CHAPTER 2

RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents studies relating to the students’ attitudes on Summative

Assessment of Grade 8 students in Naga College Foundation. Also included are the

synthesis of the state of the art, Gap Bridge, theoretical framework and conceptual

framework.

Attitude

Attitudes form directly as a result of experience. They may emerge due to direct

personal experience, or they may result of observation. Social roles relate to how people

are expected to behave in a particular role or context. (Cherry, 2014)

According to Mata et al. (2012), a number of authors have shown that the

relationship between aspects of the social environment and student emotional aspects

may be mediated by other variables such as control-related appraisals and values-related

appraisals. Therefore, competence support, autonomy support, expectations, and

feedback that students receive from others have an impact on their cognitive appraisals

and these are the main sources of their emotional dispositions. When studying attitudes,

it is important to take into consideration the role of these mediated variables where we

can include the motivation features of each student. Attitudes are affective responses

that accompany a behavior initiated by a motivational state. Attitudes can therefore be

linked directly to motivation and provide key information to a better understanding of

attitudinal and motivational processes.

 12

The study of Cherry (2014) and Mata et al. (2012) are found to be related to the

present study due to the fact that the studies focused on attitude. These studies stated

that attitude is result of experiences and initiated by motivational state. Similarly, these

findings can be considered as basis of whatever findings the present work may have.

However, they are different from the present study since the present study focused

specifically on the students’ attitude on Summative Assessment.

Rivera (2011) stressed that parents are the first teachers of the child. Whatever

values formed at home will be brought out by the child in a larger group. These values

could affect his peers. Parents must then be very careful in initiating attitudes since

children are good imitators. Parents must be credible to impose discipline on their

children. Parents are indispensible third leg of the school. Parent’s involvement in child’s

education is consistently found to be positively associated with a child’s academic

performance.

This work is related to the present work in the sense that both were concerned on

the attitudes of the students. However, the previous study was more focused on parents’

influence to the attitudes of students while the present study is on the attitudes of

students on Summative Assessment.

The study of Sarwas, Muhammad cited in the study of Cledera (2014), investigates

the relationship of study- Attitude and Academic Performance of Students at Secondary

in Punjab. He found out that the study attitude was positively related to the academic

performance. High achievers and low achievers differ in their study attitude and female,

male and rural, urban students also differ in their attitude.

 13

This work is related to the present study due to the fact that both studies pay

attention on the students’ attitude. Nevertheless, the present study is more concern on

the attitude of students on Summative Assessment while the previous study was focused

on the relation of academic performance to the study attitude of the learners.

According to Wolfolk et al. (2004), being successful in both rote and meaningful

learning depends on the learner’s willingness to learn and their tendency to make

connections among concepts. In other words, it depends on the learners’ motivation to

learn. Recent approaches have investigated motivation in relation to goal orientations,

interest and emotions, and self-perceptions.

The study of Author et al. (2013) supported the idea that traditional teaching and

over dependence on textbooks could be responsible for the increasing negative student

attitudes about science. Teachers should be aware of students’ individual differences to

improve students’ attitude toward science. The school counseling service should offer

guidance to the parents of the children about the ways in which they can encourage their

children to develop a more positive attitude to science. Furthermore, the different

variables influencing the students’ attitude should be taken into consideration in a wider

perspective.

There is a similarity in this work and the present work in the sense that both

studies determined the attitudes of students in the classroom. The previous study found

out that students’ attitude can be influenced by the teacher’s teaching techniques and

other variables. This finding can be considered as basis of whatever findings the present
 14

study may have. However, there are still differences between the two since the present

study is concerned to what attitude the students have towards Summative Assessment.

According to Ariola (2012) the attitude of the learner is a factor of learning. An

individual with a good attitude of learning will have a better learning perspective than

one with a poor attitude of learning. A learner with a good study habit will learn more

than one with a "bahalana" attitude of studying.

