Authentic Assessment in Qur’anic Studies: A Multidimensional Approach to Developing Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Islamic Higher Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32939/tarbawi.v22i1.6747Keywords:
Authentic Assessment, Higher-Order Thinking Skills, Multidimensional Learning, Qur’anic Studies, Islamic Higher EducationAbstract
Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) have become an essential learning outcome in higher education, including Qur'anic studies, where students are expected to interpret religious texts in their contexts critically. However, assessment practices in many Qur'anic learning settings continue to emphasize knowledge acquisition rather than the integrated development of cognitive, psychomotor, and affective competencies. This study examined the contribution of a multidimensional authentic assessment approach to fostering students' HOTS in Qur'anic studies. A mixed-methods sequential explanatory design was employed. The study was conducted at the Faculty of Ushuluddin and Islamic Studies, UIN Imam Bonjol Padang, Indonesia, involving 50 undergraduate students enrolled in the Uṣūl al-Tafsīr wa Qawāʿiduhu course. Quantitative data were analyzed using multiple linear regression, while qualitative interview data were analyzed through thematic analysis to explain the statistical findings. The results showed that cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains collectively made a significant contribution to HOTS. Among these domains, psychomotor engagement emerged as the strongest predictor, indicating that performance-based learning activities such as presentations, academic writing, and interpretive discussions play a central role in the development of higher-order thinking. The qualitative findings further revealed that conceptual understanding, active knowledge application, and reflective engagement operate as complementary processes that strengthen students' analytical and evaluative thinking. These findings suggest that authentic assessment should be viewed not merely as a means of evaluating learning outcomes but as an instructional approach that integrates knowledge, practice, and reflection to promote higher-order thinking. The study contributes to the growing body of research on authentic assessment by providing empirical evidence from the context of Islamic higher education and offering a multidimensional framework for enhancing HOTS in Qur'anic learning
Downloads
References
Akker, J. van den, Bannan, B., Kelly, A. E., Plomp, Tjeerd, & Nieveen, Nienke. (2013). Educational design research. Part A : an introduction. SLO.
Alafnan, M. A. (2025). Enhancing educational outcomes using AlAfnan taxonomy: integrating cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education, 14(3), 2419–2437. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v14i3.33147
Alanazi, A. A., Osman, K., & Halim, L. (2024). Integrating Digital Assessment in Physics Education: Enhancing Higher-Order Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills of Students in Technical Colleges in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In Lecture Notes in Educational Technology: Part F3676 (pp. 327–347). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-6136-4_15
Anderson, L. W., K. D. R. (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.
Baloyi, O. B. (2023). Development of higher-order thinking skills in nursing students through online problem-based assessment. Health SA Gesondheid, 28. https://doi.org/10.4102/hsag.v28i0.2423
Binti Misrom, N. S., Muhammad, A. S., Abdullah, A. H., Osman, S., Hamzah, M. H., & Fauzan, A. (2020). Enhancing Students’ Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) Through an Inductive Reasoning Strategy Using GeoGebra. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (IJET), 15(03), 156. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v15i03.9839
Chasokela, D., & Hlongwane, J. (2024). Assessing Higher-Order and Critical Skills in the Era of Artificial Intelligence. In Educational Assessments in the Age of Generative AI (pp. 285–314). https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-6351-5.ch010
Coffman, A. L., & Kittur, J. (2024). Engineering Students’ Perceptions of Psychomotor Domain of Learning: A Qualitative Investigation. 2024 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2024 - Proceedings, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1109/TALE62452.2024.10834385
Crawford, C. M., & Smith, M. S. (2014). Rethinking Bloom’s taxonomy: Implicit cognitive vulnerability as an impetus towards higher-order thinking skills. In Exploring Implicit Cognition: Learning, Memory, and Social Cognitive Processes (pp. 86–103). https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-6599-6.ch004
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research (M. Karen, Ed.; 4th ed.). Pearson.
Foo, S. Y. (2025). Investigating gifted students’ higher-order thinking skills in a differentiated learning environment: A case study. Gifted Education International, 41(2), 236–259. https://doi.org/10.1177/02614294241305766
Halimah, S. (2021). Implementasi Pendekatan HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) dalam Pembelajaran PAI. Evaluasi: Jurnal Manajemen Pendidikan Islam, 5(2), 342–362. https://doi.org/10.32478/evaluasi.v5i2.762
Hamdan, N., Heong, Y. M., Masran, S. H., Kiong, T. T., Sutadji, E., & Fuada, S. (2024). Exploring Marzano Higher-Order Thinking Skills: Demographic Disparities Among Technical Students. Journal of Technical Education and Training, 16(2), 103–118. https://doi.org/10.30880/JTET.2024.16.02.009
Ismail, R., Erawadi, E., & Zulhammi, Z. (2023). Implementasi Penilaian Autentik pada Mata Pelajaran Al-Qur’an Hadis di MAN 1 Tapanuli Tengah. ISLAMIKA, 5(3), 3683–3702.
