Republic of the Philippines

UNIVERSITY OF RIZAL SYSTEM

Pililla, Rizal
INSTITUTE OF GRADUATE STUDIES

MOTIVATION AND LEARNING PREFERENCE OF SELECTED GRADE 10

STRUGGLING LEARNERS: BASIS FOR CRAFTING A CONTEXTUALIZED

MODULE IN ARALING PANLIPUNAN

ROBERT MERGINIO CATAPUSAN

MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING – SOCIAL STUDIES

INTRODUCTION

Motivation is the force that energizes, directs and sustains behavior

toward a goal (Baron and Kenny, 1986). In educational contexts, Brophy and

Good (1986) described motivation to learn as a tendency to find academic

activities which are meaningful and worthwhile when deriving the intended

benefits of those activities.

One of the greatest challenges and opportunities of the 21st century will

be for schools at all levels to focus more on assisting students to become

motivated in order that they can succeed in school. The most important factor

along with others to be considered is to enhance motivation and study habits of

the students. Thus, a need is felt to investigate the level of motivation and

learning preference among the students of Teresa National High School.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Studies Related to Motivation

Denhardt (2008) outlined motivation as not directly observable, the same

as satisfaction, always conscious, and directly controllable. Psychologists believe

that motivation is a necessary ingredient for learning (Biehler and Snowman,

1986). Denhardt (2008) defined motivation as what causes people to behave as

they do. According to Lawler (1994), motivation is goal directed. Motivation

outlines the achievement and pursuit of goals (Denhardt, 2008). Pettinger (1996)

defined motivation as environmentally dependent.

 Anderson, A., Hamilton, R.J. and Hattie, J. (2005) reported a study of

motivation from an ecological perspective, considering the individual in

interaction with the meaningful environment. Unlike much of the motivational

literature that measured motivation in terms of constructs that were assessed

largely, via self-report, the dependent variables studied by the researchers were

three measures of more immediate classroom behaviors, namely, participation,

self-reported engagement and task completion. The results revealed aspects of

classroom climate to be significantly related to all measures of motivation.

Studies Related to Study Habits

Good (1973) define the term study habits as: “The student’s way of study

whether systematic, efficient or inefficient etc.” Good study habits are perceived

to be the determinants of the academic performance. That is why efforts are

made to develop and improve study habits in students. Ansari (1980) found that

study habits and study attitudes are both significant variables which determine

the academic performance of the students. Russell and Petrie (1992) have cited

a research study aimed to find out the relationship between study habits and

student attitude and academic performance (cumulative GPA) of college

students. Findings of this study indicate a positive correlation between study

attitude, study habit and academic achievement.

Khurshid, Tanveer and Qasmi (2012) conceptualize study habits as the

propensity of a learner to use his or her constant attention to acquire knowledge

through systematic routines. According to Credé and Kuncel (2008) study habits
refer to the degree to which learners engage in regular acts of studying that are

characterized by appropriate studying routines occurring in an environment that

is conducive. Study habits as conceptualized by Bakare (1977) embraces

competences in the areas of homework and assignment, time allocation, reading

and note-taking, study period procedures, concentration, written work,

examination taking and teacher consultations. Other researchers such as Tope

(2011), Bagongon and Connie (2009) and Salami and Aremu (2006) used

Bakare’s (1977) study habit inventory and established a relationship between

study habits and academic performance.

Study habits could be viewed as the continuous practice or repetition of

study skills over time. Children with poor study habits either lack effective or

organized study routines while those with good study habits have more

organized routines where they focus more effectively on the work at hand

(Gettinger& Seibert, 2002). Therefore, the development and application of

appropriate and effective study habits of children should be a matter of concern

to education stakeholders. A study by Bakare (1977) illustrates that study habits

of learners cannot be ignored from their academic performance because success

in academic Endeavour’s depends largely on reading in the search for

knowledge
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This study aimed to determine the levels of motivation and learning

preference of struggling learner in Araling Panlipunan.

Specifically, it sought answers to the following question.

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of:

1.1 Gender;

1.2 Year Level;

1.3 Monthly Family Income; and

1.4 Age?

2. What is the extend of motivation to learning with respect to:

2.1 learning resources;

2.2 classroom activities;

2.3 teaching strategies/methodologies;

2.4 peer influence; and

2.5 Teacher’s attitude and behavior?

3. What is the extent of learning preference of the students with respect to:

3.1 study habits;

3.2 time management;

3.3 study attitude; and

3.4 Academic achievement?