Identifying the Causes of Low Academic Performance of Grade 12 Humanities and

Social Sciences Students of the Polytechnic College of Botolan

for the School Year 2021-2022

Dial, Christine
Ferrer, Gian D.
Villanueva, Karl
Balangon, Reymark
Manalan, Jasmine Rein
Balangon, Ryan

June , 2022
 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

Academic performance of a student has defined as the result of various

contributing factors. Literature lists multiple factors that affect academic performance of

students. Academic performance is a complex equation with multiple angles. Effect of

various factors on academic performance of students cannot be denied. (Crede et al.

2020). Students’ academic performance is one of the factors that helps them to attain and

achieve what they want or their goals in life. Academic performance is a major factor that

motivates and pushes them to strive more or harder when it comes to their academic or

their studies.

The Corona virus disease (Covid19) pandemic has changed the

environment of the entire world. Various aspects of society has transitioned to a new

approach of delivering their services. Working standards in certain government and

commercial sectors, for example, have transitioned to online platforms, often known as

work from home schemes. Furthermore, the educational system switched to a new

method of teaching and learning. Students are one of the most affected stakeholders in

education, as the traditional face-to-face learning method has been replaced with blended

learning, which is largely modular and online. This big shift in the education system leads

the educators and the learners to adopt different learning platforms. Some of these

learning platforms are new for both educators and learners, and the need for learning

them is necessary for them to adapt the new normal. In addition, students learning

patterns and as well as their way of living was also shifted to a new normal (Capinding,
2021). Most students are now left with no choice but to accept the change in the

education system in order to avoid the COVID-19. Through this, schools have made it

possible to keep students safe from the contraction of the deadly enemy, and therefore we

abide by distance learning. A large population of students could not keep up with the

sudden change and as a result, there are many of them who experience low academic

performance in today’s situation.

Students’ activities and learning patterns, on the other hand, varied before and

during the pandemic. Typically, student activity and learning patterns decrease during a

pandemic. In this time of crisis, students faced learning process constraints like

connections, assignment methods, delivery methods, and inadequate time management

(Noviyante et al., 2020). Likewise, due to the pandemic, the humanities and social

sciences 12 students from the Polytechnic College of Botolan also experience things that

may hinder a student’s learning, and this will be the result in them becoming lazy, losing

of learning enthusiasm, and learning difficulty, most students are affected by it.

The poor academic performance caused by the world’s crisis continually affects a

large aspects of the life of students. It affects everyone’s lives. According to Bo & Yali

Xin (2019), they found out in their study that the main reasons for the academic

performance of students are: the lack of lofty ambitions and specific goals, low

enthusiasm for learning, lack of motivation for learning and lack of interest in learning

weak willingness to learn and poor learning mentality. The students of HUMSS 12 from

Polytechnic college of Botolan are experiencing from the aforementioned findings of the

study, and to make the situation worse, they are having difficulty in studying in the
modular setting of learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic and hence inevitably affects

their academic achievements and performance.

However, when the issue of pandemic erupted, the COVID-19 crisis has forced

education systems worldwide to find alternatives to discontinue face-to-face instruction.

The current COVID-19 crisis has obliged most education systems to adopt alternatives to

face-to-face teaching and learning. Many education systems from the different parts of

the world even in our country shifted their provided instructions and activities online, to

allow instruction to continue despite school closures (Bol, T. 2020). In the Philippines,

the grades of students have dropped due to the continued implementation of distance

learning due to the pandemic. That is why students are having a hard time in today’s

situation, and students are committed to distance learning to promote their learning.

People are experiencing hardships and difficulties in this trying times and the students are

the greatly affected victims of this pandemic. They are facing grave threat of learning

fragility and this is what motivates the researcher to pursue this study.

The researchers aimed to conduct this study with the inhibitions to discover and

identify the possible causes as to why students experience poor academic performance. It

is important to know what are the possible reasons for students having poor academic

performance. It may result from numerous factors learning styles, lack of motivation, self

– efficacy doubts as well as the new type of learning system. Also, during this pandemic

having poor academic performance is one of the major problems that students often

experience.