According to Santrock (2005), thoughts, perceptions, attitudes, motives, feelings and

emotions are mental or cognitive processes that cannot be observed through facial

expressions, gestures, or behaviors.

Worchel et al. (2000) and Myers (1999) considered thoughts, feelings and actions

as components and/or core features of the concept of attitudes. The point of view is

substantiated or not, true or false, which one holds toward a person, object, task, or idea.

This concept can be positive or negative, hostile or indifferent. One’s attitude can account

for one’s behavior and/or performance. Thus, attitudes are regarded as a major influence

on behavior. The popular saying: “Nothing is permanent except change”, indeed is an

important social mechanism in the attitudinal change. As Petty and Cacioppo (cited in

Pennington, 2002 and Eagly and Chaiken, 1998) claimed that attitudes have a past, a

present, and a future; they were developed from past experience, they guide behavior to

the present, and can direct development in the future.

Myers (2005) defined attitude as a favorable or unfavorable evaluative reactions

toward something or someone exhibited in one’s beliefs, feelings, or intended behavior.

 15

A person behaves on how he/she feels can guide how he/she reacts to something or

someone. For example, a teacher believes student activism will invoke aggression may

feel dislike for such students involved thus intend to act in a discriminatory manner.

Summative Assessment

According to Harlen, W.; Deakin Crick, R. (2002) when passing tests is high stakes,

teachers adopt a teaching style which emphasizes transmission teaching of knowledge,

thereby favoring those students who prefer to learn in this way and disadvantaging and

lowering the self-esteem of those who prefer more active and creative learning

experiences. Repeated practice tests reinforce the low self-image of the lower achieving

students. Tests can influence teachers’ classroom assessment which may be interpreted

by students as purely summative, regardless of the teacher’s intentions, possibly as a

result of teachers’ over-concern with performance rather than process. Students are

aware of a performance ethos in the classroom and that the tests give only a narrow view

of what they can do. Students dislike high-stakes tests, show high levels of test anxiety

(particularly girls) and prefer other forms of assessment.

There is a similarity in this work and the present work in the sense that both

studies were concerned on the students’ perception and behavior about assessment. The

previous study’s findings about how students view assessment such as tests and the

impacts of it to their class performance can be used as basis of this present study.

However, these two are still different from one another since the present study is focused
 16

on the students’ attitude on Summative Assessment (not only in tests) in while the

previous study was focused only in tests as assessment.

Harlen W. et al (2002), looked at the impact of assessment on students, including

self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation and attribution of success or failure. He found evidence

of the importance of motivational aspect in relation to classroom assessment; that the

use of extrinsic motivation is problematic and that intrinsic motivation and self-regulated

learning is important to continued learning both within and without school. He reviewed

the potentially positive role of classroom assessment, for example, in helping students to

focus their learning, but also concluded that test anxiety has a debilitating effect on

achievement and that this could be reduced by avoiding comparisons between students

and the use of letter grades.

The impact of summative assessment on students’ motivation for learning can be

both direct and indirect. A direct impact can be through inducing test anxiety and the

effect of low scores on self-esteem and perceptions of themselves as learners; an indirect

impact can be through the effect on their teachers and the curriculum. Any negative

impact on motivation for learning is clearly highly undesirable, particularly at a time when

the importance of learning to learn and lifelong learning is widely embraced. Thus it has

been argued that a rise in test scores may be accompanied by unintended negative

outcomes which have serious consequences for current generations of students.

According to Gutierrez (2007), Assessment is a central element in the overall

quality of teaching-learning process. It involves a series of steps, namely gathering,

analyzing and interpreting data. The purpose of assessment is to determine whether or

 17

not expectations match standards set by the authorities. It integrates the measurement

and evaluation of knowledge, skills and attitudes thus making it multidimensional. As an

ongoing process, it is a continuous undertaking of the teacher usually done before, during

and after instruction. Expectations in assessment are provided by instructional objectives,

which in turn, are translated into learning outcomes.

