Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature and Studies

This chapter presents the literature and studies that are deemed relevant

to the present study. Likewise, the synthesis of the state-of-the-art, gap bridged,

and definition of terms, theoretical and conceptual framework and their

corresponding paradigms include in this chapter.

In the present study – entitled “Difficulties of a Student in Passing Grade

10 in Divine Word College of Legazpi for the SY: 2015 – 2016”. The researchers’

primary objective is to discover what is behind the difficulties of the Grade 10

students in passing Grade 10. This also aimed to use survey questionnaires to

verify this case which was assisted using the previously conducted studies

related to the Grade 10 students. Presentation of literature was grouped as their

specific relation in the present study.

Related Literature

Causes of failing grades include learning disabilities, lack of sleep,

inadequate preparation for tests and personal problems such as drug use;

consequences include inability to set and reach goals in academic and

professional endeavours. Some students cite parents for causing failing grades,

either by failing to set good examples or placing students under intense pressure.

Other students attribute poor grades to low self-esteem and distractions from

social and athletic activities.

 8

While some grade failures stem from external factors and influences, others

derive from internal problems. Drug addiction and low levels of self-confidence,

for instance, factor into academic performance. Some students blame just one

factor, such as problems in relationships with family, friends, and loved ones, for

failing grades. Others, however, identify multiple factors, such as relationship

issues and low levels of confidence. For some students, grades improve upon

resolution of external issues, such as improving bonds with friends and family.

Regardless of whether caused by short or long-term issues, poor grades have

wide-reaching consequences. Having poor grades exacerbates conditions like

low self-esteem, and presents social challenges for students who perform at

standards lower than their peers. Academic failure affects future academic

endeavors, such as application to college, and sometimes jeopardizes potential

for employment too. While some students overcome problems on their own
1
initiative, many schools provide supportive programs to encourage learning.

Related Studies

Studying must be the students’ priority now a day, because the students

are in the stage wherein they encounter problems that need them to make right

decisions. These decisions could lead to positive or negative outcomes. Getting

in Junior High School life can relate to the kind of scenario that is why they come

up with this study – Difficulties of a Students in Passing Grade 10 in Divine Word

College of Legazpi for the SY: 2015 – 2016.

Graetz (1995) suggested “A student educational success contingent

heavily on social status of student’s parents/ guardians in the society. Considine

 9

and Zappala (2002) noticed the same that parent’s income or social status

positively affects the student test score in examination. According to Minnesota

(2007) “the higher education performance is depending upon the academic

performance of graduate students. Durden and Ellis quoted Staffolani and Bratti,

(2002) observed that “the measurement of students previous educational

outcomes are the most important indicators of students future achievement, this

refers that as the higher previous appearance, better the student’s academic

performance in future endeavors.

Lot of studies have been conducted in the area of students achievement

and these studies identify and analyze the number of factors that affect the

academic performance of the student at school, college and even at university

level. Their finding identify students’ effort, previous schooling, parent’s

educational background, family income, self motivation of students, age of

student, learning preferences and entry qualification of students as important

factors that have effect on student’s academic performance in different setting.

The utility of these studies lies in the need to undertake corrective measures that

improve the academic performance of graduate students. It is generally assumed

that the students who showed better or higher performance in the starting

classes of their studies also performed better in future academic years at degree

level. Everyone can be surprised with this assumption if it could be proved

scientifically.

From the last two decades it has been noticed significantly that there is

great addition in research literature and review material relating to indicators of

 10

academic achievement with much emphasis on this dialogue, whether traditional

achievement measures of academic performance are best determinants of future

academic gain at university or higher level or innovative measures. However, it is

also observed that many of the researchers are not agree with this view point or

statement. Reddy and Talcott (2006) looks disagree with these assumptions that

future academic gains are resolute by preceding performance. In their research

on the relationship between previous academic performance and subsequent

achievement at university level, they found that students learning or studying at

graduate level and the score secured did not predict any academic achievement

at university level. They also cited Pearson and Johnson (1978) who observed

that on the whole grade association of only 0.28 between graduate level marks

and university degree achievement.

It is also confirmed in the study of Oregon State University (2003) on

graduate admissions that normal measures of educational potential and

academic performance such as high school GPA (Grade Point Average) scores

showed only 30% of the deviation in initial or starting (first) year at college. It is

important to note that even these studies do not agree with the former studies

who explored that previous achievement affect the future performance of the

students in studies, they confirmed that the admission scores are related to

academic performance at university level but to a very minimal extent. McDonald

et.al (2001) also suggested that the scores of graduate level studies still out

perform any other single measure of cognitive aptitude in predicting success at

university level.Parent’s socio-economic condition, which includes parents’

 11

academic and professional qualification, revenue and occupational affiliation, is

also associated with academic gain of students.

