Chapter I

The Problem and Its Setting

Introduction

The educational equivalent to “location, location, location” is likely to be

“motivation, motivation, motivation,” for motivation is probably the most important

factor that educators can target in order to improve learning. Motivation as defined by

Webster Dictionary1 as the act or process of motivating; the condition of being

motivating; a motivating force, stimulus, or influence; incentive; drive; something (such

as a need or desire) that causes a person or student to act; while DuBrin 2 believes that it

is the expenditure of effort to accomplish results.

Motivation is characterized by its complex nature due to its different definitions,

different theoretical perspectives and the various ways that has been measured.

Motivation cannot be observed directly, but it can be manifested in cognition, emotion

(affect) and/or behavior.3

There are different ways in which the students could be motivate.

Students who believe they are capable, and that they will do well, are more

expected to be motivated, to have persistence and a more adaptive behavior than

students who believe that they cannot do well and therefore they will not
1
Webster Dictionary
2
DuBrin
3
Hanula,
succeed. Researches also revealed that these self-assured students are more

engaged in learning and thinking than students who mistrust their abilities. 4

Students’ motivation is influenced by classrooms interactions, activities,

practices and culture, according to Pintrich5. Therefore, the teacher’s

instructional practice has a crucial role in facilitating students’ motivation. In

order further for the teacher to give the proper motivating practices, he must

first find the reasons why students are unmotivated.

Jim Wright6 presented the reasons why students are unmotivated. Among

of these are:

1. students are unmotivated because he cannot do the assigned work;

2. students are unmotivated because the response effort to complete the

assigned work is too great;

3. classroom instruction does not engage;

4. students failed to see an adequate pay-off to the assigned work;

5. because of low self-efficacy, lack of confidence that he can do the assigned

work; and

6. because he lacks a positive relationship with the teacher.

4
Williams, K. C. Five Key Ingredients for Improving Students Motivation, Research in Higher Education
Journal retrieved, October 15, 2017 www.highereducationjournal.com
5
Pintrich, P. R., & Schunk, D. H. Motivation in Education. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. 2012
6
Wright, J. Six Reasons why children are unmotivated, Intervention Central, March, 2012 retrieved from
www.interventioncentral.org/ccse , November 9, 2017
 According to Jere Brophy7, a leading researcher on student motivation

and effective teaching, “Student motivation to learn is an acquired competence

developed through general experience but stimulated most directly through

modeling, communication of expectations, and direct instruction or socialization

by others (especially parents or teachers).”

According to Mallouf8, there are different methods in which the teacher

may apply to motivate his students. However, he recommends the following:

1. making content relevant to student values and goals,

2. helping students achieve their goals through learning,

3. providing potent models of learning;

4. prompting and persuading students to learn;

5. establishing a positive relationship with students

6. rewarding student achievement and learning efforts

7. not de-motivating students,

8. enhancing student learning self-efficacy

9. using engaging teaching methods

10. using an appealing teaching style

11. giving motivational feedback, and

12. monitoring student motivation levels and adjusting motivation

methods as needed.
7
Brophy,
8
Mallouf,
 Mathematics, being a difficult subject, needs students to be motivated far

more than other subject areas like English or science. Unlike other subjects,

however, where the teacher could use the learner’s schema easily to motivate

them, mathematics is mostly numbers and by the name of the course alone,

students cringed and avoid it.

According to Hannula9 students are unmotivating in mathematics classes

might be influenced by classroom practices. Skemp 10 on the other hand, posits

three aspects of the teaching approach that conduced toward student’s feelings

of competence and sense of autonomy during:

1. instructional activities, such as projects, problem solving activities,

and real-life problems;

2. the students’ collaboration with each other; and

3. Encouragement and acceptance of students’ own strategies for solving

problems.

Mathematics being one of the toughest subjects, the teacher needs to

further encourage students to learn and motivate them so that they will arrive at

their which they could tackle the problem.