Statement of the Problem

 This study aims to identify the causes of the low academic performance of the

Grade 12 Humanities and Social Sciences Students of Polytechnic College of Botolan.

Specifically, the researchers sought to answer the following questions;

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of.

1.1. Gender

1.2. Section

1.3. GWA

2. What causes the low academic performance of the Grade 12 HUMSS?

3. What are the interventions that students can do to avoid poor academic performance?

Significance of the study

The findings of this study will help students to cope up and overcome problems that

they encounter that resulting poor academic performance.

Students. The direct recipients of this study are Grade 12 HUMSS students who are

experiencing poor academic performance. The students will benefit from this study by

making them aware and would help them manage their learning strategies and be able to

assess their strengths and weaknesses.

Teachers. The study is of immense value to the teachers. It adds to their existing

knowledge on students having poor academic performance. This study will help the

teachers to create an easier way or technique when it comes to teaching, so that the poor

academic performance of each student can be lessen.

Parents. The parents are considered the “first teachers” of their children. The findings of

the study can help them navigate the progress of their child’s performance and give them

the appropriate intervention to help improve their academic performance.

School . This will help them to implement programs to enhance the students’

performance and address their learning difficulties. Therefore they can identify what

makes the students struggle, so that they can pay attention to, and help students , and they

can achieve their goal.

Community. This helps the community to make them aware of why they are having poor

academic performance. Through this, it can give them the opportunity to build strong

relations with the students community by providing them learning resources or anything

that can help them boost the morale of the students in their community

Future researchers. This study is of immensurable value to carry out researchers on the

same topic or similar topic. The study will surely add to their knowledge of the topic

even though they are going to give their own contribution.

Scope and Limitation

This research study focuses on Grade 12- Humanities and Social Sciences

students enrolled in Polytechnic College of Botolan SY 2021-2022. The data collection

will be conducted on respondents limited to 30 students of Grade 12 Humanities and

Social Sciences Students , who are experiencing poor academic performance. This study

will not cover other findings that are not necessarily connected to the causes of poor

academic performance such as factor that outside of the scope of this study.

All data we obtain from HUMSS 12 students of the Polytechnic College of

Botolan School will be confidential and we ensure that the researchers will not disclose

or declare to anyone the identity of their participants.

 CHAPTER 2
FRAMEWORK OF THE STUDY

Review Related Literature

Given the fact that any students can have poor academic performance, the trouble

appears critical when this becomes a trend. There are various reason for students poor

academic performance based on the geographical area they are living in, students cultural

and historical background, the educational approaches and the common knowledge of

students.

In 2020, the impact of Covid-19 has been noted in practically all areas of activity,

but its effect has been particularly strong in teaching and learning. The pandemic has

shaken up the landscape of higher education worldwide, with responses to the pandemic

from higher education institutions generally falling into three categories ( Hodges,

Moore, Lockee, Trust, &Bond , 2020; Smalley, 2020):maintaining in-class teaching with

social distancing, creating hybrid models (blended learning, limitations of students in

campus) or moving to online instruction. Therefore, since the COVID-19 pandemic

erupted that caused lockdown, all schools in the Philippines including the Polytechnic

College of Botolan, have been forced to have a modern academic system which in turn

has made it difficult for students to study and increased the number of victims on having

low academic performance and there are many students in HUMSS12 of Polytechnic

College of Botolan affected by it.

 The recent outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic is novel, but it already has

noxious effects on humanity. Covid-19 outbreak has created educational disruptions, and

global health concerns that proved very difficult to manage by global health systems. As

at now, no nation or race across the world is immune from the coronavirus pandemic,

and the entire world seems overwhelmed by the speed of the spread and the devastating

effects of Covid-19. The coronavirus pandemic has no boundaries, and the effect is large

and fast. Just within few months of the outbreak of the disease, it has drastically changed

the lifestyles of the entire world with billions of people being forced to stay at home,

observe self-isolations and work and learn from home. It has limited the freedom of

people to move, trade or associate (Edeh Michael Onyemma et. al. (2020). There are two

types of learning conducted by schools to keep students learning, the online learning and

modular learning which leads the students to change their learning environment and

embrace the new learning system, and in the Polytechnic College of Botolan School often

uses modular which pushes students to self-study or study in their own ability in their

home. Therefore, it can be a reason for their academic performance to drop, because they

are not taught properly by teachers.