The results of many studies confirmed that academic achievement of

students is contingent upon parent’s socio-economic condition. So the students

belonging from higher social economical backgrounds will perform better than

other students associated with low social economic backgrounds. “Social and

economical status of student is generally determined by combining parents’

qualification, occupation and income standard” (Jeynes, 2002). Among many

research studies conducted on academic achievement, it is not very surprising to

observe that Socio-economic status is one of the main elements studied while

predicting academic performance.Graetz (1995) conducted a study on socio-

economic status of the parents of students and concluded that the socio

economic background has a great impact on student’s academic performance,

main source of educational imbalance among students and student’s academic

success contingent very strongly on parent’s socio economic standard.

Considine and Zappala (2002) also having the same views as Graetz (1995), in

their study on the influence of social and economic disadvantage in the academic

performance of school students noticed, where the parents or guardians have

social, educational and economical advantage definitely strengthen the higher

level success in future. But it is also noted that these parents make available

sufficient psychological and emotional shore up to their children by providing

good educational and learning environment that produce confidence and the

improvement of skills needed for success.

 12

On other hand Pedrosa et.al (2006) in their study on social and

educational background pointed out those students who mostly come from

deprived socio-economic and educational background performed relatively better

than others coming from higher socio-economic and educational area. They

named this phenomena educational elasticity. It is obvious and true that the

criteria for categorizing socio-economic standard in different countries are

different depending of their norms and values. The criteria for low socio-

economic status for developed country will be different from the criteria of

developing nations and same will be in the case of developing and under

developing countries. “The total income of families, monthly or annually and their

expenditures also put a great effect on the learning and academic opportunities

accessible to youngsters and their chances of educational success. Furthermore,

he also pointed that due to residential stratification and segregation, the students

belonging to low-income backgrounds usually attend schools with lower funding

levels, and this situation reduced achievement motivation of the students and

high risk of educational malfunction in future life endeavors” (Escarce, 2003).

Considine & Zappala (2002) observed that children comes from those

families having low income make known more subsequent models in terms of

learning outcomes; low literacy level, low retention rate, problems in school

behavior and more difficulty in their studies and mostly display negative attitude

towards studies and school. The view point of Considine and Zappala is more

strengthen by this statement of Eamon, According to Eamon (2005) “Those

students usually come out from low socio-economic status or area show low
 13

performance in studies and obtained low scores as compared to the other

students or their counter parts”.

It is also assumed that children learning outcome and educational

performance are strongly affected by the standard and type of educational

institution in which students get their education. The educational environment of

the school one attends sets the parameters of students’ learning outcomes.

Considine and Zappala (2002) quoted Sparkles (1999) showed that schools

environment and teachers expectations from their students also have strong

influence on student performance. Most of the teachers working in poor schools

or schools having run short of basic facilities often have low performance

expectations from their students and when students know that their teachers

have low performance expectations from them, hence it leads to poor

performance by the students. Kwesiga (2002) approved that performance of the

students is also influenced by the school in which they studied but he also said

that number of facilities a school offers usually determine the quality of the

school, which in turn affect the performance and accomplishment of its students.

Sentamu (2003) argue that schools influence educational process in content

organization, teacher and teaching learning and in the end evaluation of the all.

All these educationists and researchers agreed with this principle that schools

put strong effect on academic performance and educational attainment of

students.

Students from elite schools are expected to perform good because they

attend these elite schools and the main reason behind is that these schools are
 14

usually very rich in resources and facilities. Some researchers have the view that

school ownership and the funds available in schools do indeed influenced the

performance of the student. Crosne and Elder (2004) noticed that school

ownership, provision of facilities and availability of resources in school is an

important structural component of the school. Private schools due to the better

funding, small sizes, serious ownership, motivated faculty and access to

resources such as computers perform better than public schools. These

additional funding resources and facilities found in private schools enhance

academic performance and educational attainment of their students. It is also

very pleasing that students from government schools colleges and universities in

Punjab Pakistan are providing the laptops by the Punjab Government, so that the

students could interact with the whole world and know about the latest

developments and innovations.

It is concluded that the type of schools in which students studies greatly

influence the educational performance and academic achievement of the

students. Miller and Birch (2007) summarized the views of many researcher and

educationist in their study on the influence of high school attended on university

performance. This study let the research scholars to hypothesize that the

background to the students positively correlates with the academic attainment of

graduate students. 2

Educational services are often not tangible and are difficult to measure

because they result in the form of transformation of knowledge, life skills and

behaviour modifications of learners (Tsinidou, Gerogiannis, & Fitsilis, 2010). So

 15

there is no commonly agreed upon definition of quality that is applied to

education field. The definition of quality of education varies from culture to culture

(Michael,1998). The environment and the personal characteristics of learners

play an important role in their academic success. The school personnel,

members of the families and communities provide help and support to students

for the quality of their academic performance. This social assistance has a crucial

role for the accomplishment of performance goals of students at school

(Goddard, 2003). Besides the social structure, parents’ involvement in their

child’s education increases the rate of academic success of their child

(Furstenberg & Hughes, 1995). The relationship between gender and the

academic achievement of students has been discussed for decades (Eitle, 2005).

