THE EFFECT OF MOBILE PHONE ON THE ACADEMIC LEARNING AMONG

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS OF JABONGA NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

A Research Presented to the

Faculty of Senior High School
JABONGA NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Jabonga, Agusan del Norte

In Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for
the Subject Project Research

Submitted by:

Charles Cabanlit, et.al

November 2023

Chapter 1
 The Problem and Its Background

Introduction

When pandemic stroke the country and the world, it brought about drastic changes not

just in the Philippines but throughout the world. Economy dived downhill as the virus spread

from one country to another. Cases continuously spiked up as variants also threatened public

health in which governments from various countries employed restrictions to eliminate cases.

We are up against an unseen enemy, one of the hardest battles we have ever faced, one that

has impacted all aspects of our lives: job, family, leisure time, and, most importantly, our

educational system. Restrictions imposed by the IATF due to the Covid-19 pandemic,

students in schools have been unable to attend their lessons (Caaya, 2012).

The term "new normal" was commonly used throughout the pandemic, and the new

normal in education is the increased usage of online learning resources. Educational

institutions all across the world adopt online learning to assist students in continuing their

studies. A customized teaching style based on online learning has become the new standard.

Since technological advancement took place even in education, does it equate to higher

academic performance? Academic performance is the ability to study and remember facts, as

well as the ability to communicate the knowledge verbally or non – verbally (Caaya, 2012).

In 2003, DepEd released Order No.83 reiterated the Department’s previous Orders

such as DO 26, s.2000 and DO.70, s.1999 both of which imposed a ban on the use of cellular

phones by students during class hours. The prohibition applies to elementary and secondary

schools nationwide whether public or private.

A mobile phone is an electronic device that allows two-way radio communication

across a cellular network of base stations known as cell sites. We are currently in the fifth

generation of mobile phones, which allow us to send text messages, surf the internet, and

make phone calls from anywhere in the world. One of the world's fastest-growing new
technologies is the mobile phone. Many people feel anxious about a future without voice

calling, text messaging, or mobile internet access. Individuals of all ages use mobile phones,

which have become an essential tool in daily life. It has had a significant impact on society's

accessibility, security, safety, and coordination of economic and social activities and has

become reflected in global culture. (Soyemi, 2015).

Mobile phones undoubtedly helped individuals in several ways, but they also had

some negative consequences. Mobile phone use has become an addiction in some

circumstances, and people are hooked up to their phones most of their working hours,

studying, playing, and even sleeping. Our culture, behavior, attitude, and language are all

influenced by mobile phones. As well as our health, education, and communication patterns

are affected (Caaya, 2012).

She further continued asserting that students of nowadays time prefers having mobile

phone in order to get connected to the world and its real problem-situations. Most of them

bring their cellphones to school as a routine included in the list of their school supplies to

brought to school. But, not minding the danger it will bring them once they got too attached

and addicted to it. But still, it all depends on them, how they set their minds on the habits of

using it, with these fact, mobile phones can become a positive academic tool or a destructive

academic interruption.

Keeping students from using their phones during class hours is the most challenging

task for teachers. The use of this device appears to be uncontrollable among students,

resulting in distractions. In this era of Information & Technology, most of the tasks or work

humans perform are carried out online especially in most offices.

As a result, internet enabled mobile phones are helpful in this situation. However, controlling

the usage of mobile phones during class hours is a challenge since everybody is using phone

itself in delivering instructions and learning as well. Use of mobile phones is prohibited
inside the classroom during class hours but what if the mobile phone is the very instrument to

continue learning. Due to the pandemic, gadgets are used by learners especially mobile

phones in communicating, searching, editing etc. Thus, the researchers want to know the

extent of how mobiles phones affect students’ academic performance (Caaya, 2012).

Statement of the Problem

The researchers’ aim is to determine the effect of mobile phones on academic

performance of senior high school students of Jabonga National High School in Jabonga,

Agusan del Norte.

