Universidad Catlica de la Santsima Concepcin

Facultad de Educacin
Pedagoga Media en Ingls

Study Case

Members: Diego Garrido

Matas Glvez
Daniela Melipillan
Michael Ruiz
Geraldine Torres
Subject: Teaching Experience III
Teacher: Astrid Guerra

Concepcin 16th, November

1. Introduction

The following research will present a case study that will be focused in a
sixth grade student at the school named Diego Portales D-475, in Talcahuano,
whose personal information will be carefully omitted in order to protect his real
identity. Therefore, he will be introduced only as a boy, whose personal problems
have been obtained liable to the aims of the ethic, and also under confidential
criteria that will save all the data collected in a private and thus, secure way.
Furthermore, the problem that this research exposes it is linked directly to the
responsibility of the Universidad Catolica de la Santsima Concepcin and the
researchers that have carried out this investigation.
Nowadays there are plenty of reasons that explain why students cannot give
their full percent at schools. The type of students, their profile, subjects that may be
difficult for them and whatever the limits the might have, that involved the academic
area and the level of proficiency in terms of learning, those issues will have a
variation depending on the student. Consequently, the student chosen for this case
study has his own issues related to learning, where the lack of interest is the most
notorious one. However, it may seem very common to talk about the lack of
interest of a student, but the causes are the ones that turn the common issue into a
real problem.

a. Theoretical framework.
This research managed two causes that possibly could provoke a
problematic behaviour and the lack of interest of this student. First, as a main
problem that might affect this child is his mothers drugs addiction. According to a
study called Addicted parents and the impact for their children by Dr. Victor Manuel
Guise Cruz (2010), the addictions not only harm someone who suffers it, but also
they affect the ones who surround this person; particularly, if we talk about children
and teenagers. The damage provoked to children is not reflected in immediate
situations, as physical and psychological maltreatment only. The long term
consequences for children at this situation are extremely high and hard to

overcome. As a consequence in this case, this child had to be separated from his
mother for his good, trying to avoid emerging problems. Moreover, Dr. Guise
remarks that a balanced familiar environment is fundamental for to learn and to
develop necessary life abilities that allow people to respond in a proper way to risk
situation during lifetime. This student does not have any parenthood support into
his life that ensures avoiding problematic situations every day.
Accordingly, a second reason derived as a consequence that affects this
student educational perform, it can be distinguished as a scarcity of affection in his
life. The concept of scarcity of affection shows more the cause (lack of maternalaffective stimulation) than the consequence (somatic-clinical, affective and
behavioural with an underdeveloped affective maturity of a child) (Bielsa, A. 2015).
The scarcity of affection determines the situation in which a child suffers the lack of
relationship with her/his mother, and endures of necessary affective attention at an
early age, because of a serious shortage of affective stimulus that interferes in a
child maturation, being more or less, some aspects observable in this student
behaviour. For instance, at the moment of participate in classes, he makes jokes
every time, tries to call their classmates attention, until he loses interest during
lesson classes. Hence, it is recognisable the influence that these two elements
have in this child development, and the main consequence is that the educational
performance has been damaged because of them.

2. Method

a. Background
The subject of this study is a boy of eleven years old s coursing the sixth
grade at Diego Portales D-475 Elementary School in Talcahuano. He used to live
with his mother and grandfather, but now he lives at The Foster Home Carlos
Macera since fourth grade. Also, he has two step siblings, an older sister and a
younger brother and he does not know who his father is. The only support that he
had was his grandfather, which passed away last summer. His mother has drug
issues; In consequence, SENAME (Servicio Nacional de Menores) took him away
from her and send him to the foster home. The boy has problems with behaviour in
class, affecting the lesson and the behaviour of other classmates. He usually wants
to call the attention by being disrespectful and making jokes in class. Furthermore,
teachers have found him hurting himself in classes, for example cutting his arms.
He has closer relation with some of the older teachers looking for a mother figure
from them. He has lower than average performance in terms of marks, yet he had
never repeated a year of school.
b. Participants
The participant in this case study is an eleven years old student from sixth
grade of the Elementary School Diego Portales D-475.
c. Procedures
For the data collection process of this investigation it was decided the use of
a semi structured interviewed as instrument. According to Arias (2006), an
interview is not only a questionnaire, yet it is a technique where the dialogue or
face to face conversation takes place about a pre-established subject. In this case
the topic of the interviewed was focused in one student, his problems and need.
Furthermore, Arias (2006) also claims that the interview is a useful technique
because searches details in depth. On the other hand, Bisquerra (2014), adds that