The researcher is currently teaching elementary mathematics. He

observed that even at young age and using code of instruction that the learners

9
Hannula,
10
Skemp
are familiar with, their achievement in mathematics are low. So, in this aspect,

the researcher hypothesized that perhaps learners are unmotivated to learn the

subject. So she investigated the motivational practices by teachers in teaching

mathematics.

Setting of the Study

Sorsogon City is one of the biggest and progressive municipalities of the

province of the Sorsogon. Positive result of the plebiscite on December 6, 2001

made Sorsogon a component of Sorsogon City. Sorsogon Population has been

growing at a higher rate than the national rate. This indicates that Sorsogon is an

immigration town. People coming to Sorsogon to settle outnumber those who

leave. The diversity of the mother tongue fairly reflects the immigration pattern

of the town.

The town’s population are predominately roman catholic. Sorsogon City

is considered an urbanized Center.

Statement of the problems

 This study aims to find out the Practices of Teachers in teaching mathematics:

Basis for Intervention Program. Specifically, this sought to answer the following

questions:

1. What are the practices employed by teachers in teaching mathematics?

2. What are the impacts of these motivational practices to the academic performance

of the learners?

3. What is the academic performance of students in mathematics?

4. Is there a significant relationship between the academic performance of the

learners and the motivational practices employed by the teachers?

5. What Intervention Program may be proposed to improve the academic

performance of the learners?

Assumptions

This study has the following assumptions:

1. The motivational practices employed by teachers in mathematics are vary.

2. The motivational practices of teachers have various impacts to the students.

3. The academic performance of the pupils in mathematics 6 vary.

4. Intervention Program may be proposed to improve the academic performance

of the learners in mathematics

Hypothesis

This study has the following hypothesis.

There is a significant relationship between the academic performance of the

pupils and the motivational practices employed by the teachers.

Scope and Delimitation

This study is about the motivational practices employed by teachers in

mathematics. This investigates the motivational practices employed by teachers in

mathematics, the impacts of these practices to the academic performance of the students,

and the academic performance of the learners.

This study is limited to 10 Grade 1 to 6 mathematics teachers in Sawanga Bacon

East District, Sorsogon City. Other teachers in the district teaching other grades are not

included in this study. Similarly, grade 1 to 6 teachers teaching other subjects are not

included in this study; neither are the teachers in private schools in Sawanga Bacon East

District School or other teachers in public or private schools outside the district.

Significance of the Study

This paper is deemed significance to the following:

Curriculum Planners. Through this study, the curriculum planners may include

giving proper feedback as part of the strategy and motivational practices of the

teachers.

School Heads and Administrators. The school heads and administrators may

use the findings in this study to encourage the teachers to motivate their

students further so that they could easily learn and pursue higher learning.

Teachers. The outcome of this study may help the teacher to formulate some

proper motivational strategies to students, especially in difficult subjects like

math.

Students. The findings in this study may help the student to be further strive in

their studies. Further, through proper motivation they could learn more and

commit to higher stage of learning.

Parents and Community. They might find the findings in this study beneficial as

they are the partners of the school in the children’s education. Through this

study, they should learn the importance motivation to strive to get achievement.

Future Researcher. Future researcher might use the findings in this study as

reference for the future research like the present.

Definition of Terms
 To further understand this paper, the following terms are defined conceptually

and operationally:

Motivation. defined as the act or process of motivating; the condition of being

motivating; a motivating force, stimulus, or influence; incentive; drive; something (such

as a need or desire) that causes a person or student to act.11

Teaching-learning process. The art of planning, organizing and facilitating the delivery

and acquisition of knowledge and skill which leads to the change of behavior, attitudes

and abilities of those involved12. In this study, it refers to the flow receiving and giving

knowledge and skill development of the students as conducted by teachers.

Teaching Technique. The personalized carrying out a particular step of a given method.

It is a skill employed by the teacher in carrying on the procedures or act of teaching. 13 In

this study, it refers to the way the teacher tackles the lesson.