Specifically, it will also seek answers on the following:

1.What is the profile of the respondents in terms of the following: a. Age; b. gender; GPA

(Q1&2)

2. What are the effects of mobile phones on academic performance of senior high school

students of Jabonga NHS?

3.Is there a significant relationship between the profile of the respondents to the influence of

mobile phone usage on academic performance?

Objective of the Study

The general objective of this study is to assess the effect of mobile phones on

students' performance. The specific objectives are to

1. Profile the respondents in terms of a. age; b. gender

2. To determine the extent of mobile phone use among the SHS students of JNHS in terms of

a. academic performance b. behavior

3. Determine the extent to which mobile phones are incorporated into participants’ lives.

Hypothesis
HO1. Students' performance was affected by their use of mobile phones.

HO2. - Mobile phones are important gadgets in our current technological age, so they are

helpful for academic purposes.

Significance of the Study

The findings of this study will help the community's benefit considering that phone

usage is prevalent nowadays which will justify the need for more teaching and learning

intervention. Thus, schools that apply the results of this study will be able to have an efficient

teaching learning process.

The finding of this research will prove to be useful to the following; T

The Learners. This study will help the learners to acquire learning skills and intervention.

Probably, it will augment their academic performance.

The Teachers. This study will allow the teacher to select the most appropriate teaching

strategies, learning tasks and materials that will cater to the needs of the learners.

The School Head. This study will prompt the school head to review or revise curriculum for

learners to grow holistically. An appropriate curriculum will therefore provide appropriate

output and the results would greatly affect the overall academic performance of the students.

The Parents. The result of this study will give an idea to the parents about the needs of their

children with regard to the use of mobile phones.

The Community. This study makes them aware of the problem face by educators and

propels them to be involved.

The Future Researchers. The information and insights that will be gained from this study

may serve as a guide in framing their conceptual frameworks and design and at the same time

encourage them to conduct parallel study within their area of preferences.

Theoretical Framework

There are many theories that surrounded the use of mobile phone or technology in

learning my means of online platform and four (4) of them are the anchorage or foundations

of many other parallel studies and so with the present study.

One to mention was proposed by Blooms (1968) which is called Master Learning

Theory (MLT) which an approach to education or training that focuses heavily on ensuring

overall competence. Proficiency is ultimately the priority. As a result, the paradigm embraces

a range of mechanisms designed to make sure that every learner is able to achieve the

required level of competence.

Second on the list was proposed by MacMillan’s and Chavi’s (1986) Sense of

Community Theory (SCT). Third, is the Online Sense of Community (OSC) which was also

proposed by Rovai’s (2009) and Sarason (1974) wherein they both defined it as a

theory meant to capture the feeling people experience when they perceive themselves as

having an interdependent connection with a broader community outside themselves.

This theory was meant to capture the feeling people experience when they perceive

themselves as having an interdependent connection with a broader community outside

themselves and last but not the least is the Technology Acceptance Model (ATM) proposed by

Davis (1989) which was referred to have been one of the most influential models of

technology acceptance, with two primary factors influencing an individual’s intention to use

new technology: perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness.

 Sense of Community
Theory (SCT by
MacMillan’s and
Chavi’s (1986)

Online Sense of
Master Learning Community (OSC)
Theory (MLT) by by Rovai’s (2009)
Blooms (1968) and Sarason (1974)

focuses heavily on both defined it as a

ensuring overall theory meant to
competence capture the feeling
people experience
when they perceive
themselves as having
EFFECTS OF MOBILE
an interdependent
PHONE TO ACADEMIC
connection with a
PERFORMANCES
broader community
AMONG SHS STUDENTS
outside themselves
OF JABONGA NHS

Master Learning
Theory (MLT) by
Blooms (1968)
focuses heavily on
ensuring overall
competence

Figure 1. Theoretical Framework of the Study

 Conceptual Framework

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

1. Profile of the respondents in

terms of :

a. Age Clear priorities

b. Gender between their
En c. GPA (Q1 & Q2) responsibilities,
Conduct of the survey
commitments and
2. Perceived effect on the use of mobile phone usage.
Gathering of data
mobile phone thru:
a. academic performance Analysis of data
b. interaction competency Competent Senior
Interpretation of data
c. smartphone self-efficacy High School graduates
d. behavioral intention to use Reporting of REsult
smartphone.