The study of Gutierrez is found to be related to the present study due to the fact

that both studies dealt with assessment. However, the present study is specifically

concern on Summative Assessment.

In the study of Karahan (2007), he used “structural grids”, “concept maps” and

“diagnostic trees” and made an attempt to determine the effect of alternative assessment

and evaluation techniques on achievement. He concluded that alternative assessment

and evaluation techniques had a positive influence on students’ achievement level. Kartal

and Buldur (2007) conducted a study with the aim of determining in which alternative

evaluation technique(s) students were more successful and compared their scores in

alternative evaluation techniques with those in traditional assessment and evaluation

methods. Their study concluded that students were most successful and least successful

in “diagnostic tree” and “structural grid” respectively. Moreover, they were more

successful in exams devised through alternative evaluation techniques than traditional

ones.

The study of Karahan is found to be related to the present study due to the fact

that both studies pay attention to assessment and in impacts that influence the students’

learning performance inside the classroom. The difference between the two studies is
 18

that the previous study determined the different effects of alternative evaluation

techniques and traditional ones while in the present study, the main thing is about the

students’ attitude on Summative Assessment.

According to Goodrum et al. (2005) stated in the study of Mussawy (2009) that

ideally, assessment “enhances learning, provides feedback about student progress, builds

self-confidence and self-esteem, and develops skills in evaluation”. They argue that

effective learning occurs when correspondence exists between teaching, evaluation, and

results. Therefore, due to its close relation with instruction and learning outcomes,

assessment has a key role in learning.

According to Mussawy 2009, Assessment, defined as “a systematic process for

gathering data about student achievement,” is an essential component of teaching. The

impact of assessment is significantly observable on students’ performance. The way

students approach learning determines the way they think about classroom assignments

and tests. Recent studies advocate for including students in the process of developing

assessment tools because, as Falchikove(2004) states, student involvement in peer

assessment adds more value to the learning process.

Dhindsa, Omar, and Waldrip (2007) note that examining students’ perceptions of

assessment, stimulates students to develop an authentic and realistic assessment

approach that “rewards genuine effort and in depth learning rather than measuring luck”.

Thus, in order to support this concept, studies suggest that students should be held

responsible for their learning, for the sake of this study, including their perceptions of

assessment seems to hold promise.

 19

According to Herrera, Murry and Cabral (2007), students are now being asked to

use their “cognitive development, academic knowledge, and language skills to read,

comprehend, synthesize, analyze, compare, contrast, relate, articulate, write, evaluate

and more”. This encouragement builds the foundation for alternative forms (formative)

of assessment to be used in the classrooms so that the instructors can “measure

incremental gains”.

Synthesis of the State-of-the-Art

The pursuit of excellence in education has been on the minds of many who

promoted school reform in recent years. The foregoing related studies were found

essential and significant in the present study considering that they’ve tackled about

learners’ attitude, behavior, child’s learning and summative assessment.

Most of these studies revealed that attitude comes with what have been

experienced, how it is being affected by the other factors and its effect on learning as

stressed by Cherry (2014), River (2011), Mata et al. (2012), Sarwas (2004). Attitude as

studied correlates with the learning performance of students. It was stated that good

attitude towards learning comes with good learning perspective as well as good academic

performance. Furthermore, Wolfolk et al. (2004), and Author et al. (2013) found out in

their studies that attitude is important factor of how human behaves and that it influence

individual’s achievement. Learning depends on person’s willingness that only means one’s

attitude toward learning depends on his/herself. It was stated that a person behaves
 20

according to what he feels. However, attitude can also be a product of other factors that

affect it.

Harlen W.; Deakin Crick (2002), Gutierrez (2007) and Karahan (2007) were on

summative assessment and its effects on students’ learning. Harlen W.; Deakin Crick

(2002) found out that some assessment tools give students negative effects that do not

boost their learning abilities and lessen their interest in participating inside the room. In

the study of Harlen W. et al (2002), revealed the potentially positive role of classroom

assessment in helping students to focus their learning, and also concluded that test

anxiety has a debilitating effect on achievement and that this could be reduced by

avoiding comparisons between students and the use of letter grades. In the study of

Dhindsa et al. (2007), it was revealed that students’ perception in assessment stimulates

deep learning.

