AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF ACADEMIC ANXIETY AMONG THE

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS OF DAVAO DOCTORS COLLEGE

__________________________________________________

A Research Study Proposal

Presented to the Faculty of Senior High School Program
Basic Education Department
_______________________________________

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the
Senior High School

Juisan, John Lloyd S.

Montañez, Glendy J.
Parenas, Franco Miguel C.
Plaza, Liah Gabrielle A.
Ramos, Joseph Ray C.
Talictic, Kayla Mae V.
Tan, Zaldy E.

March 2020
 CHAPTER I

  INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Education is one of the best processes of development. In this century, everywhere

in the educational field, there is a race, a tough competition. To survive in this

competition,students always feel some pressure and tension in their academic field as

academic achievement is important for making decisions in future life. This type of pressure

and tension in the academic field creates uncontrollable nervousness, stress, and fear

among students, called academic anxiety (Das, Halder & Mishra, 2014). 

Pascoe, Hetrick & Parker (2020), discovered in their research  that academic-related

stress is a major concern for secondary and tertiary students. The ongoing stress relating to

education has demonstrated negative impact on students’ learning capacity, academic

performance, education and employment attainment, sleep quality and quantity, physical

health, mental health and substance use outcomes. Increasing students’ stress-

management skills and abilities is an important target for change. 

In Kenya, Gichohi (2019), found out that increased levels of learning anxiety reduce

chances of students excelling academically. This was conducted among the university

students in Kenya. His study reveals that during learning students experience predictions of

failure, self-degrading thoughts and are preoccupied with the consequences of doing poorly

as a reaction to difficult academic activity. Findings indicate that the feeling of a fast

heartbeat was an emotional reaction to demanding learning activities in  emotionality

tendencies. Also revealed was that sometimes students prioritize crucial non-academic

activities, sometimes they reported to class late and that they missed lessons sometimes.

Further, students acknowledged behaving delinquently and exhibiting aggressive behaviour

due to learning pressure. 

In the national scenario, specifically in Cebu, Desamparadoa, Mendozab, Minguitoc

& Monevad (2019) studied the stress levels among the senior high school students.

Research found that the majority of Grade-12 Senior High School students experience

stress at High and Average level of stress in terms of content, skills/performance and

attitude. One of their objectives of the present study is to determine the possible stress

factors that the students perceived which may contribute to their stress levels. Some of

these factors show a substantial percentage of stress that causes the student’s to

experience average and high levels of stress in terms of content and skills/performance

according to strand. 

In Davao City, many are interested to study and have studied the anxiety in

education. However, their research was only focused in a specific area like anxiety in a

particular subject or any behavioral subjects. In this matter, the researcher wants to know

the effects of academic anxiety as a whole among senior high school students of Davao

Doctors College.  

Statement of the problem

This study is aimed to know the effects of academic anxiety among senior high

school students of Davao Doctors College.  

Specifically, this study will answer the following questions: 

1. What makes them worry in their academic life?

2. What makes them nervous in class?

3. What are the effects of anxiety they experience?

Scope and Delimitation

The scope of our study was limited to know the effects of academic anxiety among

senior high school students of Davao Doctors College.  The participants were selected

Grade 11 students from Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) Strand. The researchers

paid attention to the effects of academic anxiety only. 

Significance of the Study 

The result of the present work may give an insight to school administrators, guidance

counselors, and faculty members such an important channel in dealing with the general

behaviour of Grade 11 HUMMS students. Likewise, it may help in the formulation of school

programs that will enhance effective academic and social experiences among them.

Chapter 2
 Theoretical Framework 

Review of Related Literature

Chapter two presented the theoretical and empirical reviews; conceptual framework

and summary of literature and research gaps. Basically, the materials from which information

is drawn emanated from various sources. This was in line with giving the study problem in

question a theoretical perspective and conceptualization that helped in guiding the study. 

First let us see what is anxiety? anxiety means apprehension, tension, or uneasiness

characterized by fear, dread, or uncertainty about something the source of which is largely

unknown or unrecognized by the individual; It may consist in persistent apprehensions of

future events as well as in generalized emotional reactions to any choice point or decision

(Shakir, 2014). Mirawdali , Morrissey & Ball (2018), stated that anxiety is the most prevalent

mental health disorder (33.7%) and is a growing worldwide concern, with considerable

impact upon cognitive function. Mahato and Jangir (2012) as cited by Gichohi (2019) define

academic anxiety as a consequence or outcome of biological or emotional reactions that

lower concentration level of students during learning. 