A gap between the achievement of boys and girls has been found, with girls

showing better performance than boys in certain instances (Chambers &

Schreiber, 2004). Gender, ethnicity, and father’s occupation are significant

3
contributors to student achievement (McCoy, 2005; Peng & Hall, 1995).

Synthesis of the State-of-the-Art

The studies cited earlier are about in the students grades, why they fail and

how they will get passing grades.

Based on the studies earlier, some have shown similarities. Pedrosa et.al

(2006) in their study on social and educational background, the study of Jeynes,

(2002) and Graetz (1995) focused in the social background of the students.
 16

Considine and Zappala (2002) also having the same views as Graetz (1995),

in their study on the influence of social and economic disadvantage in the

academic performance of school students.

Gap Bridged by the Study

With all the reviewed related studies, the findings generated by the

previews researches will be a source of information on other aspects of the

present study.

The study focused on the difficulties of a student in passing grade 10 in Divine

Word College of Legazpi. To know what are the most problems encountered by

grade 10 and how to prevent it or solve. Also, the purpose of this research is to

make students aware on what are their difficulties in passing grade 10. This

study is intended to the students who has a failing grades and to help them have

a passing grades.

Theoretical Framework

This sub-section presents and discusses a theory to which your study is

based. This also shows the illustration of the said theory.

The study of this research involves the internal and external difficulties of

a student in passing grade 10 in Divine Word College of Legazpi. Some of

these internal factors are the behavior, personality traits and learning of the

learner while some of the external factors are the environment, friends, and

social networking areas like the internet.

 17

The Trait Theory allport distinguished the two kinds of traits a person

could display. These are Common Traits, these are the values that are

theoretical, economic, aesthetic, social, political, and religious in nature. The

Personal Disposition, says that traits are not equal. Some are more important

and more likely to influence the behavior than others .

The Attitude or Behavioral Type stated by Carl Jung states that a person

is either an extrovert or an introvert. Extroverts are men of action, outspoken,

and socially oriented while introverts are the loners, who look flexible, and

appear pre-occupied. They avoid social contact.

The Learning Theory. Horney shows that a person wishes to find specific

experiences in coping with life. In this theory, she emphasized social forces.

Under this theory is the anxiety theory, Horney believes that a child develops

basic emotions from the feelings of being isolated and helpless. 4

This three theory have the most influence in the difficulty of the students

in grade 10.

High or Low grades

of the students
 18

Social Physical
Emotional

Difficulties of a Student in Passing Grade 10 in

Divine Word College of Legazpi for the SY: 2015 -
2016

Trait Attitude or
Learning Behavioural
Theory Theory Theory

Fig.1. Theoretical Framework

Conceptual Framework

The researchers will focus on the difficulties of the grade 10 students in

passing grade 10 in Divine Word College of Legazpi. This will determine the

positive and negative effects of the factors that the grade 10 is experiencing.
 19

To effectively determine these things the researchers will conduct a survey to

evaluate each problem this research topic may encounter.

The data obtained will be analyzed to distinguish the problems and to solve

it. The findings of the study will help the future researchers, students, and the

future readers to be aware and become responsible in terms of the social,

physical and emotional.

Identify the common problems encountered by the Grade 10 students.

 20

Identify the causes and effects of the problem.

Apply the possible solutions to the problem.

Fig. 2. Conceptual Paradigm

Seeking for the possible solutions in order to survive Grade 10

Definition of Terms

The succeeding terms are defined conceptually for better understanding of

words used in the study:

 21

BEHAVIOR – The way in which one acts or conducts oneself, especially

toward others.

STUDY – A detailed investigation and analysis of a subject or situation.

STUDENT – A person engaged in a course of study, especially in an

educational institution.

SOCIAL – Relatingto society or its organization.

EMOTIONAL –Relating to a person's emotions.

EMOTION – Any feeling, especially a strong or intense, as of love, joy, fear.

PHYSICAL - Relating to the body as opposed to the mind.

STUDY HABIT - used when preparing for tests or learning academic

material.

END NOTES

1
“Causes and Effects,”November 16, 2015

<http://www.ask.com/education/causes-effects-failing-grades-

404f55903dc12f1c#>.
 22

2
“Factors Contributing to the Students Academic Performance: A Case

Study of Islamia University Sub-Campus.EDUCATION Volume 2. Issue

8,”August 01, 2013. Science and Education Publishing November 15,

2015<http://pubs.sciepub.com/education/1/8/3/>.

3
“Blogs in Higher Education,” May 2009.November 16,

2015<http://pubs.sciepub.com/education/1/8/3/>.

4
Bahia, Francis Nicole et.al, ”Factors Affecting the Grades of the Chosen

Grade 7 to Grade 9 High School Students in Divine Word College of Legazpi

SY:2014-2015,”Unpublished Research Paper. Divine Word College of Legazpi,

2015.