Teaching Method. The series of related and progressive acts performed by a teacher and

the students to attain the specific objectives of the lesson. It is a plan involving sequence

of steps to achieve a given goal or objective 14. It is the different activities performed by

the teachers and pupils during lesson development.

11
Meriam Webster Dictionary, revised edition, 2010
12
LET Reviewer, 2012 edition Phoenix Publishing Inc.
13
LET Reviewer, 2012 edition Phoenix Publishing Inc.
14
LET Reviewer, 2012 edition Phoenix Publishing Inc.
 Chapter II

Review of Related Literatures and Studies

This chapter presents the related literatures and studies, the synthesis of the state

of the art, gap bridged by the study; the theoretical framework and the conceptual

framework.

Foreign Literatures

Learning is a very complicated process that is influenced by many factors.

Besides the intelligent factor, the non-intelligent factors—motivation, attitude, interests,

age, methods, will and character—are the direct and the most important factors to

learning.

According to Jakobovits’15 he shows that the mainly influential factors to learning

are: motivation which takes up 33%, aptitude which takes up 33%, intelligent which

takes up 20%, and others which take up 14%. Therefore, motivation brings interest to the

learners.

As the cited literature implied, for the learning process to be successful, the

learners must be motivated and at the same time, the teacher must know how to motivate

students. Similar with this study, the main driving force in which the students succeed in

learning mathematics is the way the teacher motivates the students to learn.

15
Jakobovits, cited by Gao Yihong. Foreign Language Learning: “1+1>2”. Beijing: Beijing University Press,
2011
 In psychology, motivation is a force that energizes and directs behavior toward a

goal.16 Just as a force moves an object, motivation moves a person. More visualized, if

individuals are machines, motivation is as the very engine that powers and directs

individuals’ behavior.

According to Hamachek17, Motives serve three important functions:

1. Energizing us (i.e., turning the key and starting the motivational engine);

2. directing us (i.e., pointing us in a particular direction); and

3. helping us to select the behavior most appropriate for achieving our goals

As, the literature suggest, motivation is the driving force which pushed the people

to move forward and overcome obstacles they encounter. Similar with the present study,

the researcher aims to motivate the students in the way they will strive to tackle

mathematical concept on their own. However, despite this research is about motivation,

it focuses on the practices of the teachers when it comes to motivation.

Motivation can be described in many types and the main broad categories are

intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is a response to needs that exist

within the learner, such as curiosity, the need to know, and feelings of competence or

growth.18 It exists when someone works because of an inner desire to accomplish a task

successfully, whether it has some external value or not 19. In other word, students are

willing to learn the knowledge that is new and interesting in the purpose of fulfilling of

16
Eggen, P. J. (n.d.). Motivation: a key to effective teaching. Retrieved May 30, 2018 at
http://math.coe.uga.edu/TME/Issues/v03n2/Eggleton.pdf
17
Hamachek, D. Psychology in teaching, learning, and growth. The United States: Allyn and bacon.2012
18
Eggen, P. J. (n.d.). Motivation: a key to effective teaching. Retrieved May 30, 2018 at
http://math.coe.uga.edu/TME/Issues/v03n2/Eggleton.pdf
19
Spaulding.C . Motivation in the classroom. The United States: McGraw-Hill, 2014
their curiosity, the need to know and feeling of competence and growth that cause

intrinsic motivation. Their purpose of learning is also the enjoyment of the learning

process not for praise or rewards. Students with intrinsic motivation orientation study

English on their own initiative and tend to prefer moderately challenging tasks. This has

a great value and importance in learning, for the inward interest makes them self-starting

and self-perpetuating and can keep the motivational machinery going for a long time.

In contrast, extrinsic motivation is as an outward force in the form of expectation,

praise and rewards powers students in English learning. It exists when individuals are

motivated by an outcome that is external or functionally unrelated to the activity in

which they are engaged.20 When students work hard to win their parents’ favor, gain

teachers’ praise, or earn rewards such as pocket money, we can rightly conclude that

their motivation is primarily extrinsic, their reason for work and study lie primarily

outside themselves and the aim of learning is not for the knowledge itself but the

outward rewards in order to gain self-esteem. And the outward praise and rewards

encourage students to study more actively.

