A Comparative Analysis on the Effect of Subject Interest vs.

Teachers' Likability on

Students’ Performance in Filipino

______________________________________________

A Thesis Proposal Presented

To The Faculty of the Graduate School of
the College of Education
University of San Jose - Recoletos
Cebu City Philippines
_____________________________________________

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Degree on

MASTER IN EDUCATION

_____________________________________________

BY

MELINA B. ANDOG

CATHERINE E. CABALLES

MERLITA A. DUNKIN

LANI M. CARDENIO

APRIL 2017
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

INTRODUCTION

Rationale

Theoretical Background

Flow or Research Process

Flow Chart

THE PROBLEM

Statement of the Problem

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

DEFINITION OF TERMS

RESEARCH DESIGN

Research Methods

Research Environment

Research Respondents

Research Instrument

Data Collection Techniques

Data Analysis

APPENDICES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE
 CURRICULUM VITAE

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO. DESCRIPTION PAGE

Research Respondents

LIST OF FIGURES

DESCRIPTION DESCRIPTION PAGE

1 Flow of the Research Process

CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

I. INTRODUCTION

The prediction of achievement in academic setting is a fundamental research area of

educational psychology. The prevalence of studies conducted that is relevant to academic success

reflects the significance to predict accurately the individual student performance in the modern

education system. Studies have shown that there are several factors that affect students’ performance.

Two of the many important factors are teachers’ likability and the learners’ interest towards the

subject. Teachers’ likability does affect learning both in the affective and cognitive domain and

concerns indirectly by influencing learning performance. However, high likability rating are not

associated with an increase in students perceptions of learning and the failure of likability to effect

perceived learning juxtaposed with its positive impact on global teachers rating, give some credence to

recent critiques of students consumerism in higher education. On the other hand, the subject interest is

often thought of as a process that contributes to learning achievement that is, being interested in a

topic is a mental resource that enhances learning, which tends leads to better performance and

achievement ( Hidi , 1990). Likewise he specify that it also means that when someone has interest in a

subject it becomes easy and enjoyable to learn; an fundamental level interest is a condition in which

individual associate the perceptions or interest to the subject contribute to over all academic

performance.

Dana Charles (1998) argues that “effective schools exhibit one of the following characteristics ; a

strong focus on ensuring academic success for each students.” This study seeks to compare the impact

of teachers likability and subject interest on pupils performance.

Many studies have tackled teachers’ likability on students learning performance. While Koller , Baumert

and Schnabel (2001) conducted a longitudinal assessment of the relationship between academic

interest and achievementthey discovered that interest exhibit a directional relationship with academic

success in that it could either result from or cause motivation that lead to enhance achievements.

In addition , there is ample theoretical experimental evidence showing the positive impacts of

interest on academic achievement ( John Dewey ) he was the first to attempt to define interest a

asserting that from with in a person , resulting from the connection of the self to an object .

( E. Thorndike ) agreeing with Dewey that interest and self expressed activity , proposed that using the

learners interest was the key to learning.

Many related studies have been conducted like “The Impact of Learning Interest Toward Instructors

Effective Teaching”, “The Effectiveness of a Teacher Toward Pupils Favorite Subjects”, and “The

Teachers Behavior and the Effects of Pupils Performance”. However, there hasn’t been a published

research that addresses what greatly affects in boosting students’ performance. The research is

conducted to attest which factor has greater impact on the students’ performance, whether it is the

students’ subject interest or teacher’s likability. Through this, the researchers will be able to analyze

possible recommendations that will aid the school in boosting the students’ performance.

This research project begins by asking if and how pupils interest and likability of instructor impacted

students performance . This research will be conducted with elementary level, specifically Grade 5

learners. The data were gathered by administering questionnaires, collecting students’ works, and

recording observations. Finding revealed that the students interest and their relationship with the

likability of a teacher factors in a successful academic performance. There for, the data implied that

teacher need to considered pupils interest and develop a relationship with them in order to foster

student growth aid success.

Theoretical Background

Students’ academic performance is essential for educators, which is why it is important to

consider the factors that affects it. It is meant for making a difference locally, regionally, nationally

and globally (Berhanu et. al., 2011). Two of the important factors that affects how the students

participate and perform in class are the students’ liking on the teacher and subject interest. The

emotional attachment of the students toward either of the teacher or the subject will give them the

motivation and drive to exert their best effort to excel. Thus, due to the students’ feelings of

affection, it drives them to have the will and perseverance to do well in class.