Siqueiral & Julliana Gurge-Giannettill (2011) define poor school performance

(PSP) “as a school achievement below the expected for a given age, cognitive skills, and

schooling”. In a review study Siqueral, & Julliana Gurge-Giannettill classify the causes

of PSP to two macro groups; 1.) Pedagogical difficulties and 2.) Disease and associated

disabilities. They believe that pushing students beyond their capabilities, skills and

interest, demotivation and distraction which in turns result in frustration, failure low self-

esteem besides family and school stress. In this study they define the causes of poor
academic performance to two macro groups. They believe that pushing students beyond

their capabilities in turns results in school stress.

Ahmed and Wias (2012) conducted a study to investigate the reasons for low

levels of academic achievement among high school students from the perspective of

teachers and students; the study revealed these reasons, including the large number of

distractions around the students, such as the spread of mobile phones, which means fun,

low motivation of students toward learning, and the weakness of parents’ attention to

follow up on the level of their children.

Rahmaneh (2012) investigates the causes of poor academic achievement among

the students of the main stages in selected schools in the province of Al-Balqa, Jordan.

100 teachers were selected randomly to fill in a 30-item questionnaire. The results of her

study show that the reason for low academic performance fall under the following

themes: focus of the student (89.60%) was the first place followed by the school hub

(79.00%) followed by the family. The study mentioned three main reasons for poor

academic achievement. There’s a lot of reasons why students usually experience poor

academic performance, like low motivation of students towards learning, overused of

mobile gadgets and using social media that leads to poor academic performance.

Therefore, in today’s situation student’s find it more difficult to study because of

distance learning and the students of Polytechnic College of Botolan are affected by it.

Students’ learning and study strategy has consistently been an important predictor

of students’ academic performance. The relationship between students learning and study

strategies and their academic performance is demonstrated by two recent studies. Yip

(2013) found that there were clear differences in the learning and study strategies used by
high school students with high academic performance, compared to those who with low

academic performance.

The low academic performance among the grade 12 learners in Nambiar has

become a matter of concern in schools since independence. The government has ensured

that all the educational resources including school fees are created for ( Namupala, 2013).

Many learners perform poorly in their grade 12 examination in the Zambezi Region .

This is what has prompted this study to critically look at the possible factors that causes

the poor academic performance in the selected schools in Zambezi Region of Nambiar.

Some Nambians like Simasiku , Kasanda and Smit (2015) have explained the teachers

and learners were not so conversant enough to teach and learn school subjects through the

English medium. Furthermore, they have attributed learners’ poor performance in

examinations to factors such as continuous use of English as the medium of instructions

in every subject, lacking the teaching-learning resources and lack of motivation among

others ( Simasiku, Kasanda & Smit, 2015). In this study the problem of low academic

performance of the students in the school are the teachers and students will not

understand, poor comprehension of English and examination, and also lacking the

teaching- learning resources and lock of motivation among others is the most challenging

problems that faces students as well as teachers. This problem has many causes and it has

social, cultural, and psychological dimensions.

According to Menzel, cited by Rana and Kausar (2011) in Mendezabal (2013)

that, many students fail not because they lack ability, but because they do not have

adequate study skills. Students who have difficulty in secondary schools frequently do

not have adequate study habits that affect their academic achievement . A central problem
noted was that many of these students had not learned how to take effective notes and

manage time for studying cited by Mutsotso S.N and Abenga E.S (2010). The attitudes of

students are related to their academic scores for instance with directly affect their

academic performance (Janssen, 2014). Therefore, many students are fail not only

because of lack of ability, but also having difficulty understanding their lessons that is

why students have difficulty in their studies and its affect their performance. The

students were not able to understand the lesson well despite taking down notes and

manage time in their studies, So these problems reflect towards their attitudes.

