Unit 5: Affective Assessment

Introduction
Schools should care about students’ attitudes toward learning and they should nurture students’
self-esteem. Affective variables influence student behavior. Values shape daily conduct.
Attitudes toward learning effect progress and achievement. Motivation contributes to students’
academic success. Most importantly, student status on affective variables informs and guides
instruction. Then, it is a must for would-be teachers like you to learn affective assessment. This
will guide you in dealing with students diverse in terms of intelligence and emotional quotient. It
is essential for teachers to know how students learn and what interest them. In this unit, you will
be learning different affective assessment tools which will help you to determine students’
attitude, values, academic self-concept, locus of control, self-efficacy, interest, academic
aspiration, and anxiety.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this unit, you are expected to:
1. Define affective assessment and related concepts
2. Select appropriately developed, high quality affective assessment tools
3. Use target- and learner-appropriate affective assessment methods and tools
4. Interpret affective assessment data/ results for monitoring and evaluating learner
achievement to improve learner performance and inform instruction
 Activating Prior Knowledge
Can you still remember the domains of learning by Bloom’s taxonomy, the cognitive,
psychomotor and affective domains? This activity will focus on assessing your previous
knowledge on affective domain of the Bloom’s taxonomy. Accomplish the graphic organizer
given below.

Write the definition: Use it in a sentence:

Affective Domain
Write a synonym: Draw a picture:
Topic 1. Basic Concepts in Affective Assessment

Learning Objectives
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:
1. Determine the levels of learning and behavior verbs used in affective domain
2. Define affective assessment
3. Discuss the different affective and disposition targets such as attitude, values, academic
self-concept, locus of control, self-efficacy, interest, academic aspiration, and anxiety
4. Use the different concepts of affective assessment in dealing with situations/problems in
school

Presentation of Content
In Bloom’s taxonomy published, three domains were identified: cognitive, affective and
psychomotor domains.
The affective domain is part of a system that was published in 1965 for identifying,
understanding, and addressing how people learn.
Domains of Learning (Bloom)
 It emphasizes a feeling It emphasizes measurements of
tone, an emotion or degree reasoning and the mental
of acceptance or rejection. faculties of the student.

Levels of Learning in Affective Domain

Behavioral Verbs in Affective Domain

Definition of Affective Assessment
This is the process of gathering information about the outcomes of education that involve
disposition or personal feelings such as attitudes, sense of academic self-confidence or interest in
something that motivationally predisposes a person to act or not to act.
It also involves individual’s choice whether he/she likes to finish a task or how s/he would like to
do it.
What does it measure?

Affective/Disposition Targets
Anderson & Bourke (2000) cited by Stiggins (2001)

1. Attitude
It is learned predisposition to respond in a consistent favorable or unfavorable manner with
respect to a given object.

2. School-related Values
Values are beliefs about what should be desired, what is important or cherished, and what
standards of conduct are acceptable.
Values influence or guide behavior, interest, attitudes and satisfactions.
Values are enduring. They tend to remain stable over fairly long periods of time.
Values are learned and tend to be of high intensity and tend to focus on ideas.
The following are values related to academic success:
Belief in the value of education as a foundation for a productive life
Belief in the benefits of strong effort in school
A strong sense of the need for the ethical behavior at testing time (no cheating)
The belief that a healthy lifestyle (for ex. No drugs) underpins academic success
Feeling about the key aspects of their schooling , that predispose students to behave in
academically productive ways
3. Academic Self-concept
It is a learned vision that results largely from evaluation of self by others over time. It is
the sum of all evaluative judgements one makes about one’s possibility of success and/or
productivity in an academic context.
4. Locus of Control
It is the student’s attributions or belief about the reasons for academic success or failure.
Internal- the attributions come from within.
“I succeeded because I tried hard.”
External- the attributions come from external contributions or factor.
“I was lucky to receive a grade of 99 .”
“I performed well because I had a good teacher.”

5. Self-efficacy
Its target is a task, a (school) subject, an instructional objective and the like. The direction
is best captured by “I can” versus “I can’t”. A “can’t do” attitude lies at the heart of a
concept known as learned helplessness.
The symptoms include a lack of persistence in the face of failure, negative affect and
negative expectations about the future.

6. Interest
A disposition organized through experience which impels an individual to seek out
particular objects, activities, understandings, skills or goals for attention or acquisition.