According to Dobson (2012), many students suffer from school related anxiety.

Contemporary research is supportive of the negative effects of anxiety and stress on

academic performance in students of all ages. Anxiety can also negatively affect classroom

behavior. Not all data are in support of the negative effects of anxiety. Low self-concept and

lack of motivation have been linked to higher levels of anxiety. Metacognition may help

students learn to cope with anxiety and use self-regulation of emotions to combat academic

anxiety. Today anxiety is a common phenomenon of everyday life. It plays a crucial role in

human life because all of us are the victim of anxiety in different ways. Anxiety is one of the

determinants of human behaviour. It is most likely to arise internal response or behaviour

that conflict with the satisfaction of other needs or motives (Rao & Chaturvedi, 2017). On the

other hand, Azeem (2018), affirmed that academic anxiety is a sort of state anxiety which

relates to the approaching threat from the academic institution‟s environment admitting
teachers, certain subjects like Mathematics, English etc. 

Khemka & Rathod (2016) stated that academic anxiety is not a bad thing. It is true

that a high level of anxiety interferes with concentration and memory which are critical for

academic success, however, without any anxiety, most of us would lack the motivation to

study for exams, write papers or do daily homework. Furthermore, anxiety is complicated

psychological situations which have an effect on cognitive, behavioural and psychological

states. Anxiety disorders are common mental health conditions among all children in almost

every field of their life, especially in the academic field (Alam, 2017). 

The adolescents have a major impact of anxiety due to bloodshed competition in

every field. The parents and teachers are eager to know the various factors, which enhance

the anxiety among the students. Academic achievement expectations have created so much

fear among the students that they are not able to utilize their basic potential. They are to only

concentrate on their academic performance. Every child is not able to get first division as the

level of mental health is not same in every child. Academic anxiety is a common issue that

students cannot ignore if they want to succeed in school. 

Review of Related Studies

Rehman (2016) carried out a study to find out the causes of academic anxiety among

higher education students and its preventive measures. Findings of the study clearly

revealed that there are various potential threats such as personal, familial, institutional,

social and political that provokes the anxiety among students and clinical and non-clinical

measures are available to deal with the anxiety. There is a dire need to spread awareness

among the students,parents,teachers.

Yusuph (2016) investigated the causes and effect of anxiety on the academic

performance of secondary students of Domodo, Tanzania. Results revealed that the major

cause of anxiety among students was corporal punishment followed by school milieu and

potentials (capabilities) of the students, and significant number of the students are affected

by it. Moreover, there was an inverse relationship between anxiety and academic
performance. Girls were more prone to anxiety as compared to boys.

Singh (2015) conducted a study on the impact of anxiety on academic achievement

and found that moderate and low levels of anxiety among students was positively correlated

with the academic achievement. High level of anxiety was negatively correlated. Female

students showed higher levels of anxiety as compared to the male students. 

Neelam (2013) conducted study on academic achievement of Secondary school

students having differential levels of Academic anxiety and reported that academic

achievement is inversely related to academic anxiety i.e. those students who had high level

of anxiety showed poor academic achievement moreover girls were better in academic

achievement and showed high degree of anxiety than boys.

Mahajan (2015) revealed in their study that no significant difference existed in the

academic anxiety of male and female secondary school students moreover a significant

difference is found in the academic anxiety of government and private secondary students.

He also reported that academic stress was significantly and negatively correlated to parental

encouragement.

Conceptual / Theoretical Framework

This research is anchored to the theory of Attribution theory. According to the

Attribution theory, students need to feel in control over the outcome of an academic task.

Students who feel more in control over the outcome will have more motivation to

successfully complete that task (Lim, 2007). To feel in control, students need to understand

why a certain outcome happens. For example, a student who never studies for a spelling

test and fails each week might not understand the reason for the poor performance. If the

student understands that studying is important for the spelling tests, the student will be more

motivated to study and do well on the test

 As mentioned by Dobson (2012), Attribution Theory focuses on two types of goals,

learning goals and performance goals. Students who have learning goals are students who

want to learn more and work hard to succeed. Students who have learning goals can see

failure as a motivator. For students with performance goals, failure is anti-motivation.

