerve” when students are unnecessarily and unruly in
The Classroom Climate a classroom that is topsy-turvy. The physical learning environment matters, too, in facilitating learning.
The physical learning environment has something to do with the condition of the classroom, the immediate
Objectives:
 Describe the classroom climate that is conducive for learning by the used of simile or metaphor. environment of the learner. A conducive physical learning environment is one that:
 Simulate the first day of class where you act as teacher giving class policies and rules.  Allows maximum interaction between teacher and student and among students;
 Allows student movement without unnecessary distraction
CONCEPT NOTES:  Allows teacher to survey the whole class;
 Is safe, clean and orderly;
The classroom climate is more a product of the interaction between and among teacher and students than that of
 Is well-ventilated, spacious, and adequately lighted and
the physical condition of the classroom. The physical condition of the classroom may exert an influence on the
social interaction among the personalities in class but it may not contribute as much as the classroom social  Makes possible re-arrangement of chairs as the need arises.
interaction does. Let us not forget the fact that while the physical condition of the classroom and the persons that the
students interact with constitute their immediate environment. Our students are also influence by factors
What is a classroom climate that facilitate learning? It is something business-like and yet non-threatening. outside their immediate environment. Our students bring to the classroom many attitudes as a result of
What takes place in a classroom where a business-like and a non-threatening atmosphere prevail? This is the their being conditioned by their families, their ethnic groups, their communities: These attitudes
concern of this module. influence their class performance.

The classroom climate that is conducive for learning is one that is non-threatening yet business-like:
 understandings. Examples of authentic assessment include original works of students and other performance-
based outputs. You will surely learn more about authentic assessment in your six units of assessment subjects.

Purposes of Assessment
Assessment for Learning
MODULE 23
As earlier mentioned, assessment is done for the purpose of making decisions. These may be concerned
Objectives:
with decisions related with:
 Identify the purposes of assessment.
 Explain the researched-based principles of assessment for learning.
1.Diagnosis. Assessment is used to determine any special learning need that a learner may have.
 Demonstrate appreciation of assessment as a process to both evaluate and facilitate learning.
2.Placement. Based on the results of assessment, the learner can be placed in the best learning environment
CONCEPT NOTES: where he can better learn and develop.
A crucial part of the whole teaching-learning process is to find out whether both the learner and the 3.Effectiveness of the Program. Assessment can also provide data about how a particular curriculum or
teacher were successful in the process. What have my students learned so far? Was I effective in facilitating program is effective in meeting its goals.
learning? Did my students acquire the targeted knowledge, skills, and values? These and so many other questions 4.Student Feedback. One important purpose of assessment is to have objective information that can be used
which you may have, are answered by assessment. to communicate to the learner his current level of performance, specifically his strong and weak points.
Other hand the end of the lesson, assessment can also be done at the beginning of a lesson to determine 5.Research. Assessment results can also be used as a source of very useful data in a wide range topics in the
entry knowledge and skills of our students in relation to our lesson for the day. It can also be conducted in the field of educational research.
process of teaching to determine if our students can follow the lesson. Researched-Based Principles of Assessment for Learning.
The pretest, a form of assessment at the beginning of a lesson, helped you determine how much you
knew and didn’t know about the professional teacher. With the pretest results, your learning became more focused The assessment reform Group proposed 10 principles. Assessment for learning:
(particularly on the items you did not get). You learned to the point of mastery, thus your scores improved
1.Is part of effective planning. Assessment for learning should be part of effective planning and learning.
considerably.