The cited literature showed the two-driving force of individual. Despite the

psychology stated that people are always motivated, there should be an external force

which should push the individual forward to move. This external force awakens the

motivation which is innate in every individual.

20
Spaulding C . Motivation in the classroom. The United States: McGraw-Hill, 2014
 However, there are students who are unmotivated despite the motivational

practices employed by the teacher. According Friman and Poling 21, although the student

has the required skills to complete the assigned work, he or she perceives the ‘effort’

needed to do so to be so great that the student loses motivation.

The tell-tale signs that the learners are unmotivated are the following:

1. procrastination;

2. verbal complaining;

3. frequent seeking of teacher’s help; and

4. other avoidant behavior.

To increase motivation, Wright22 suggest the following methods:

1. assign challenging reading in class.

2. Begin challenging assignment in class

3. “chunk” assignment

4. Select a supportive peer to start an assignment

5. Provide a formal work plan.

The cited literature revealed that through proper motivation, the students can

increase their academic achievement. The teacher must come up with suitable strategies

to improve the drive of the learners to study and fulfill the task requires of them.

related studies
21
Friman and Poling, Making life easier with effort: Basic findings and applied research on response
effort. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2015
22
Wright, J. Six Reasons why children are unmotivated, Intervention Central, March, 2012 retrieved from
www.interventioncentral.org/ccse , November 9, 2017
 Gottfried23 in his study proved that motivation links to other learning outcomes.

His study found that motivation in reading predicted later motivation in reading, science,

and social studies. At the same time, motivation in math appeared to relate more strongly

to other math constructs (e.g., students’ perceptions of math competence and teachers’

ratings of math achievement) than to motivation in other subject areas, suggesting that

motivation to learn math among lower elementary students may be less generalizable to

other subjects.

On another hand, gender difference plays an important role in motivation.

According to the study of Lange and Adler24 found out that teachers rated girls

significantly higher than boys on intrinsic motivation and mastery-oriented behaviors,

although achievement and class grades for these two groups were the same. This finding

is supported by the study of Guay25 found girls to have higher intrinsic motivation for

reading and writing than boys did. However, boys had higher intrinsic motivation for

math than girls did.

The cited studies proved that motivation could be affected by several factors

which include gender. Likewise, proper motivation may be the predictor of the academic

success of the learners as that of the study of Gottfried. Similar with this study, the

researcher aims to develop the student’s ability to learn and become self-motivated

23
Gottfried, A. E., Fleming, J. S., & Gottfried, A. W. Continuity of academic intrinsic
motivation from childhood through late adolescence: A longitudinal study. Journal of
Educational Psychology, 2011
24
Lange, G. W., & Adler, F. Motivation and achievement in elementary children.
Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child
Development, Washington, D.C. 2012
25
Guay, F., Chanal, J., Ratelle, C. F., Marsh, H. W., Larose, S., & Boivin, M. Intrinsic,
identified, and controlled types of motivation for school subjects in young elementary
school children. British Journal of Educational Psychology 2010
through motivational strategies. Unlike the discussed studies, however, the present study

does not particularly concern with the aspects which affects motivation strategies.

Motivation is also related to achievement and IQ. Research demonstrates a

relatively consistent relationship between motivation and achievement in reading and

math. Intrinsically motivated first-grade students tend to have higher achievement in

these subjects than extrinsically motivated students, and mastery (or intrinsic) motivation

predicts reading and math achievement, whereas judgment (or extrinsic) motivation does

not. In third grade, both types of motivation predict reading achievement, whereas

intrinsic motivation alone predicts math achievement. Moreover, the relationship

between motivation and achievement appears to strengthen with age. By age 9, students

with high levels of motivation consistently exhibit higher achievement and class grades

than students with low motivation.26

On different concept, motivation is linked to the 21st century skills. In the study of