Jarutkamolpong, S., & Kwangmuang, P. (2025). Enhancing undergraduate creative thinking through a constructivist mobile learning application: Design, development, and evaluation. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 57, 101866. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2025.101866
Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy: An overview. In Theory into Practice (Vol. 41, Number 4, pp. 212–218). https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4104_2
Murtonen, M., & Balloo, K. (2019). Redefining scientific thinking for higher education: Higher-Order Thinking, evidence-based reasoning, and research skills. In M. Murtonen & K. Balloo (Eds.), Redefining Scientific Thinking for Higher Education: Higher-Order Thinking, Evidence-Based Reasoning and Research Skills. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24215-2
Narimo, S., Sulistyanto, H., Prayitno, H. J., Wulandari, M. D., Setyabudi, D. P., Sumardjoko, B., Anif, S., & Awaludin, A. (2025). An empirical study in Indonesia: Is adaptive inquiry learning effective for improving higher-order thinking skills of elementary school students? International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 37(2), 179–194. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJIL.2025.144198
Naseer, F., Khan, M. N., Tahir, M., Addas, A., & Aejaz, S. M. M. H. (2024). Integrating deep learning techniques for personalized learning pathways in higher education. Heliyon, 10(11), e32628. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e32628
Nikolic, S., Suesse, T. F., Grundy, S., Haque, R., Lyden, S., Hassan, G. M., Daniel, S., Belkina, M., & Lal, S. (2024). Laboratory learning objectives: ranking objectives across the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains within engineering. European Journal of Engineering Education, 49(3), 454–473. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2023.2248042
Oroh, E. Z., Ali, M. I., Pelenkahu, N., Usman, H., & Rorintulus, O. A. (2025). Authentic Assessment in Higher Education to Increase Critical Thinking and Develop Metacognitive Awareness. Studies in English Language and Education, 12(2), 827–844. https://doi.org/10.24815/siele.v12i2.45077
Pearlin, E., & Gandhi, S. M. G. (2024). Enhancing User Behavior Analysis in Mobile Language Learning Apps Through Gamification and AI Integration: A Transformer-Based Deep Learning Approach. 2nd IEEE International Conference on Data Science and Network Security, ICDSNS 2024, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDSNS62112.2024.10690955
Piaw, C. Y., Ying, L. F., & Chiat, L. F. (2025). Unveiling key e-learning ingredients for enhancing higher-order thinking skills. Discover Education, 4(1), 202. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-025-00600-9
Pratiwi, M. F. A., & Amalia, E. R. (2021). The Comparison of Boarding School Students’ Capability in Solving HOTS Questions of the Islamic History Subject. Nazhruna: Jurnal Pendidikan Islam, 4(1), 60–73. https://doi.org/10.31538/nzh.v4i1.998
Qithrotun Nida Aulia, Sholahuddin Al Ayubi, & Salim Rosyadi. (2025). Critical Thinking Dalam Al-Qur’an: Studi Tafsir Tematik dan Implementasinya di Era Digital. Al-Fahmu: Jurnal Ilmu Al-Qur’an dan Tafsir, 4(1), 131–149. https://doi.org/10.58363/alfahmu.v4i1.473
Qodir, Z., Nashir, H., & Hefner, R. W. (2023). Muhammadiyah is making Indonesia’s Islamic moderation based on maqāsid sharī’ah. Ijtihad: Jurnal Wacana Hukum Islam Dan Kemanusiaan, 23(1), 77–92. https://doi.org/10.18326/IJTIHAD.V23I1.77-92
Sutadji, E., Susilo, H., Wibawa, A. P., Jabari, N. A. M., & Rohmad, S. N. (2021). Authentic assessment implementation in natural and social science. Education Sciences, 11(9), 534. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11090534
Wakifah, W., Fatimah, F., & Sulistiawati, M. (2023). Optimization of Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) in Islamic Education towards the Era of Society 5.0. Didaktika : Jurnal Kependidikan, 17(2), 55–63. https://doi.org/10.30863/didaktika.v17i2.5750
Wiggins, G. (1993). Assessing Student Performance: Authentic Assessment for Better Teaching and Learning. Jossey-Bass.
Wu, T. T., Silitonga, L. M., & Murti, A. T. (2024). Enhancing English writing and higher-order thinking skills through computational thinking. Computers and Education, 213, 105012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2024.105012
Yusuf, I., Widyaningsih, S. W., Prasetyo, Z. K., & Istiyono, E. (2021). The evaluation of the use of e-learning media to improve HOTS through authentic and holistic assessments. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1806(1), 012014. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1806/1/012014
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Devi Faizah Yuliana, Rusydi AM, Remiswal Remiswal, Juli Sardi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
