Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature

This chapter focuses on the discussion of the

literature and the result of other studies of researchers to

which presents that the current study is related. Chapter 2

is divided into three parts: (1) Learning Behavior (2)

Academic Performance, and (3) Synthesis.

The First Part, Learning Behavior, discusses about the

learning motivation of the students.

The Second Part, Academic Performance, discusses the

nature of academic performance.

The Third Part, Syntheses, presents the summary of the

literature and studies reviewed.

Learning Behavior

Learning behavior emphasizes the crucial link between

the way in which the children and young people learn and

their social knowledge and behavior (Gittins, 2012).

Students learn through their actions, also by the people in

their environment.

Learning behaviors of students are the key to either

success or failure in their ventures. For educational

setting, there is the outcomes based requirement that

verifies students’ learning. However, there are also factors

affecting their learning behaviors. These are observed in

their value judgment about self, peers and classroom

environment. Knowing these facts about the factors that can

be related to the learning behaviors can base the school

program for students to enhance classroom conditions and

services for students. Moreover, results of the study done

showed that there is a significant relationship between the

students’ learning behaviors of valuing self, others and

environment and the factors in classroom situations that

included teachers’ behavior and methods of teaching,

instructional materials and guides, and the classroom

conditions was found.

According to Watson’s Theory of Behaviorism also known

as behavioral psychology, learning is based on the idea that

all behaviors are acquired through conditioning.

Conditioning occurs through interaction with the

environment. He demonstrated that a child could be

conditioned to fear a previously neutral stimulus. His

research also revealed that this fear could be generated to

other similar objects. Behaviorism is based on the

assumption that all learning occurs through interactions

with the environment and that environment shapes the

behavior.

Skinners Operant Conditioning also emphasizes

behaviors. According to this principle behavior that is

followed by pleasant consequences is less likely to be

repeated and behavior that is followed by unpleasant

consequences is likely to be repeated he believed that the

best way to understand behavior is to look at the causes of

an action and its consequences.

In social learning theory, Albert Bandura added an

important ideas to behaviorist learning theories. He said

that mediating processes occur between stimuli and

responses, and behavior is learned from the environment

through the process of observational learning. Observational

learning is a learning that consists of observing and

modeling another individual’s behavior attitudes or

emotional expressions (Stone, 2019). Although it is commonly

believed that the observer will copy the model, Bandura

stressed that individuals may simply learn from the

behavior, rather than imitate it. He also emphasized that

four conditions were necessary in any form of observing and

modelling behavior, those are attention, retention,

reproduction and motivation.

 There are many reasons why students can actively

participate in schools and their behavior is the primary

factor. On the other hand, reports on problematic behaviors

are on the rise nationally, not only in the classroom but in

society at large (Kowalski, ret. 08/14/19).

In particular, some sociologists point out that some

students seem to watch a lecture the some way they watch TV.

This would explain why they think they can arrive a little

late or take a break in the middle of lecture, or why they

can have side conversation or otherwise multitask (Jaffee,

1999)

Misbehavior causes disturbances in the classroom and

makes it difficult for students to enjoy the education

process. “What are the causes of Misbehavior in the

classroom” by Ministry of Education in Guyana listed

possible motives for misbehavior, those are: seeking

attention, desire for power, looking for revenge, lack of

self-confidence, physiological factors, classroom

environment, and problem with curriculum. Misbehavior is not

only self-related but also affected by environment.

In a study conducted by Amirtha et al. (2014), showed

that positive learning behavior creates better psychological

adjustment in class and in school. High interest, experience

of success and good learning ability are involved in the

learning behavior of the students. Overall, about 53.3% of

the student's learning behavior is good and about 25.6% of

the student's learning behavior is moderate. Bi-variate

analysis such as correlation is used to the relationship of

student's learning behavior with their academic achievement

and its extent to which they are related. This research

study's findings will help the academicians, parents and

students themselves to know their learning behavior so that

it contributes for continuous learning and high achievement.

Prediction and amelioration of academic success

represent an ever-current issue in the field of academic

learning. Finding the factors which influence academic

success has strong implications on the research in the

psychology of learning field but also on educational

policies and implicitly on the students’ learning

strategies. The present study proposes to analyze the

relation type established among the students’ learning

style, learning behavior and academic performance in their

theoretical and practical activities. The results of the

study indicate significant differences as regards the

learning style and the learning behavior, according to the

age, experience and academic performance type (Magdalena,

2014).
 Pearson Education Development Group (ret. 08/14/19)

states that classroom behavior is one of the trickiest issue

that teachers face today. Disruptive behavior results in the

lost curriculum time and creates a classroom environment

that is not always conducive to learning. Classroom

control/discipline is rated among the top four challenges

teachers face in the school today. In fact, almost half the

teachers polled said that discipline was a serious problem

in their schools. When the public was polled on the same

issues, they ranked classroom control/discipline as the

number one challenge.

Academic Performance

Academic performance means the knowledge and skills

that students have mastered in a subject or a course. It’s

basically of how well students have performed in a various

assessment item set for them based on some educational

criteria determined by professional educators (Lee, 2010)

On the other hand, academic performance according to

the Cambridge University Report (ret. 08/14/19) is

frequently defined in terms of examination performance. It

refers to what the students have learned or what skills the

students has learned and is usually measured through

assessment like standardized tests, performance assessments

and portfolio assessment (Santrock, ret. 08/14/19)

According to Scott Ragin (2019), academic performance

depends on a variety of factors including psychological and

physical. Moreover, many students do not perform well

because they have a terror teachers or lack of interest in

the subject. As a result, academic performance is very low.