7. Academic Aspirations
The desire to learn more, the intent to seek out and participate in additional education
experiences.

8. Anxiety
It is the experience of (emotional) tension that results from real or imagined threats to
one’s security.
 Application
Write a reaction paper on the given picture below.

Guide questions:
Do you agree on this education practice of Japan? Why?
Should this be implemented in the Philippines? Why or why not?
What are the advantages and disadvantages if we implement this practice?
Note: Use the affective assessment concepts in answering. Limit your answer to 500-600 words.
The rubrics given below will be used in evaluating your response.
Features 4 3 2 1 %
(Expert) (Accomplished) (Capable) (Beginner)
Quality of Piece was Piece was Piece had Piece had no style 70
Writing written in an written in an little style or or voice
extraordinary interesting style voice
style and and voice Gives no new
voice. Gives some information and
Somewhat new very poorly
Very informative and information organized
informative organized but poorly
and well organized
organized
Grammar, Virtually no Few spelling A number of So many spelling, 30
Usage, and spelling, and punctuation spelling, punctuation and
Mechanics punctuation or errors, minor punctuation or grammatical errors
grammatical grammatical grammatical that it interferes
errors errors errors with the meaning
Write your answer here!
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Topic 2. Affective Assessment Tools

Learning Objectives
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:
1. Differentiate the different tools, techniques, and formats used in affective assessment
2. Select appropriately developed, high quality affective assessment tools
3. Use target- and learner-appropriate affective assessment methods and tools
4. Construct an affective assessment tool

Presentation of Content
Tools and Techniques used in Affective Assessment

1. Interest Inventory- measures learners area of interest

2. Personality inventory- measures learner’s traits such as self-concept, social adjustment,

problem solving styles, and other traits.

3. Observation Techniques

3.1. Casual Information Observations- unstructured, unplanned or an observation

without using any instrument

3.2. Observation Guides- structured or with the use of a planned instrument to record
observations

3.3. Clinical Observations- a prolonged process in diagnosing clients in a controlled

clinical setting, which involves the use of sophisticated techniques and instruments

3.4. Anecdotal Records- a narrative record of observations of a particular learner

behavior during a given situation or event free from interpretations and conclusions

3.5. Scales- consists of list of characteristics or behaviors to be observed and an

evaluative scale to indicate the degree to which they occur

3.6. Checklist- a set of traits that an observer has to mark if demonstrated by a

particular learner
4. Self-Reporting Techniques

4.1. Autobiography- enables the learners to describe his/her own life and experiences
 4.2. Self-Expression Essay- seeks to assess the learner’s response to a particular
question or concern usually in a short essay form

4.3. Self-Description- requires the learner to paint a picture of himself/herself in words

4.4. Self-Awareness Exercises- designed to help learners become more aware of their
feelings, emotions, and values

4.5. Questionnaire- provides an opportunity to easily collect a great deal of

information that may be useful in further understanding the learner client in
identifying problems as well as opinions, attitudes, and values

4.6. Structured Interview- enables the counselor to obtain specific information and to
in-depth behavior or responses

5. Group Assessment Techniques

5.1 Sociometric Technique- provides information on social relationships such as degrees

of acceptance, roles and interactions within groups

5.2 Guess Who Technique- best used with relatively well-established groups in which
members are well acquainted with each other

5.3 Communigram- assesses the frequency of verbal participation of a learner in a

particular group within a given period

5.4 Social Distance Scales- measures the distance of a learner between other persons and
himself/herself that is usually identified through the reaction to given statements that
compare attitudes of acceptance of rejection of other people
Formats of Affective Assessment Tools

1. Closed- Item or Forced-choice Instruments- answers are selected from the given choices

1.1 Checklist- measures students’ preferences, hobbies, attitudes, feelings, beliefs,

interests, etc. by marking a set of possible responses.

1.2 Scales- these measure the extent or degree of one’s response

Types of Scale

1.2.1 Rating Scale- measures the degree or extent of one’s attitudes, feelings, and
perception about ideas, objects and people by marking a point along 3- or 5-
point scale.

1.2.2 Semantic Differential Scale- measures the degree of one’s attitudes, feelings,
and perception about ideas, objects, and people by marking a point along 5- or
7- or 11- point scale of contrasting adjectives at each end.

1.2.3 Likert Scale- measures the degree of one’s agreement or disagreement on

positive or negative statements about objects and people.