Figure 2. Schematic Diagram showing the IPO of the Study

Definition of Terms

The following are the Terms are purposely defined for better understand as they are
operationally used in this study.

Academic Learning. The acquisition of skills that form the core of the general curriculum in
schools including mathematics, language arts, social studies, and science

Master Learning Theory (MLT). An approach to education or training that focuses heavily

on ensuring overall competence. Proficiency is ultimately the priority. As a result, the

paradigm embraces a range of mechanisms designed to make sure that every learner is able to

achieve the required level of competence.

Sense of Community Theory (SCT). A theory meant to capture the feeling people experience

when they perceive themselves as having an interdependent connection with a broader

community outside themselves.

Online Sense of Community Theory (OSCT). Defined as a theory meant to capture the

feeling people experience when they perceive themselves as having an interdependent

connection with a broader community outside themselves.

Technology Acceptance Model (ATM). Referred to have been one of the most influential

models of technology acceptance, with two primary factors influencing an individual’s

intention to use new technology: perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness.

Chapter 2
 Review of Related Literature and Studies

This chapter concentrates on outcomes for senior Indigenous students in an urban

school setting so the literature review confines itself to those parameters, except where more

general studies are deemed to have applicability.

Foreign Study

In 2018, approximately 77 percent of America’s inhabitants owned a smartphone

(Pew Research Center, 2018), which they defined to be a mobile phone that performs many

of the functions of a computer as added by (Alosaimi, Alyahya, Alshahwan, Al Mahyijari, &

Shaik, 2016).

To add, a survey conducted by Smith (2015) showed that 46 percent of Americans

reported that they could not live without their smartphone. Similar numbers can be observed

in other parts of the (Western) world (OECD, 2017). Therefore, it should come as no surprise

that in recent years discussions about the (potential) consequences of (heavy) smartphone use

have earned an important place in societal debates (see, e.g. Eliahu, 2014; OECD, 2017).

Simultaneously, the possible effects of smartphone use received increasing interest

from scientists in different disciplines. As such, scholars have investigated associations

between smartphone use and smartphone addiction and, for example, (a) driving performance

(Choudhary & Velaga, 2019); (b) sleep quality and quantity (Demirci, Akgönül, & Akpinar,

2015); (c) anxiety, loneliness, and depression (Boumosleh & Jaalouk, 2017); (d) satisfaction

with life (Samaha & Hawi, 2016); (e) social relationships (Chen & Peng, 2008); (f) substance

addictions (Ho et al., 2014); and (g) attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (Ho et al.,

2014).

Further, (potential) impact on people’s private life, smartphone use is also expected to

interfere with individuals’ educational and professional life. It has been related to tertiary
students’ academic performance in particular. Smartphone ownership is highest among

people aged 18–29 (Pew Research Center, 2018), an age group in which students are highly

represented.

Moreover, there are many theoretical reasons based on which a direct effect of

(heavy) smartphone use on academic performance is expected. To the best of our knowledge,

23 studies confront the theoretical expectations with the empirical reality. The present review

is the first to compile the existing literature on the impact of general smartphone use (and

addiction) on performance in tertiary education. The researchers believe that a synthesis of

this literature is valuable to both academics and policy makers.

Firstly, as we focus on divergences in the empirical findings—ergo, aspects in which

there is no consensus in the literature—and (methodological) limitations of existing studies,

we explicitly provide scholars with directions for fruitful future research. Secondly, while in

several countries, interventions have been developed to discourage heavy smartphone use in

class because it is believed to obstruct knowledge acquisition (e.g. in France, a smartphone

ban was introduced into schools in 2017 and according to Samuel (2017), it is unclear

whether these popular perceptions correspond with a consensus in the related scientific

literature.