Gap Bridged by the Study

Other researchers focused on the students’ attitude towards learning and different

subject areas, assessment, summative assessment, learning performance and students’

achievement. These are all similar to the variables looked into this investigation.

The focus of the present study is on the students’ attitude on Summative

Assessment. Although there are similarities between the present work and the

aforementioned studies, no study exactly looked for the students’ attitude on Summative

Assessment of Naga College Foundation Inc., grade eight students.

 21

Theoretical Framework of the Study

Vygotsky’s Socio-cultural theory recognized social interaction and language as two

central factors in cognitive development. His theory posits that social interaction plays a

very important role in the cognitive development of a child. The development of an

individual could not be understand without looking into social and cultural context within

which development happens. Parents, teachers, and other adults within the child’s

environment all contribute to the learning process. They explain, model, assist, give,

directions and provide feedback. They provide assistance to enable the learner

accomplish a task. Learners can use language to know and understand the world and

solve problems. Language, according to Vygotsky, serves as a social function but it also

has an important function. The learner is enable to regulate and reflect on his own

thinking through the help of language.

Vygotsky’s theory would help the teachers, even the school administrators to know

what influence they can do for the learning of the students. The teachers and the school

should create an environment wherein the students can easily access knowledge for

example, the school can think of a program or policy in school that will promote learning

like English speaking policy, bulletin that poses political issues and other information,

weekly seminar, and many more. Student’s academic performance then will improve and

do more than they can alone if they are guided by their teachers and supported in their

environment. Hence, the teachers and the school itself will guide and assist the students

learning development process. Likewise, through language, learners themselves can

assess their own academic performance.

 22

Assessment Theory is grounded on the four levels of assessment developed by

Donald Kirkpatrick. In Kirkpatrick’s four-level model, each successive evaluation level is

linked with information provided by the lower level. Assessment begins with reaction, and

then moves through learning, behavior & results. Information from each prior level serves

as a base for analyzing the next level’s information. Thus, each successive level

represents a more precise measure and at the same time requiring a more rigorous and

time-consuming analysis.

The theory of assessment gives a comprehensive understanding of assessment &

about different ways of assessing achievement. The teacher who will assess must know

and understand each successive level in order for her to come up with the right evaluation

of students’ progress. When the initial level of knowledge is compared to the level of

knowledge after the learning process, the teacher will have an idea about the degree of

the students’ improvement. The success of the teaching-learning process can be seen

when there is a change in the students’ behavior.

Operant Conditioning, by Barrhu’s Frederick Skinner, is based upon the notion that

learning is a result of charge in overt behavior. Changes in behavior are the result of an

individual’s response to events (stimuli) that occur in the environment. A response

produces a consequence such as defining a word, hitting a ball, or solving a math

problem. When a particular stimulus-response (SR) pattern is reinforced (rewarded), the

individual is conditioned to respond.

This theory is related to this study since behavior is often the result or the

manifestation of the students’ attitude towards a certain matter. According to Murat et

 23

al. (2016) the teacher is the most important category affecting the students’ attitude .To

improve the student performance in the class, the teacher must use techniques and

strategies that will elicit the desirable response from the students. The attitude of the

students can be changed and may be influenced by the teacher’s method of teaching.
 24

Socio-cultural Theory
(Naparato, 2014)
Social interaction plays a
very important role in the
cognitive development of a
child.

Students’ Attitude on
Summative Assessment

Operant Conditioning
Assessment Theory
(Rifareal, 2014)
(Naparato, 2014)
Changes in behavior are the
results of an individual’s Assessment begins with
response to Stimuli that occur in reaction, and then moves
the environment. through learning, behavior and
results.

