FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY

Self-Directed Learning and Student attitudes as correlates of academic achievement performance

A thesis presented to The Institute of Education Far Eastern University Manila

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English

By Kim, Soo Jin Lee, Jung Min Lee, Nain MARCH 2013

FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION This paper examines and discusses the academic achievements of students through the use of self-directed learning method. The attitude of each student is included as well. The purpose is to prove whether or not this study is indeed a key factor leading to successful academic performance of teen learners provide that the availability of learning materials these days are ubiquitous. The use of survey and interviews to some junior and senior students in Metro Manila is done to examine intensively the role of this learning process to each learner school performance.

Background of the Study The idea of self-directed learning has sprouted since the ancient time. Many famous Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, learned through self study (Hiemstra, 1994). Documentation about the use of this technique has been done and celebrated of several people around the world. It contemporarily took place in places like the United States of America and in Great Britain in the 1800s (Craik, 1840). In recent years much of the research has focused on identifying key factors that leads to academic success among students of different levels. However, the self directed learning process is more successful for people who were mature enough to know their responsibility as a student. Consequently, only adult learners are capable of learning using this method effectively. Indeed, the technological advantages nowadays

FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY can cater the needs of each young learner to study by his own pace, time and style without the presence of the traditional teacher. It gives student freedom as well. However, the characteristics of individual students are optimal in the process. It is the task of the researchers to find out through this study how students attitudes correlates with the self-directed learning style to help students excel academically. The creativity and leadership of individual students will be developed through this process. Likewise, each student will become a more responsible adult in the future by exposing them to an independent situation. Moreover, several researchers have explained that giving some learning responsibility back to the learners in many situations is more beneficial than other approaches (Heimstra, 1994).

Statement of the Problem With so many learning theories that are available these days, many researchers came out explaining modifications with the old ones to cater the needs of the present generations. People are always trying to find solutions as the problem arises. The selfdirected learning has been done long time ago. Research found out that this strategy is effective most specially with the adult learners: a more mature age bracket. These are people who are responsible enough to do it. However, young learners also mature earlier nowadays because of the many available resources brought by the technological innovations. Therefore the researchers want to answer the following questions if this

FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY self directed learning and students attitudes could really help to make the learners successful academically:
1. What is the profile of the respondents according to: A. Age B. C. Gender Course of study

D. General weighted average 2. What are the strategies related to Self-Directed learning used by the respondents? 3. What are the Attitudes of students according to: A. Age B. C. Gender Course of Study

D. General weighted average 4. What self-Directed learning program can be proposed to enhance the academic performance of the respondents?

Significance of the Study The self directed learning process and students attitudes play an important factor to become successful academically. This study challenges the belief that learning takes place only in the presence of accredited teachers. Much study has already proven

FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY that this method is effective especially to the adult learners. On the other hand, the researchers are optimistic that young learners are also capable of learning this way because of the availability of many learning resources anywhere. By conducting this study, researchers believe that many high school students in Metro Manila will enjoy the benefits of this research. The parents will be less stress with the financial burden that many schools are throwing at them. The community will also reap the fruit because an individual could be more productive while they are learning on their own. The following are just some of the numerous significances that this study can provide to learners: 1. Students. They are the respondents and foremost beneficiary of the study. This study is aimed to them to make their learning more effective. This method develops students creativity by studying independently. 2. Parents. This is not only for the respondents per se but also for the parents who spends money just to provide their children their good education. Once their children applied this strategy, they will not have to worry about spending money just to motivate their teens to learn. 3. Teachers. Once the students study independently, teachers are not anymore worried about the many preparations just to get them to study. Like devising many strategies on how to excite them to study. They will just act as their coach or facilitator.

FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY 4. School. Once the students are learning effectively using this method, they dont have to spend a lot of money for the remedial classes, review classes, and academic related activities. Less use of facilities will save much electricity. Aside from that, once their students are successful, their school also encourages more students therefore more income and prestigious. 5. Community. The community comprises different types of families. Once the learners follow this self study method, the teenagers will be more productive and they could find time to help their community as an extracurricular activity. In here the teens can already apply their ability to lead others.

Scope and Delimitations of the Study The scope and delimitations of this research are students from different schools in Metro Manila. Learners from third year and fourth year who are enrolled this school year 2012-2013 are the subject of this study. The availability of learning materials nowadays gives the learners a chance to follow the self- directed learning method. Not only adults are capable of reaping the benefits of this process but also the junior and senior high school students. The researchers believe that they are mature enough to study by themselves and this is of course always associated with the right attitude towards learning. However, learners below this age group are not covered by the research. Other places are not yet ready for this learning style may find this foreign to them. Those with

FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY enough knowledge and resources may find this study applicable to them. The scale the researchers may use will still be under revision. Definition of Terms This research gives emphasis with the significant words that are use to further clarify what the researchers want to accomplish. The terms below are the used in this research to materialize its objectives. 1. Attitude. The learners reaction about self directed learning process and their ability to solve and study on their own, the strategy they make to make learning fruitful. 2. Self-directed Learning. This is a process by which a student learns on his/her own pace and style independently. 3. Students. These are the person involve in the learning program. They are the ones apply the self directed program in this research. 4. Accomplishments. These are the skills and good attitude that has been acquired through self study program. 5. Learning. The cognitive process of acquiring skills and knowledge applying the self study technique. 6. Academic. The theoretical subject that follows set of rules and standards that lack practicality. 7. Correlation. The mutual relation between self directed learning process and students attitude that has the tendency to vary together.

FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY 8. Theory. The proposed explanation, like the self directed learning theory, whose status is still under experimentation. 9. Scale. The material or method use to gather data through survey.

Chapter 2
Review of Related Studies

I.

Self-Directed Learning(Overview) In a research entitled Self-Directed Learning: Views of Teachers and Students found out

that one problem that they encounter was the difficulty in articulating a precise definition of self-directed learning. ( Jaquelina Hewitt- Taylor, 2001) It is both believed that students take more responsibility for learning SDL than in traditional learning. In her research, some define SDL as learning with the help of a tutor, programmed or structured, by using portfolio and with a teacher to facilitate the learning. In her findings she concluded that although there was evidence that both teachers and students felt it appropriate to share responsibility for learning, some teachers felt that some students often wanted teachers control. Some teachers said that, despite being supportive of SDLs principles, it was not always easy for teachers to relinquish control. Most researchers believe that self-directed learning helps promote the creativity and innovation potential of individuals, groups, organizations, and countries. It is a process in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others (Knowless, 1977). This is considered to be the best of all studies. In any facet of life, this method proves to be crucial in making an individual cope with the rapid changing of life. Self directed learning originated in the field of adult education but due to the availability of internet, information

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is readily available to everyone. This research uses this method to apply it not to adult education per se but to younger learners too. Since many teenagers nowadays are believed to be active learners. They have the strong desires for learning as well. There are reports that a positive relationship between self directed learning and academic success in a traditional classroom setting.(Daryamanti 1994) However, there are three dimensions that are crucial to make an individual successful using this method of learning. First, someone should be intrinsically motivated to learn. One should know that studying will make their life worthy. Next, the metacognition , one should have prior knowledge of what he should be learned. Finally, self regulation that is you are independent and you have the initiative. In other words, independence, self- management, desire for learning, and high problem solving skills are require to be able the learner to adapt the method. Research has shown that academic achievement is significantly higher for students who participate in self-directed learning. (Sobral,1997) many believed that adding Self-directed learning to traditional learning approaches such as lectures, educators will be better able to keep students engaged. The purpose is to enhance learning by utilizing self-directed learning approaches in student development.

II.

Student Attitudes and Academic performance

Research entitled Student attitudes and Academic Performance suggests that the influence of the educational context on engagement is partially mediated by psychological beliefs about competence and control. Next parts briefly

FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY summarize the literature relevant to these points. Students conduct when they have positive emotional responses to learning in school, display curiosity, desire to know more and they also lead to success or learning. Researchers agree that engaged student learn more, keep more what they learn, and enjoy learning activities more than students who are not engaged.(Theresa M. 2006) Who have advantageous attitudes is more active and do their effort to their jobs like assignment, activities. There are types of students in the class. Students who do not think that they cannot finish assignment successfully are afraid of what they are doing. The reason why student give up her works even they cutting class or dropping out. In addition, such students are more likely to avoid putting much effort into their job because they might offer failure grade or they have low ability to do their job. While student who have more positive mind success what she doing and getting high grade from their job. Americans are popular for the freedom of education. They let their student explore the world, allowing students to learn by themselves. In addition, Americans believe that students who direct all or part of their learning tend to do better academically, are more active, and have better social skills and more positive attitudes about school. Moreover, trusting the students is paramount to their success in the future. They hate autonomy so these affect students attitudes about school.

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FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY According to Bandura the human behavior is influences by the environment or vice versa and involves to each kind of intrinsic individual factors in effect the attitude of a person is highly influences.

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III. Self-Directed Learning and Student attitudes

According to William James, the greatest discovery of any generation is that human being can alter his life by altering his attitude. An attitude is an idea about ourselves, how we think, which is supported by an appropriate feeling. These usually originated from experiences we have had, usually early in our lives. The attitude of self directed people is an essential factor to make it a success. In so many research done and articles written related to this, they pinpoint the attitudes of self directed people. Whether they are young learners or adult learners, they have shown almost similar characteristics: independence, self management, desire for leaning, and problem solving. Maurice Gibbons (2008) summarizes the seven attitudes of self- directed people according to her article. The first attitude would be the commitment of such person to responsibility. This person thinks that the success depends upon them not from other people. The second attitudes the author cited is the learners self awareness. This usually boosts their self esteem so it gives them direction in life. They are not likely to fail in their commitment. The third attitude is curiosity. They are

FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY always asking questions which are unusual and this leads them to discovery of something. They usually wonder why a particular phenomenon is happening. Then the fourth attitude is the drive or the motivation his people have. They are always on the go to discover for themselves. They are very energetic person. Next attitude is their being optimistic people. They are hopeful though they are in an almost impossible situation but still they are expectation is always about its success. Then another attitude that they have is courage. These people are risk taker, these people are not afraid of any difficulty that they might go through. Finally and most importantly is these peoples determination in achieving their objectives. One says that these people are usually unstoppable.