The work of Gilroy (2004), pointed out that 85% of professors surveyed in Germany

stated that they wanted cell phones banned form tertiary education mainly because of

students cheating in tests, accessing unfiltered internet sites and secretly taking pictures

without permission. Cell phone use has also been found to reduce students thinking abilities

and shortening the attention span of students dramatically that students struggle to read

anything longer than a social network posting (Young:1996).

Local Study
 Aquino (2019) on her work made mentioned McNeal and Hooft (2006), wherein they

found out in their study that cell phones are important resource which make teaching more

relevant and meaningful thereby improving students’ literacy and numeracy skills.

He further mentioned Attewell (2004)’s work on how cell phone use encourages both

independent and collaborative learning experiences and in the process of raising self-esteem

and self-confidence as well as the work of Kukulska-Hulme and TRaxter (2007) wherein they

believed that cell phones are forms of multiple literacy which provides a bridge between the

real-life texts of the community and formal learning thereby providing a multimodal literacy

approach to learning.

Further Kukulska-Hulme and Traxter (2007) revealed how cell phones facilitate

designs for authentic learning leading to personalized learning that largely targets real world

problems and involves projects of relevance and interest to the learner. Cell phone use has

also been found to support lifelong learning that occurs during everyday life and learning that

occurs in spontaneity and impromptu settings and outside the formal environment Brown

(2005).

But, despite the perceived positive effect of mobile phone, Kawasaki (2006), Jeen-

Hynn et al., (2008) and Ling (2005) reported that students who are preoccupied with their

mobile phones tend to experience psychological disturbances, depression, lower self-esteem

and interpersonal anxiety when they study without their cell phones.

This reason makes Helszer (2004) reported how some Education administrators spend

much time and energy developing policies and procedures to keep cell phones out of

education at the expense of International Journal of Education and Research Vol. 1 No. 10

October 2013 developing sound policies that integrate cell phone use as knowledge

construction and data tools.

 Chapter 3
Research Methodology

This chapter presents the methods that will be employed in the study like the Research
design, research local, research tools, research instruments use and the statistical treatments
to be employed to analyze the data.

Research Design

The method of research that will be used in the conduct of the study is the descriptive

correlation method. It will be used to describe of the perceived effects of using mobile

phone in the academic performance of the Senior High School students of Jabonga NHS. A

structured questionnaire will be used in gathering the data that will be pretested and validated

before it will be finally administered to the participants.

Research Locale

The study will be conducted in Jabonga National High School which is located in

Mayugda, Jabonga, Agusan del Norte. A 15-20 minutes ride away from the national high

way using a motorized trisikad, a 10-15 minutes ride using a private motorcycle. Jabonga

NHS has offered three (3) strands EIM, CSS and HUMSS consisting of 2 sections for EIM,

2 sections from CSS and 1 section for HUMSS which data taken from Learners’ Information

System of Jabonga NHS.

 Further, Jabonga NHS has a total SHS enrollment of 212, 98 of them are from Grade

11 (58 females and 40 males) and 114 are from Grade 12 (48 females and 66 males). There

are two (2) buildings secluded for SHS students alone, one of the two buildings have 6

rooms with two (2) floors and the other one has three (3) rooms but two (2) only of the

rooms were utilized as classrooms since the other room was used temporarily as stock room.

Figure 1. Map showing Jabonga, Agusan del Norte as the Place of the Study.

Research Instrument
The researcher will adopt an existing survey questionnaire from a parallel study of

Caaya (2005). This instrument will aim to determine the factors that Structured questionnaires

will be used to gather information from the respondents. The questionnaires will be designed

in 2 sections. Section A consists of the respondents’ profile, and section B contains questions

based on the set research questions.

 The questionnaire will be disseminated to the participants in a face-to-face manner to

gather the needed information. Part I of the questionnaire will be composed of the

demographic profile of the respondents which includes name, age and gender. While the

second part of the questionnaire is about the perceived effect of the phone on the academic

performance of the learners.

The survey questionnaire was adopted and revised from the parallel study of (Caaya,

2021) which was also subjected to three (3) language teachers and or teachers who are master

and have knowledge of research for validation on the contents of the questions.