John Bowlby’s attachment theory claims that the ability for an individual to form an emotional

and physical attachment to another person gives a sense of stability and security necessary to take

risks, branch out, and grow and develop as a personality (“Attachment Theory,” n.d.). In connection,

the students who are fond of their teacher would likely have the will to be productive in class since

they are not afraid to face challenges all throughout in their learning. Attachment theory explains

how students use their positive relationships with adults to organize their experiences (Bowlby,

1969). The security and comfort that the students feel toward their teacher gives them the courage

and eagerness to learn, which would eventually lead to an increase of their academic performance. As

the quality of relationships rises, the quality of thinking improves, leading to an increase in the quality

of actions and results (Kim, n.d.).

On the other hand, the students’ interest on the subject also affects how they

participate in class. Their interest on the subject brings with it the curiosity to learn more and find out

about the topic. The students’ interest on the subject stands as their intrinsic motivation in wanting to

achieve academic success. Intrinsic motivation refers to the reason why we perform certain activities

for inherent satisfaction or pleasure (Brown, 2007). In this way, their path towards learning new
things gives them the excitement and happiness that tends to lead them in having an optimistic

insight to achieve better academic performance.

Schiller and Hinton’s (2015) study has revealed a significant correlation between happiness and

academic success. The two authors found out that, on average, students who reported being happier

had higher grades. In connection with this study, when the students’ interest on subject or their liking

for the teacher results in obtaining enjoyment all througout the students’ learning experience, there

is a possibility that their participation in class would get better. With this, the more the students enjoy

learning, the greater their academic performance would be.

In relation to the theory of affect perseverance, feelings are often independent of facts and

evidence, and once initiated tend to take on a life of their own (“Affect Perseverance”, n.d.). This

supports that once the students acquire the enjoyment in learning and the strong need to fulfill

academic success, it would continue eventhough the primary reason that drives the emotion is

invalidated. For instance, if the likability of the teacher towards the student became the primary

reason that drives the student to do better in class, his hardwork in class would still probably continue

even if his fondness for the teacher would fade. Therefore, regardless whether the teachers’ likability

or students’ subject interest would eventually fade, their feelings of wanting to achieve academic

excellence would remain constant.

This study will figure out whether what factor greatly affect the students’ performance, either

the teachers’ likability or the subject interest. In this way, the researcher will be able to identify which

of the two factors would be more effective in gaining the students’ need of achieving better academic

performance.
 Students' liking for the...

Teacher Subject

gives them: gives them:

* security * curiosity
* stability * enjoyment

motivate students to do
well in class

which results to an
increase in their
performance
Research Design & Methods

In order to come up with the appropriate results, qualitative research is used in the study. In

qualitative research, the researchers are able to gather data from the respondents, which are non-

numeric, but rather it is about the opinion and feelings of the respondents in connection with the study.

In this type of research applied in the research topic, it enables the researchers to observe how the

students would really feel towards their learning when they would gain an interest on the subject or

liking for the teacher.

In this qualitative research, case study is used as a method. Researcher Robert K. Yin (1984)

defines the case study research method as an ‘empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary

phenomenon within its real-life context’ and ‘it relies on multiple sources’. This supports that case study

really helps the researchers to acquire full and thorough understanding of the topic. Through case study,

deep analysis on the subject matter can be achieved since case study explains how and why the

phenomenon occurs. It helps the researchers to figure out how teacher’s likability and subject interest

really affects students’ academic performance. Case study method relies on multiple sources of

evidences that will enable the researchers to generalize the results of the data gathered.

Students are considered as the object of this case study. The researchers would gather data

from students in order to produce answers to the research questions. Data will be collected from

students through administering questionnaires. The elementary students, specifically the grade five

students who will act as respondents will be chosen randomly on Camputhaw Elementary School and

Lahug Elementary School. Researchers will provide fifteen (15) questionnaires on each mentioned

school, which would come up with a totality of thirty (30) respondents. The collected data will be

discussed and analyzed, so that the researchers can provide recommendations to the school community

in helping the students boost their academic performance.