Many researchers has been discussed the different factors that affects the

students’ academic performance in the research. There are two types of factors that affect

student’s academic performance. These are internal and external classroom factors and

these strongly affect the students’ performance. Internal classroom factor includes

students competence in English, class schedules, class size, English text books, class test

result, learning facilities, homework, environment of the class , complexity of the course

material, teachers role in the class, technology used in the class and exams system.

External classroom factors include extracurricular activities, family problems, work and

financial , social and other problems. Research studies shows that students performance

depends on many factors such as learning facilities, gender and age differences, etc. That

can affect student performance (Hansen, Joe B., 2000). Harb and El-Shaarawi (2006)

found that the most important factor with positive effect on students’ performance is

parental involvement. In this study, many researchers knows what are the causes in their

academic decline, so some problems that affects in their studies are the environment of
the class today’s situation, family problems, work and financial, social and the other

problem. They found that there are weaknesses in the students’ academic achievement.

That’s why the researcher aimed to identify the causes of poor academic

performance from teachers, and students perspective as well as providing possible

solutions to this problem. Therefore, the Polytechnic College of Botolan School also have

an academic problems due to their distractions and problems, and also due to the

existence of distance learning in our community, so the students are more affected in

their studies.

Conceptual Framework

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

The Causes of Low Grade 12 Humanities

Academic Performances and Social Sciences
Figure 1: Paradigm of the Study

Figure 1. demonstrates a conceptual framework research. It consist of two

variables. The causes of poor academic performance as a independent variable and the

Grade 12 Humanities and Social Sciences as dependent variable.

In figure 1, the causes of low academic performance are considered the

independent variable as the cause of the study, and the Grade 12 Humanities and Social

Sciences are considered the dependent variable affected by the cause.

The causes of low academic performance is unable to fulfill its role obligations or

meet the criteria. A student’s academic performance is influenced by several factors,

including the students learning ability, parental background, peer influence, teacher

quality, and learning infrastructure.

 Another variable. Grade 12 Humanities and Social Sciences, that is currently

affecting poor academic performances, because we are still in the middle of a pandemic.

Definition of terms.

Academic Performance.is the measurement of students achievement across various

academic subjects.

Cause. is something that brings about an effect or a result to find the cause of the

accident.

Learning. a process that leads to change which occurs as a result of experience and

increases the potential for improved performance and future learning.

Pandemic. its affect more people and takes more lives than an epidemic.

Low Academic Performance. refers to one who fails to attain a set standard

performance in a given evaluation exercise such as test, examination or series of

continuous assessment.

Student. is a learner or someone who an educational institution.

 CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This part of the study will discuss the methods of research, the research design,

respondents and location, instruments, data collection and data analysis.

Research Design

The type of this research design is phenomenological studies. Phenomenological

is a qualitative research approach that seeks to understand and describe the universal

essence of a phenomenon. Bliss, L (2016) It aims to understand a phenomenon or issue

by exploring the views of those whom experienced the possible causes of poor academic

performances of the HUMSS students. Phenomenological research design requires the

researcher to bracket whatever prior assumption they have about the experience or

phenomenon, and to collect the information that will support their study. Delve. Ho,L..,&

Limpaecher, A (2022). This study focuses only on what causes of poor academic

performances during this pandemic.

Respondents and Location

This study will focus on the 25 selected Grade 12 Senior High School students

taking the strand of Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) regardless of their section

from Polytechnic College of Botolan. The researchers used purposive sampling to select
the set of participants from the population. Below is the table of the section of HUMSS

12, their population, and the selected number of participants needed in this study.

Section Population Sample size

(GRADE 12 HUMSS)
A 41 8
B 36 10
C 19 7
Total 96 25
Table 1: Respondents of the Study

Polytechnic College of Botolan (commonly referred to as PCB) is a state

community college in the Province of Zambales. Established in 2009 as Botolan

Community College, the educational institution primarily offers secondary, tertiary, and

technical vocational education to the town of Botolan and its nearby municipalities. The

campus is located near the Botolan National High School at Barangay Batonlapoc,

Botolan, Zambales. It is a member of the Association of Local Colleges and Universities

in the Philippines.