through the interviews there is a full access to subjective opinions and

experiences. This is extremely useful when it comes to the time of asking for
information about an specific subject of study (in this case, the eleven years old
boy this case study is based on).
However, there is not only one type of interview for being used as an
instrument. There is more than one being one of them the semi-structured
interview. According to the authors Baptista, Fernndez & Sampieri (2010), this
semi structured type of interview possesses some pre-established questions that
act as a guide for the interviewer. But, in any case these questions act as a must.
The interviewer can add extra questions, or maybe he can change the questions if
he sees that the answers the interviewed people are providing him are not giving
the necessary information for the investigation.
In this case study one of the investigators was working in field at the school
where the subject of the study is attending to. The investigator asked for interviews
with different professionals who have direct contact with the student. In this case,
there were four professionals that were interviewed; these were the head teacher
of the student, his English teacher, the psychologist and the special needs
educator. All four of them were contacted directly for the investigator and he asked
them pre- established questions related with the student problems and needs.

3.Results

In consequence of analysing all the information we have gather of the

student in the background and the procedure we can stipulate different issues.
First we will start with the problem of behaviour. As said before, he always wants
to call the attention of everyone else doing several things, like interrupting classes.
This is because of living alone in the foster home. He does not have a place where
people pay attention to him and the only member of his family that gave more
support to him was his grandfather who died last summer. The consequence of this
is that he develops a sense of loneliness and it is difficult for him to overcome that
feeling. Also, the information collected showed an affective issue regarding the
student. As a result of being alone and not having a present mother, he feels alone
and he started to look for affection getting approach to older female teachers
seeing them as a maternal symbol he had lack of. Finally, the problem with
motivation has to do with all the facts that we described before. The lack of
affection, the sense of loneliness and the behaviour problems are all steps to a
lack of motivation. He will have problems to find motivation in any way if he cannot
solve these problems; however, the work of the psychologist, special needs
teacher and the head teacher in these past two years have worked to know all
these issues regarding the student and try to help him to develop strategies in
order to advance and overcome his problems.

4.Discussion

Having in mind the background information and the relation to the results
obtained by the data collect explained in the methodology, we consider as
appropriate the following steps in order to overcome gradually his behaviour
(affective problems) and his performance in the school.
1. The feeling of loneliness, thus, the constant situation where he wants to call
the attention by a negative behaviour in classroom.
1.1) Having in mind affective problems as the big issue, a manner to deal with it
can be by personal and structured guiding by teachers and the institution in
collaboration with the foster home where he is living. Work with his personal
interests and his perception as a member of a community, making the content in
school useful and positive to his frame of mind. Structure both main characters
(school, and foster home) to fill up his feeling of affective gaps.
2) The lack of motivation which has to do with all the facts that we described
before.
2.1) specifically concentrated in this problem of motivation, it seems necessary
to make him feel an important character into the school, thus, the participation in it
must be beyond than just being a student. State plans for the future in the same
school, working with teachers and all school members, making an affective
interrelation with them to motivate him to learn and to project him for the future.
The sensation of protecting him for the future seems to be the key.

References

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metodologa
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Baptista, P. Fernndez, C. y Sampieri, R. (2010). Metodologa de la

investigacin.Mxico: Editorial McGraw-Hill

Bielsa, A. (2015) Carencia Afectiva. Paidopsiquiatric centre of Barcelona.

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