When the teacher plans lessons, there should be an opportunity for both the learner and the teacher to
That’s the reason why the title of this Module is “assessment for learning” instead of “Assessment of
use the assessment of progress in looking at the learning goals. It is also good if learners are aware of the
Learning”. I chose the latter because it emphasizes the role that assessment plays in facilitating learning. It is not
goals they are working on and the criteria that will be used in evaluating their learning.
just done at the end of the teaching-learning process. Instead, it is an integral part of teaching-learning process,
2. Focuses on how students learn. Assessment for learning should focus on how students learn. The teacher
such that assessment not just evaluates the learning but becomes a tool to facilitate and enhance learning.
should understand the nature of learning. Students should become aware of how they learn and not just
The practice of checking your own answers in both pretest and posttest helped you learned better, too. It what they learn.
challenged you to compete with yourself. Is there a proof of learning better than improved scores? 3.Is central to classroom practice. Assessment for learning should be considered central to classroom
practice. Upon closer examination, teachers would come to realize that a lot of what they do inside the
Assessment is something that students frown upon. With self-assessment, the process becomes non- classroom can be seen as a form of assessment. For example, learning activities and questions asked
threatening. With self-assessment, you also get to know results at once. It is no wonder why authorities on already show the students’ knowledge, understanding and skills. The learners’ responses are then
assessment encourage the use of self-assessment in schools. observed and interpreted, and the teacher makes choices and decisions on how to make learning even
more effective. Therefor, assessment processes are an important part of each class day. They engage
Let us see what experts say on assessment. both students and the teacher to reflect, dialogue and make decisions about the learning process.
4.Is a key professional skill. Assessment of learning should be considered as a key professions skill for
What assessment is? teachers. It is vital that teachers acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and values about the entire
assessment process. Skills in observing learning, analyzing and interpreting evidence, giving feedback to
Assessment is basically the processes of gathering information about the students’ learning: then analyzing learner, and supporting students in self-assessment are some of the most important ones that teachers
and interpreting them for the purpose of making decisions. Assessment may involve, among others, activities such should be competent in. This is why in the teacher education curriculum, we have several subjects
as administering different kinds of written tests, observation of behavior or performance, examination of work dealing with assessment.
samples, use of checklists, and interview. 5.Is sensitive and constructive. Assessment of learning must be sensitive and constructive because
assessment has an emotional impact. As a future teacher, bear in mind that your comments, marks and
Assessment for learning is more in line with Authentic Assessment. Sometimes referred to as alternative
grades, as well as the manner you communicate them to students can affect their self-confidence.
assessment, authentic assessment seeks to directly assess student performance through real-life tasks or products.
Assessment should be constructive as much as possible. Judging students harshly to the point that they
It encourages students to use higher order thinking skills to be more active in constructing their own
 feel belittled or insulted will “kill” their spirit, and may lead them to have a negative view both of
themselves and the subject.
6.Fosters motivation. Assessment for learning should consider the importance of learner motivation. In
order to utilize assessment as a motivating tool, assessment should focus on progress and achievement
rather than failure. Never compare a student to those who have already achieved what he is still
struggling to accomplish. Furthermore, assessment methods that allow learner to be more independent
and have choices increase their motivation. They become more self-directed and depends less on the
“what-will-teacher-say-about-my-work” reference.
7.Promotes understanding of goals and criteria. Assessment for learning should promote commitment to
learning goals and a shared understanding of the criteria by which they are assessed. Learners should
always understand what goals they are set out to do or accomplish. At the same time they should have a
clear idea on how they are going to be assessed. As a future teacher you should be able to tell them in a
clear and simple way the criteria (success indicators) you will use to evaluate them. Giving an example
of how these criteria are met will make the criteria really clear for them.
8.Helps learners know how to improve. Assessment for learning should include constructive guidance on
how learners can improve. An effective teacher would give students guidance as to the steps or
strategies they can use to improve their learning and consequent performance. Learners need to know
their strengths and how they can continually develop them. They also need to know their weaknesses
and how best to work on them.
9.Develop the capacity for self-assessment. Assessment for learning develops learners’ skills on self-
assessment. Assessment should allow learners to apply metacognitive skills. When learners are given the
opportunity to evaluate their own performance, they bring to mind the personal task and strategy
variables applicable to them. They reflect on their personal characteristics that affect their learning; the
tasks they need to work on; and the strategies that can help them. In this way, assessment empowers the
student to take a more active role in his own learning process.
10. Recognizes all educational achievement. Assessment for learning should recognize the full range of
achievements of all learners. Assessment should be able to integrate the totality of the learners
achievement. Each should be holistic and not just pick on an isolated skill. It should aid the learner to
maximize his performance and acknowledge his efforts.