Figure 2. Map of PCB Showing The Location Of The Study

Instruments
For this study, the researchers will use a virtual survey questionnaire to acquire

the data needed for this study. The questionnaire consists of 2 parts.
 Part 1 of the questionnaire is the respondent’s profile where they fill up their

gender, section, and GWA.

Part 2 is the survey question where the respondents will answer the questions that

will help the researchers in evaluating the causes of poor academic performances of the

Grade 12 HUMSS of the Polytechnic College of Botolan.

Data Collection

The researchers drafted a list of situations and questions about the research

problem of Poor Academic Performance that would be given to the respondents. Once the

research teacher approved the questions, the researchers will conduct a survey through

online with the use of Google forms. The questionnaire will be distributed to 25 student

respondents; 8 from section A, 10 from section B, and 7 from section C. The researchers

will ask assistance on the advisers of the respondents to float the research instrument for

the completion of the needed data to be collected.

Data Analysis

When the respondents are all done answering the questionnaire, the researchers

will prepare the collected data. Once the data is prepared, it will be analyze by the used

of thematic analysis to convert the gathered data. Thematic analysis is a qualitative data

analysis method that involves reading through a data set ( such as transcripts from in

depth interviews or focus group), and identifying patterns in meaning across the data to

derive themes.

As researchers are familiar with the data, they practice thematic analysis coding

and create a set of final codes that represents the meaning and patterns found in the data.
Create a codebook to track your code. Reread the data, identify interesting snippets, and

apply the appropriate code. Excerpts with the same meaning must have the same code.

Then group all the excerpts associated with a particular code. At the moment that the

researchers has got a set of final codes, sort the codes by possible themes. The qualitative

research are a powerful way to find trends and patterns in your data.

Chapter 4
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents the results and interpretation of the findings based on the

collected data, related literature, and studies.

A total of 25 respondents answered the survey questionnaires. The gathered data

will be discussed, analyzed, and interpreted. They are presented in tables followed by the

analysis and discussion

Research Question 1: What is the profile of the respondents in terms of gender,

section, and general weighted average?

The first research question examined the profile of the student-respondents of

Polytechnic College of Botolan, school year 2021-2022. In administering the

questionnaire the respondents wrote their gender, section, and general weighted average.

Table 2 reports the profile of the respondents according to grade level and Table 3

presents the profile of the respondents in terms section, and Table 4 presents the profile

of the respondents in terms of general weighted average.

Table 2: Results on the Profile of the Respondents in terms of Gender

GENDER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Male 13 52%

Female 11 44%
 LGBTQA+ 1 4%

Table 2 provides the results of the data in terms of gender. 52% with a frequency

of 13 are male, 44% with a frequency of 11 are female, while the 4% with a frequency of

1 is a member of LGBTQA+. This data denotes that the majority of the respondents are

male.

Table 3: Results on the Profile of the Respondents in terms of Section

SECTION FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE
Grade 12 HUMSS
A 8 40%

B 10 50%

Table 3 shows the profile of the respondents in terms of their gender. The

results indicated that 40% with a frequency of 8 are the respondents from section

A, 50% with a frequency of 10 are the respondents from section B, and the

remaining 10% with a frequency of 7 respondents are from section C of grade 12

HUMSS.

Table 4: Results on the Profile of the Respondents in terms of

General Weighted Average
General Weighted Average FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

75-79 1 4%

80-84 4 16%

85-89 20 80%

Table 4 shows the result of the profile of the Respondents in terms of general

weighted average of the Grade 12 HUMSS. Out of 25 respondents, 20 students has a

general weighted average of 85-89, with a percentage of 80%. 16% with a frequency of 4
students has a general weighted average of 80-84. The remaining 1 student has a general

weighted average of 75-79, with a percentage of 4%.

Research Question 2: What causes the low academic performance of the Grade 12

HUMSS?

The second question determines the responses of the respondents on the causes of the low

academic performance of the senior high school grade 12 HUMSS. During the

administration, These are the set of questions asked “What do you think are the causes of

your poor academic performance”, “Does our current situation also affect your

academic performance”, and “What are the habits you do that affect your academic

performance?”. To interpret the results, the researchers used a coding technique for each

question.

