ABSTRACT
This study aimed to determine the motivational drive among diverse learners towards academic achievement of the Grade 9 and Grade 10 learners of Baggao South District for the school year 2018-2019. It viewed the personal profile of the respondents in terms of age, sex, grade level, educational attainment of parents, income of parents, occupation of parents and type of school. Using questionnaires, the data collected were recorded, summarized, analyzed and interpreted based on the problems of the study using the descriptive-inferential-survey method, statistical tools like frequency count, percentage, t-test for independent sample, ANOVA and Pearson Product Moment Coefficient Correlation (Pearson r).
The study revealed that the mean age of the respondents is 15.39, most of them are female and Grade 10. As to their parents’ educational attainment, both of their mother and father were college graduates. In addition, most of their parent’s monthly income is below 4,999 because mostly their father are farmers and their mother are housekeepers. On the other hand, most of the learners are enrolled in public schools.
As regards to their learning style, the study found out that the respondents are more visual learners. Certificates and medals are the most frequent forms of motivational awards given to learners and perfect attendance award is the most frequent non-academic award given to learners who excel in their academics. Most of them are given special recognitions in school level.
The study conveyed that the outstanding performance of the learners perform well in Arts ranked as 1st, Athletics ranked as 2nd, Technical-Vocational Education ranked as 3rd, Mathematics ranked as 4th, Science ranked as 5th, Communication Arts ranked as 6th and Social Science has the least performed discipline ranked as 7th. It is surprising to note that most of them received with honors as their academic excellence awards.
The study revealed that visual learning style and auditory learning style are significantly related to academic excellence awards of the learners.
KEYWORDS
Diverse Learners, Academic Achievement, Learning Style, Motivational Drive
INTRODUCTION
The ultimate aim of education is to develop learners to be responsible and productive citizens of the country, like many other countries in this world it appreciates the vital role of education that equips its citizens with appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitudes towards the realization of the country’s goal of modernization. In order to realize this, every student should be developed holistically and be nourished with the much needed knowledge and skills to face the challenges of the 21st century learners.
Thus, the Department of Education envisions the learner - centered public institution and contributes meaningfully in building the nation by producing globally competent and functionally literate learners. One of the most challenging issues and concerns in learning to learn is for individuals to take responsibility for their own learning. When learners take the responsibility of their own ways of learning, they associate meaning in the process of learning, leading to impressive learning.
In the past, academic performances were often measured more by ear than today. Teachers' observations alone made up the volume of the assessment. The summation or numerical method of identifying how good a student is performing is a fairly recent innovation that is used in conjunction with teacher evaluations of learners. These grading systems came into existence from the United States in the late Victorian period and were initially criticized due to high subjectivity. Different teachers valued different aspects of learning more highly than others, and although some standardizations were attempted in order to make the system fairer, the problem continued. Today, changes have been made to incorporate differentiation for individual learners' abilities, and exploration of alternate methods of measuring performance is ongoing as indicated in DepEd Order No. 36, s. 2016.
The subjectivity of evaluation on academic performance has lessened in recent years, but it has not been eliminated. Removing subjectivity from the current evaluation methods may be difficult since many are biased toward learners that respond best to traditional teaching methods. The learners who do the best on standardized tests are those who excel in reading, mathematics as well as test-taking. Being able to take tests well is a skill that is not indicative of academic worth. The test benefits visual learners and give no chance for kinesthetic or auditory learners to show their abilities. The standardized test fails to recognize learners with learning and physical disabilities that do not allow them to complete the test in the same manner or amount of time as other learners. Although they give the most detailed information, evaluations from classroom teachers may still remain bias if individual difference and learning have not been considered as well, (Barsch, 2000).
Learners learn in a variety of ways and their ability to attain the information also varies. A learner’s capacity to learn is affected by the teacher’s style of conveying information. Unfortunately, little attention has been given to how a learner thinks. Often, it is assumed that learners’ minds operate in the same way as the teacher’s does. So much of learner’s failure in schools come directly out of the larger failure to revitalize all those areas in learner’s brains which could open up their minds in so many ways.
Mismatches between teaching styles and learning styles can cause learners to become inattentive and unproductive in class. They can be misguided from the needed learning competencies to meet the long term goals. If the learners fail, it implies that the teachers failed. However, when the learners are taught in accordance with their learning styles, and when they consider their own styles while studying, their academic achievements will improve. Teachers are challenged with formidable task of creating and making a constructivist learning environment and considers the learning style as preferences of the learners and the motivational factors, like awards, for the good academic performance.
It is for these reasons that the researcher is encouraged to study the motivational drive among diverse learners towards academic achievement.
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