Students are focused on performance and outcomes. Students do not want to try if failure is

at all possible. 

The Attribution Theory suggests a relationship between students’ sense of control

over the outcome of an academic task and motivation to succeed. Students can also

develop self handicapping. Students who self-handicap are convinced that success will not

happen and will not do anything to try for success. Self-handicapping hampers motivation.

The theory and the relationship with motivation and anxiety propose the following research

question (Dobson, 2012). 

Hypothesis of the study 

There is a difference in terms of academic anxiety among the respondents. 

Assumptions of the Study

The researchers try to know the effects of the academic anxiety and how they feel

about it. Students may feel their heart beating faster when confronted with so much worries

and concerns regarding school matter. 

Definition of Terms

The following terms are found throughout the literature review. Some of the terms

were not defined in the journal articles so the definitions are from the dictionary. Coping, and

self-regulation are important to define because each is a strategy used to deal with

academic anxiety. Helping students understand learning by using metacognition is an

important part of teaching students to control their learning.

 Coping is the different responses a person uses to get through a stressful

situation.

 Metacognition is “the self-regulation of cognition” 

 Self-regulation is “the self-control of thought, action, and emotion” 

 Anxiety is defined as “a painful or apprehensive uneasiness of mind usually

over an impending or anticipated ill” (Merriam-Webster, 2012). Students

experiencing academic anxiety feel apprehensive over academic tasks.

Students can feel anxiety related to every academic task. Some may only feel

anxiety related to test taking or other specific tasks. Anxiety is not always

negative. Some students can be motivated by anxiety. 

 Chapter 3

Research Methodology

Research Design

In the present study, exploratory type of research design will be followed, which will

be qualitative in nature. Exploratory research, as the name implies, intends merely to explore

the research questions and does not intend to offer final and conclusive solutions to existing

problems. This type of research is usually conducted to study a problem that has not been

clearly defined yet. 

This design is based on the premise that an exploration is needed for one of several

reasons: Measures or instruments are not available, the variables are unknown, or there is

no guiding framework or theory. Because this design begins qualitatively, it is best suited for

exploring a phenomenon. This design is particularly useful when a researcher needs to

develop and test an instrument because one is not available (Creswell, 2006). 

 Respondents of the study

The research participants of this study were grade 11 Humanities and Social

Sciences (HUMSS) Strand students during the 2nd semester of school year 2019 -2020.

Each section was represented by seven (4) students; hence, there were four (4) Focus

Group Discussion (FGD) and a total of 16 participants.

Instrument of the Study

Research guide questions were formulated based on the research questions. The

guide questions were composed of three main questions. The discussion will be tape-

recorded with the permission of the participants.

Validity and Reliability 

Brink (1993) explained that validity and reliability are key aspects of all research.

Meticulous attention to these two aspects can make the difference between good research
and poor research and can help to assure that fellow scientists accept findings as credible

and trustworthy. This is particularly vital in qualitative work, where the researcher’s

subjectivity can so readily cloud the interpretation of the data, and where research findings

are often questioned or viewed with scepticism by the scientific community. 

A good qualitative study can help us to “understand a situation that would otherwise

be enigmatic or confusing”. According to Bashir, Afzal, & Azeem (2008) they viewed

reliability as “purpose of explaining” in quantitative approach and “generating understanding”

in qualitative approach to research. The difference in purposes of evaluating the quality of

studies in quantitative and qualitative research is one of the reasons that the concept of

reliability is irrelevant in qualitative research. As cited by Bashir, et.al (2008), the concept of

reliability is even misleading in qualitative research, if a qualitative study is discussed with

reliability as a criterion; the consequence is rather that the study is ``no good”. 

Qualitative researchers are of the view that the term validity is not applicable to

qualitative research, but at the same time, they have realized the need for some kind of

qualifying check or measure for their research.  Bashir, et.al (2008) mentioned that the

validity is affected by the researcher’s perception of validity in the study and his/her choice of

paradigm assumption. 
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Research Questions
 Research Questions
1. What makes them worry in their
academic life?
2. What makes them nervous in class?
3. What are the effects of anxiety they
experience?
Follow Up Questions
- What is/are the reason they worry ?
- Is their worry worth worrying for ?
- Are you nervous of the subject or in
their instructor?
- What do you do when you fell that
way?
- What have you learn with that anxiety
you experience ?