Theoretical Paradigm
Figure 1
 25

Conceptual Framework

The Illustration in Figure 2 presents conceptual framework of the study. It

presented the model on the Student’s Attitude on Summative Assessment.

The intent of this study is to determine the relationship of the attitude of the

students along with the summative assessment. In the content of this study, the

paradigm contained 2 major entities, Attitudes and Summative assessment the Attitudes

served as an input of the study and major variable. The relationship between these three

entities was analyzed and was represented by an arrow.

 26

STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE ON SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

NAGA COLLEGE FOUNDATION
S/Y 2017-2018

ATTITUDE ACADEMIC
PERFORMANCE

Figure 2
Conceptual Framework
 27

Notes

Kendra Cherry (2014). “How Attitudes Form, Change and Shape our Behavior,
Attitude.” http://psychology.about.com/od/socialpsychology/a/attitude.html)

Maria de Lourdes Mata et al. (2012). Attitudes towards Mathematics: Effects of

Individual, Motivational and Social Support Factors, (Child Development Research
Vol.2012, Article ID 876028) http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/876028

Bella L. Rivera (2011). “The Role of PTA in the Values Formation of Pupils/
Students”, The Modern Teacher (Volume 60, No.01) pp.277

Muhammad Sarwas (2004). “Relationship of the Study Attitude and Academic

Performance of Students at Secondary Level in Punjab”, (PHD thesis, University of Arid
Agriculture Rawalpind). Eprint.hec.gov.pk1323

Awang et al. (2013). “Students’ Attitudes and their Academic Performance in

Nationhood Education”, International Education Studies; Vol. 6, No. 11; 2013,
http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ies.v6n11p21

Ariffin, K. (2007). “The relationship between learning styles and academic

achievements in the subject of Electromagnetic among fist degree students in UTHM”.
PSP’s Research Digest, 17-21.

Abdullah, A., Mesir, B., & Mohamad, A. M. (2006). “Contributing Factors to

Academic Excellence among Students in University of Technology Malaysia”. In National
Student Development Conference (NASDEC), 2006, 8-9 August 2006, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.

Riaz, A., Riaz, A., & Hussain, M. (2011). “Students’ acceptance and commitment
to e- learning: Evidence from Pakistan”.
 28

ValericaAnghelache (2012), “Determinant factors of students’ attitudes toward

learning”, 3rd World Conference on Learning, Teaching and Educational Leadership
(WCLTA-2012)
Ulug et al. (2011). “The effect of Teachers’ Attitudes on Students Personality and
Performance”

Renato A. Doctor Jr. (2008), “Learning Styles: It’s effect on Teaching Strategies
and Performance of students in Math 1”

Anniely C. San Fernando (2006), “Parent-Teacher Partnership in The Improvement

of Students’ Learning Competencies”

Gazzingan et al. (2005), “General Psychology Human Behavior in Perspective”

Anita Woolfolk (2010), “Educational Psychology, De Koek et al. 2004, Basic

Assumptions of the Learning Sciences” pp.306,413

Avelina M. Aquino (2015), Facilitating Human Learning, pp.30,34

Jogie L. Naparato (2014). “Learning behavior and Class Performance of Grade Six
Pupils towards a functional Academic Counselling Program”.

Girlie V. Cledera (2015). “Scientific Attitudes and Learning Performance in Grade

8 Science”.

Maria Rita D. Lucas (2014). “Facilitating Learning: A Cognitive Process”

Ernesto SJ Cledera II (2003). “Parents Involvement in the Enhancement of the

Academic Performance of Students”
Jogie L. Naparato. “Learning Behavior and Class Performance of Grade 6 Pupils
Towards a functional Academic Counseling Program”. 2014. P.35
 29

Moti Frank (2008). “Encyclopedia of Information Technology Curriculum

Integration”.
Marita D. Lucas et al. (2014) “Facilitating Learning: A Metacognitive process”.

E-Journals
High School Students’ Attitudes towards Mathematics, EURASIA Journal of
Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2016 April.