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IV. Synthesis

Many researchers related to this research show positive result on the academic performance of each student, especially adult learners, using the SDL method of learning. The broad definition of SDL arrives many researchers to different types of SDL processes. Each of them defines it in a somewhat distinctive way although the main concept is actually focuses on independent learning. Attitude of learners are studied separately and have been discussed in a broader sense of education.

FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY Most democratic countries such as America are one of the pioneer proponents of this type of learning although the term SDL was just utilized earlier. The term was rooted from the idea of freedom in learning styles. People hold on to this belief in relation to actual situation outside the school. Consequently, it develops creativity and innovation to cope with the rapid changes in world. They believed that the success of every individual lies much on their creativity, which is generally the result ones initiative in learning. In the Philippines educational setting, implementation of this method is not clearly define but many students who excel in their academics are people who make their extra effort of studying independently and are highly motivated to learn. The researchers did not find any studies relating to this case. Therefore, clearly defining this process in this country is somewhat obscure yet. However, the researchers will clearly explain how the students in this country surpass other learners. Many think that students outdo others naturally because of their genes, others think that it depends on which school they attends to, some people say it the attitude who determines their success in life. The researchers believe that the last reason could be the biggest factor that defines success academically.

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FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY Chapter 3 Methodology Most study of self-directed learning is focused on adult learners. This research, on the other hand, will introduce this method to much younger participants who are teenagers to find out whether this style is effective in improving their academic performance. Moreover, the attitude of each learner is highly considered in this study.

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3.1. Research design The research design use in this study is descriptive type. The researchers describe the data collected and characteristic of the attitude of participants using the self directed learning style. Descriptive design is a common method of qualitative research used in the social sciences subjects to monitor the behavior of a subject without affective that subject. This is popularly used as a precursor to quantitative research. The researchers therefore, chose this design because the topic of research is correlates between self-directed learning and students attitude to academic achievement. This correlation design is used to determine the relationship between two or more variables. This is best used for this research because in this research will use survey questions for correlating the subject of this research. However, the data collected are

FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY based on attitude and opinion of the respondents and it does not accurately represent the overall results of the students in the Philippines as a whole.

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3.2. Research Participants The research participants are teenagers in their junior and senior high school level from Trinity University of Asia, Metro Manila. The participants personal data are given for future references and as proof. There are 15 participants for this study. The respondents are teenagers between fifteen to eighteen years old. Most of them are in their third and fourth year high school level. % Filipino and % Korean nationals who are studying in the same institution. They are all average learners taken randomly for the survey.

3.3. Research Environment The research environment of this study is mostly educational and academic. The characteristics of each participant are not focus on other non educational environment. This study covers only people who are studying in Trinity University of Asia, Metro Manila. The participants are average students who belong to upper middle class family. The average student per class is 15. One hundred percent connected to technological advancement tools and the SDL learning style is possible. In terms of accessibility in learning materials, they are far more advantageous compared with students who are enrolled in other local schools. We have chosen this school.

FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY 3.4. Research instruments The researchers use the available information, observation, interview and survey questionnaires necessary to materialize the objectives of this study. Moreover, the interview questions are structured and open-ended type. a. Personal Data form- this form is attached to the questionnaire survey form to be filled up by each participant. Mostly about participants age, school name and year level. b. Self-Directed Assessment Tool - the survey questionnaire for self directed learning and survey questionnaire for students attitude is the main tool of the research. Questionnaire for SDL is based on Guglielminos scale also known as Learning Preference Assessment (LPA) developed in 1977. It measures the complex attitudes, skills, and characteristics that comprise an individual current level of readiness to manage learners own learning. c. Students Attitude Survey questionnaire this is used to measure the attitude of the learners and how this attitude affects the academic achievement. Developed and used by Jennifer Schwartz in her research entitled Self-Directed Learning Student Attitudes.It is widely used by many researchers nowadays.

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3.5. Research Procedure The first step of the research is study carefully the related researches about the research. Gathering data are the next part by disseminating the questionnaires to the

FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY selected respondents from ____________ in Metro Manila. These two questionnaires contain 20 items for SDLS and 40 questions including 5 open ended questions for Students Attitude. Immediately after receiving the completed questionnaires, the researchers will get the average of each respondent and interpret it using standard deviation method. The process is treated in two ways: Numerically and in a narrative way. Organizing data and summarizing raw data gathered follows immediately. Finally, data interpretation and conclusion will be done.

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3.6. Statistical treatment The statistical treatment is highly descriptive in this study. Data collection is utilize by using charts, table and standard measurement such as percentiles and calculating the average or mean the given data. 1. Central Tendency is the standard measurement using the average mean of the raw score of the completed questionnaires.

2. Tabulation is utilized to see clearly the result of each survey.

3. The charts using the percentile method will also be made.