Willingham27, he found out that motivation enhances the learners:

1. Analyzing arguments

2. Making inferences using deductive and inductive reasoning;

3. Judging or evaluating; and

4. Making decisions or solving problems

The cited literature has relation to the present study through:

26
Broussard, S. C., & Garrison, M. E. B. The relationship between classroom motivation
and academic achievement in elementary school-aged children. Family and Consumer
Sciences Research Journal, 2014
27
Willingham, D. T. Critical thinking: Why is it so hard to teach? American Educator, 2016
 1. Motivation increase the critical thinking of the learners, thus making them adept

in 21st century skills needed for globally competitive learners, similar with the

present study, the researcher believes that through proper motivation, the 21 st

century learners further enhance their skills;

2. Motivated students pursue higher thinking skills thus improving high IQ among

the learners. Similar with the present study the study believes that if the learners

are motivated properly, they could pursue higher learning.

Synthesis of the state-of-the-art

Motivation, according to Huber is the driving force the pushes every individual to

move. Hamechek posits that motivation has 3 main functions: to energize, to drive and

help select the behavior for achieving goals.

Eggen posits that there 2 main type of motivation: the extrinsic of the outside

factor motivator and the intrinsic or the response to the basic need that is innate to the

learners.

According to poling and Friman, students are unmotivated when they show

avoidant behavior. Wright suggested that to avoid unmotivating, the teacher must give

learners a more challenging activities and assignments.

Gottfried posits that motivation could be the determinant of the student’s success

in other learning areas while Brussard believes that students IQ may be increase by

motivation.
Gap Bridged by the study

The discussed studies relate about the motivational practices of teachers in

different subject areas. Some like that of talk about the motivational practices of teachers

in Mathematics class. However, none of the mentioned studies conducted with relation to

the motivational practices of teachers in mathematics particularly in the Philippines.

Theoretical framework

This research is anchored to the following theories which guide the researcher

formulate his own.

According to self-determination theory, students’ motivation will be maximized

within social contexts that provide them with the opportunity to satisfy their basic needs

for competence, autonomy and relatedness. Research from self-determination theory has

demonstrated the importance of perceptions of autonomy and competence in adaptive

behavior, and the theory highlights the importance of providing some autonomy, choice,

and control for students, in order to facilitate students’ motivation.

B.F. Skinner theorized that positive reinforcements, or rewards, are

consequences that increase the probability of a given behavior they were made

contingent on, whereas negative reinforcements are consequences that increase the

probability of a given behavior by removing or reducing some negative external

stimulus.
 this study believes that the learner will respond to positive stimulus especially, if

the motivation used by teacher is something that the learner can relate to. Through proper

motivation, the learner will strive to learn no matter how difficult the subject is.

Another theory which the researcher has taken guidance from is the Personal

Investment theory proposed by McInerny et al. In their theory, they proposed a

hierarchical, multidimensional model of motivational goals designed to reflect a wider

range of goals relevant for both Western and non-Western students. They construct a

model to explain their theory. At the base of the model there are eight specific goals

(task, effort, competition, social power, social concern, social affiliation, praise, and

token), which can be grouped into four more general achievement goals (mastery,

performance, social, and extrinsic). At the top of the hierarchy is global motivation.

Another theory which the researcher took guidance from is the volition theory.

volition is defined as strength of will, akin to conscientiousness, discipline, self-

direction, resourcefulness, and striving. Corno argues that the effect of motivation on

behavior is mediated by volition. In other words, motivation may lead to a decision to

act, but volition is what determines whether those decisions are implemented. Whereas

motivation helps to determines goals, volition supports management and execution of

those goals.

Through these theories, the researcher is able to come to his own which states

that “the students are able to learn any subject they find difficult if they are properly

motivated.”
Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework in this study is shown in figure 3. The inputs are the

motivational practices employed by teachers, the impacts of the motivational practices to

the performance of the learners in mathematics subject, the performance of the learners

in mathematics subject.