2.1. What do you think are the causes of your poor academic performance?

The researchers used codes such as “problem with studies”, “family problems”,

and “personal problems” to interpret the answers of the respondents to this question. Out

of 25 respondents, 12 have answered that the cause of their poor academic performance is

related to problems with their studies. Some of the answers are poor understanding of the

lessons in the learning modules, lack of time and focus on the study, unstable internet

connection, and the preferred modality. 2 respondents answered that the cause of their

poor academic performance is related to family problems and the remaining 11

respondents answers are related to personal problems such as laziness, stress, and playing

mobile games. Based on the answers of the participants, the cause of the poor academic

performance of the students is mainly on problems with their studies, and according to
Menzel, cited in Mendezabal (2013) that, many students fail not because they lack ability

but because they do not have adequate study skills.

2.2. Does our current situation also affect your academic performance?

For question 2.2, the researchers provided three choices (yes, no, and maybe) for the

respondents to choose if the current situation affects their academic performance. Of the

25 respondents, 20 answered “yes”, which means that the current situation affects their

academic performance, 2 respondents answered “no”, they believe that the current

situation doesn’t affect their academic performance, and the remaining 3 respondents

answered “maybe” which means that they are not sure if the current situation does really

affect their academic performance. The result in this question denoted that the current

pandemic situation has an effect on the academic performance of the students.

2.3. What are the habits that affect your academic performance?

The researchers used codes such as “spending time on mobile phone”, “playing

sports games”, “work related”, and “laziness” to interpret the answers given by the

respondents to the question “What are the habits that affect your academic

performance?” Out of 25 respondents, 10 answered that the habit affecting their

academic performance is related on spending more time on mobile phone. Some of the

answers are playing mobile games, video games, and scrolling on social media. Playing

basketball is the habit that affects the academic performance of the 3 respondents. 3

respondents answered that work is a habit that affects their academic performance. Lastly,

9 respondents answered laziness-related habits.

Research Question 3. What are the interventions that students can do to avoid poor

academic performance?
The third question determines the responses of the participants on the interventions that

they do to avoid poor academic performance. During the administration, These are the set

of questions asked “What are the activities you can practice to avoid poor academic

performance” “What motivates you to improve your academic performance? and “Can it

really help you to achieve your goal to have a good academic performance”. To interpret

the results, the researchers used a coding technique for each question.

3.1. What are the activities you can practice to avoid poor academic performance?

For question 3.1 the researchers used codes such as “ avoid procrastinating”, “practice

good study habits”, and “time management”, to analyze the answers of the respondents to

this question. Out of 25 participants, 20 have answered that the activities they can

practice to avoid poor academic performance are related to practicing good study habits

such as reading books, passing learning modules on time, watching educational videos,

reciting during online class, and answering all the tasks. Of the remaining 6 participants,

3 of them answered related to avoiding procrastination. And the last 2 participants’

answers are related to time management. From the result of this question, practicing good

study habits can help the students avoid poor academic performance.

3.2. What motivates you to improve your academic performance?

The researchers used “my family, “my goals”, and “finances” as codes to interpret the

results on this question. Out of the 25 participants, 13 answered that their family is their

motivation to improve their academic performance. The 11 participants’ answers are

related to their dreams or goals are their motivation to improve their academic

performance. The motivation to improve the academic performance of the remaining 1

participant is finances. The result shows that the “family” is the main motivation of most

participants to improve their academic performance.

3.3. Based on your answer to question number 5, can it really help you to achieve your

goal to have a good academic performance?

For question 3.3, the researchers provided 2 choices, ( yes and no) for the respondents to

choose if their answer to question number 3.2 can really help them to achieve their goal

to have a good academic performance. Of the 25 respondents, 25 answered yes and that

they all believe that it can help them achieve their goal to have a good academic

performance.

Mendezabal, M. J. N. (2013). Study Habits and Attitudes: The Road to Academic

Success. Open Science Repository Education, Online (open-access), e70081928.
doi:10.7392/Education.70081928