Students focus their attention on something else like work,

computer games, and so on. Scott added that there are tools

that affects the academic performance of students. Those

are: a) physical activity, where in classes with physical

activity programs have higher grades and standardized test

scores, b) learning facilities, to achieve better grades,

students need equipment and other resources that allow them

to get new knowledge, c) interest, which is the most

important factor that makes a subject easy and enjoyable d)

guidance, students who are properly helped and guided by

their parents and educators, generally perform well in the

exam and other works ,e) motivation, according to many

educators, the reason for many low or failing grades of

students is not their abilities, but their lack of

motivation, f) job, according to Fottrell, nearly 4 out of 5

work part time, and this means that 80% of students balance

work and studies, g) sleep, insufficient amount of sleep can

be very disastrous to health and productivity,

h)communication, if the school does not provide sufficient

opportunities for students to communicate educators outside

the classroom, they might become fairly isolated in their

efforts to master the subject, i) distractions, according to

Rudgers Today, the students who cannot stop texting and

browsing the internet even at night perform poorer than

their counterparts that use technologies moderately, lastly

j) self-esteem, it can destroy the firm foundation for

learning because it prevents engagement and development of

problem-solving scales and lessens the desire to learn.

According to Maina and Kitainge (2018) it was found out

that for child’s proper emotional maturity, mother and

father’s love affection are essential requirements for

child’s emotional stability, children have certain emotional

needs that have to be catered for if they have to gain

emotional stability. Study shows that with coordinated child

support among parents, a child perceives that parents have

good relationship and therefore creating a peace of mind.

However, poor parent relations can block child support and

can cause disastrous consequences to the child’s academical,

psychological and behavioral characteristics.

 Moreover, according to Varga (2017), it showed that

building and maintaining positive relationships between

teachers and students will improve student’s engagement and

motivation during class. Furthermore, the researcher noticed

differences in the attitudes and demeanors of the students.

The students for whom the intervention was intended were

more likely to comply with directions and participate during

class. These students also came to class prepared and ready

to learn. Students who engaged in off-task behaviors such as

sleeping, putting their head downs, playing on their cell

phones, or working on assignments for other classes, were

more involved in the material at hand. These students were

also more open and friendly with the teacher. At the start

of the intervention, the teacher took full responsibility

for initiating greetings and conversation with the students.

Furthermore, there is substantial research on the

importance of teacher-student relationships in the early

elementary years. However, little is known about the effects

of teacher-student relationships on high school students.

Studies show that early teacher-student relationships affect

early academic and social outcomes as well as future

academic outcomes (Hamre & Pianta, ret. 2020).

 Delp’s (2011) article entitled “How Peers Influence

Academic Performance” states the negative and positive

effects of peers. In some peer groups, being smart is

looked down upon. Similarly these groups tend to share low

aspirations of going to college or getting careers. On the

other hand, many peer groups can be of positive influence on

the friends as well. It is thought that intelligent students

help their peers bring up their grades. In the study of 11th

graders, it showed that they were “highly responsive” to

what their peers in their class were doing and this affected

their decision making. In a comparison of students surveyed,

36% of African American 4th grade students stated their

friends make fun of smart students or those that do well.

However by 8th grade only 23% of African American students

agreed. In addition, studies suggest that peers influence

each other more heavily in the early teen years. For

example, 14-year-olds are more likely to engage in risky,

self-destructive behavior than 18-year-olds are. The theory

is that by 18, a young man or woman is more autonomous and

has clear aspirations of where he/she wants to go and how to

get there.

Kushman, Sieber, and Harold, (2010), intelligence is

not the only determinant of academic achievement. High

motivation and engagement in learning have consistently been

linked to reduce dropout rates and increased levels of

student success.

Synthesis

Learning behavior is one of the most important

characteristics of students in achieving academic

performance. Unruly behavior causes lost curriculum time and

creates a negative environment and that is not conducive to

learning. Environment plays an important role in shaping

students’ behaviors. There are many factors involved in

shaping students behavior, one of it is conditioning. When a

student did an action and the result is pleasing, he/she is

more likely to repeat the action. On the other hand, if the

result is unpleasant it is less likely to be repeated. In

addition, learning behavior is also shaped through modeling

and observation. Which is more likely be seen through the

students’ parents, siblings, teachers and peers. Students’

learning behavior impacts their academic performance

negatively or positively. If the student shows negative

behavior, he/she is more likely to have lower academic

performance. On the other hand, student can achieve higher

academic performance if he/she has positive learning

behavior.

Academic performance is the grades or outcome of

students after they have finished their school year. It is

the excellence in all academic disciplines. The result of

the academic performance of the students depend on their

learning behavior. Academic performance is the outcome of

the students’ hard work.

Learning behavior and academic performance come hand in

hand. They are influenced by the students’ parents, teachers

and peers. Parent to parent relationship may have

influential capacity in the child’s well-being. Consistent

relationships shows support for the emotional control,

cooperation on child support and controlling individual

parenting style.

Building and maintaining positive teacher-student

relationships is essential for success in the classroom.

Because students spend about a day of their waking hours in

classroom, it is essential that they feel a sense of

belonging in order to be engaged, motivated and successful.