The process involve data gathering procedures such as interviews, observations,

distribution of questionnaires and searching for reviewed literatures and studies. The

output proposed motivational strategies to improve the academic performance of the

Grade 6 pupils in mathematics. The possible outcome are motivated students that are all

ready to learn and face challenges of mathematics subject

Figure 2. Theoretical Paradigm

Self-Determination Theory B.F. Skinner’s Positive

Reinforcement Theory
students’ motivation will be
maximized within social Positive reinforcement
contexts that provide them helps the students gain
with the opportunity to confidence while
satisfy their basic needs for negative reinforcement
competence, autonomy and impede success
relatedness

Researcher’s Theory

Motivated students can

learn any subject they find
difficult.
 Figure 3. Conceptual Paradigm

Input Process Output Outcome

-the
motivation
al practices
employed -data
by teachers gathering
in procedures
mathemati
cs: basis for
interventio
n Program

-academic Proposed
performanc motivationa
e of the Motivated
-interview l strategies
students students
to improve
-distribution can learn
 feedback

Chapter III
Methods and Procedure

Presented in this chapter are the research method used, the research

instrument, other sources of data, respondents of the study and the statistical

treatment of data.

Research Methods Used

 This study employed the descriptive-correlational method of research.

Descriptive method is used because it accurately portrayed the characteristics of

a situation. It is a type of research that deals with everything that can be counted

and studied which has impact to the lives of the people it deals with.

Correlational method is also employed for the examination of statistical

relationship between the laid variables.

Research Instrument Used

The major tool employed by the researcher in this study is the

questionnaire-checklist. It was the primary tool employed to come up with the

perceptions of the respondents regarding the subject.

The questionnaire prepared by the researcher for the teacher-respondents

contains the motivational practices of teachers in mathematics and the impacts of

these practices to the academic performance of the learners.

Another tool employed by the researcher is permanent record of the

students to get the academic performance of the students.

Data Gathering Procedure

 Other than the questionnaire checklist, document analysis was

thoroughly done. The researcher used report compilation, books, pamphlets,

newspaper articles, published and unpublished studies as well as websites for

references. Class observation was thoroughly done to observe if there are any

noticeable changes in class behavior and class participation.

The Respondents of the Study

The respondents in this study are the teachers handling Mathematics in

Sawanga Bacon East District Sorsogon. The respondents are enumerated in

Table A.

Table A. the Respondents

Name of School Number of teachers

SAWANGA BACON EAST 10

DISTRICT, SORSOGON

TOTAL
Statistical Treatment of Data

The statistical technique and processes which helped the researcher come

up with the answer to the formulated problem. The researcher employed the

following statistical tools discussed by Deauna.28 To wit:

1. Frequency count, percentage and Rank. It is used to get the number of

teachers for the information required of them as well as the performance

level as specified and correlated with other variables.

The formula used in finding the frequency is:

X
+X
ΣN
Where:

X= no. of respondents

ΣN= total respondents

2. Percentage. It is used to show the equivalent of frequency in percentage.

The highest percentage shows the highest number of frequency and the

lowest percentage shows the lowest in frequency.

The formula used in finding the percentage is:

%= Y (100)
N
Where:
28
Deauna, M. elementary Statistics for Basic Education, Phoenix Publishing House, Quezon city, 1996
 %= percentage

Y= no. of Scores

N= no. of respondents

3. Mean is used using the following formula:

x
X=
n

Where:

X= mean of sample

x= value of variable

n= number of respondents

4. Ch’i square. this formula is used to test the relationship between the

motivational strategies employed by teachers and the academic

performance of the learners.

PRACTICES OF TEACHERS IN TEACHING MATHEMATICS: BASIS FOR
INTERVENTION PROGRAM

A RESEARCH
Presented to
ANNUNCIATION COLLEGE OF BACON SORSOGON UNIT INC, INC.

In Partial fulfillment of
The Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS IN EDUCATION
Major: Educational Management
JINKY ESCARO
2019