Table 1. Arbitrary Scale Used to Interpret the Perceived Effect of Phone Usage among the
Respondents

Research Sample

The population of the study are the Senior High School students enrolled in the

current year 2022-2023. A total of 210 SHS enrollment, 98 of them are from Grade 11 (58

females and 40 males) and 112 are from Grade 12 (46 females and 66 males). A total of 168

students were identified which will be used as the participants of the study.

This sample size was determined by deducting the 20% of the total population which

is 42 students and that makes it 168 students. Then 42 students were deducted from the total
population of 210, that makes it 168 total student samples only. Then divided by 4 (4)

sections (Awasan, Pijape, Pitogo and Uba), so that makes it 44 samples per section as the

chosen samples to take part on the survey. The table below shows the distribution of the

participants.

Table 2. Participants of the study

Strands of Participants Males Females Total Number of
Populatio chosen
n participants
Grade-11 AWASAN 19 33 52 42
Grade-11 PITOGO 49 1 50 42
Grade-11 PIJAPE 29 1 30 42
Grade-11 UBA 10 11 21 42
TOTAL 107 46 153 168

Sampling Technique

The current study will use the Simple Random Sampling wherein the total population

was deducted with 20% and the answer will be deducted to the total population and divide it

to the sections or no. of groups of participants. Then the result would be the only chosen

individuals to take part of the survey.

This study will use total simple random sampling the whole population will be

multiped with .20% then the answer will be deducted to the total population, then the answer

will again be divided to how many target groups will be studied.

Structured questionnaires will be used to gather information from the respondents.

The questionnaires will be designed in 2 sections. Section A consists of the respondents’

profile, and section B contains questions based on the set research questions.

Research Statistics

The questionnaires will be designed in 2 sections. Section A consists of the

respondents’ profile, and section B contains questions based on the set research questions.
Data Analysis The following statistical tools were utilized in the analysis and interpretation

of the data gathered: Frequency Tally and Percentage.

Statistical tool will be employed to categorize the responses of the student -

participants in each specific question reflected in the survey questionnaire.

Formula: P = (f/n) 100%

Where: P= percentage

f= frequency

n=total number of respondents

Mean. This refers to the average of the sum of the observed values divided by the

number of observations (Subong & Beldia, 2005). This was used to categorize and

supplement the responses of the student - participants on their assessment on phone usage.

Formula: μ= Σfx/n

Where: μ = mean

Σ = (sigma) summation

fx = product of the frequency and the weight of the summative

n=total number of participants Correlation.

The correlation is one of the most common and most useful statistics. A correlation

is a single number that describes the degree of relationship between two variables.

Formula: r= (NΣxy-(Σx)(Σy))/√([NΣx^2-(Σx)^2 ][NΣy^2-(Σy)²)

Where: N = number of pairs of scores

Σxy = sum of the product of the paired scores

Σx = sum of the x scores

Σy = sum of y scores

Σx2 = sum of squared x scores

Σy2 = sum of squared y scores

 The data gathered will be analyzed and interpreted using the following:

Frequency and Percentage Distribution- used to determine the respondents’ profile in

terms of age, sex and course.

Weighted Mean Distribution- used to determine the respondents’ perception on the impacts

of using mobile phones to their academic performance.

Pearson- r Analysis – used to determine the relationship between the respondents’ profile in

terms of age and the respondents’ academic performance. It will also be used to determine the

relationship between the respondents’ perception on the impacts of using mobile phones to

their academic performance

Data Gathering Procedure

The researchers sought approval to conduct the study from the Principal. As

permission was granted, the researchers administered the questionnaires to the identified

respondents. Participation of the respondents was voluntary; no one was forced to participate.

The researchers opted to tap the advisers for assistance in the distribution and collection of

the survey questionnaires to the target respondents. Then, the researchers retrieved and

compiled the disseminated questionnaires and submitted them to the statistician for the data

to be tallied, tabulated, interpreted and analyzed.