1.3 Alternative-Response – measures students’ preferences, hobbies, attitudes, feelings,

beliefs, interests, etc. by choosing between two possible responses

1.4 Ranking- measures students’ preferences or priorities by ranking a set of attitudes or

objects.

2. Open-Ended Instruments- there are no choices for the answers

2.1. Sentence Completion- measures students’ preferences over a variety of attitudes

and allows students to answer by completing an unfinished statement which may vary
in length

2.2. Survey- measures the values held by an individual by writing one or many
responses to a given question

2.3. Essay- allows the students to reveal and clarify their preferences, hobbies,
attitudes, feelings, beliefs, interests and the like by writing their reaction or opinion
on a given question

Suggestions in Writing Affective Assessment Items

 1. Avoid statements that refer to the past rather than to the present
2. Avoid statements that are factual or capable of being interpreted as factual
3. Avoid statements that may be interpreted in more than one way
4. Avoid statements that are irrelevant to the psychological object under consideration
5. Avoid statements that are likely to be endorsed by almost everyone or by almost no one
6. Select statements that are believed to cover the entire range of affective scale of interests
7. Keep the language of the statements simple, clear and direct
8. Statements should be short, rarely exceeding 20 words
9. Each statement should contain only one complete thought
10. Statements containing universals such as all, always, none, and never often introduce
ambiguity and should be avoided
11. Words such as only, just, merely, and others of similar nature should be used with care
and moderation in writing statements
12. Whenever possible, statements should be in the form of simple sentences rather than in
the form of compound or complex sentences
13. Avoid the use of words that may not be understood by those who are to be given the
completed scale
14. Avoid the use of double negatives

Examples of Affective Assessment Tools

Attitude Scale

Checklist
Semantic Differential

Likert Scale

Word Association
Unfinished Sentence

Unfinished Story
 Application
Use a concept map to show relationships of the tools & techniques and formats of affective
assessment. A concept map is a diagram that depicts suggested relationships between concepts.
Your output will be graded using the following rubric.

Criteria 4 3 2 1 %
Exemplary Exceeds Adequately Below
Standard meets standard Standard
Organizatio Well organized Thoughtfully Somewhat Choppy and 60
n organized organized confusing
Logical format
Easy to follow Somewhat Contains a
Contains main most of the time incoherent limited
concepts number of
Contains most Contains only concepts
Contains an of the main a few of the
appropriate concepts main concepts
number of
concepts Contains an
adequate
Map is number of
“treelike” and concepts
not stringy
Follows the
Follows standard map
standard map conventions
conventions
Content Linking words Linking words Linking words Difficult to 40
demonstrate easy to follow are clear but follow
superior but at times present a
conceptual ideas unclear flawed No links
understanding rationale
Links are not
Links are precisely Links are not
precisely labeled labeled
labeled
Total
Paste your concept map here!
Summary
 Affective assessments are systematic measurements of students’ attitudes, interests,
motivation, perception, belief, behavior, opinion and values.
 Results from affective assessments can promote learning by guiding instruction.
 Affective/disposition targets: attitude, values, academic self-concept, locus of control,
self-efficacy, interest, academic aspiration, and anxiety
 Tools and techniques used in affective assessment: interest inventory, personality
inventory, observation techniques, self-reporting techniques, and group assessment
techniques
 Formats of affective assessment tools: closed- item or forced-choice instruments and
open-ended instruments

Reflection
Congratulations! You are done with the fifth unit of this module. Now, go back to the activities
and lessons you have taken in this unit and answer the following questions. Limit your answers
for each question to 5 to 10 sentences only.
1. What is the best thing you learned on this unit?
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2. How relevant is this unit in your future profession?

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3. What do you still want to learn about on this unit?

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References
Adriano, C.T. (2003). Making a perfect fit: objectives and test items. University of the
Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.

Buendicho, F. C. (2010). Assessment of student learning. Manila, Philippines: Rex Bookstore.

De Guzman-Santos, R. (2007). Assessment of learning 1. Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.

Gabuyo, Y. A. (2012). Assessment of student learning 1: textbook and reviewer. Manila,

Philippines: Manila, Rex Bookstore.

Garcia, C. (ND). Measuring and evaluating learning outcomes: a textbook in assessment of

learning 1 and 2. Mandaluyong City,Philippines: Books Atbp Publishing Corporation.