A substantial body of research has documented associations between academic behavior and academic performance. A topic like this has relevance from an educational perspective that views behavior as a significant factor to obtaining optimal education. The fact that some students with apparently high scholastic aptitude do very poorly in high school while others with only mediocre ability do very well has presented a challenge to many educators. It has been observed that hard working students with high IQs sometimes do not perform as well as their classmates with lower IQs (Harvey, 2001).
Learning is defined as a knowledge or skill acquired through study or by being taught. Learning is reflected in the way a child responds to environmental, social, emotional and physical stimuli and understands new information (Collins Concise Dictionary and Thesaurus of English Language, 2002). The keys to better learning and better academic performance in schools are good teachers, good study environment, course of study, parents’ cooperation, high quality books and, the most important, the study habits (Robinson, 2000). Study habit is the tendency of a student to learn in a systematic and efficient way, when opportunity is given.
It is also defined as the devotion of time and attention to acquire information or knowledge especially from books or in other words it’s the pursuit of academic knowledge by a detailed investigation of a subject or situation (Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus of English Language, 2003). Thus, in order to improve academic performance of students, it seems essential to improve their study habits or academic behavior without which desired outcomes cannot be achieved.
Academic performance is a complex student behavior and underlies several abilities, e. g., memory, previous knowledge or aptitude as well as psychological factors such as motivation, interests, temperaments or emotions, to name a few (Deary, Whiteman, Starr, Whalley, and Fox, 2004). Educational psychologists and researchers have argued that there are many determinants of academic performance, one of them being academic behavior (Chamorro-Permuzic and Furnham, 2003). With standards increasing for educating students, ensuring the growth of every student can be challenging. However, there are, on occasion, obstacles to achieving this goal.
For example, student classroom behaviors can often impact the amount and quality of instruction in the classroom, especially, if the behaviors are negative and disruptive in nature. When these behaviors occur within the classroom setting, it is often difficult for the teacher to simultaneously redirect or discipline the student and provide quality instruction. Schools are communities, and care can be taken to ensure that each and every student has a purposeful connection with at least one adult in the environment. Positive behaviors can be therefore be considered as a prerequisite for learning.
However, behavior is more complex and typically varies from student to student. Thus, students’ behavior inside the school premises, their interaction with teachers, peers and how they react to activities and tasks among others reflect the complexity of students’ experiences in the school setting. It cannot be undermined that one of the key elements for obtaining optimal academic achievement is the student’s academic behavior a student’s outlook, choice, his/her persistence, his/her efforts in learning and how he/she relates to the people that make up the school community.
These reactions and interactions enable levels of learning that simply wouldn’t be possible for students to accomplish on their own. Background of the Study In the history of General Emilio Aguinaldo as a municipality, the cross, signifying the church, preceded the sword, signifying the state. Bailen, the town’s former name, was a Catholic parish before it became a municipality. A petition from 45 prominent citizens of Bailen made it a municipality in 1858; in 1903, however, Bailen was annexed as a barrio of Alfonso for the reason that it’s limited finance did not permit it to continue as a municipality.
Only in 1915 was it reverted to an independent municipality. On June 1965, Republic Act 4346 was passed by Congress changing the name of the town Bailen to General Emilio Aguinaldo. Established in June 1973, General Emilio Aguinaldo National High School (GEANHS) has a current total student population of 1,041. There are 27 male and female teachers providing education for the students while 5 more non-teaching staff of GEANHS also provides assistance and guidance. The school campus is quite spacious and about one half of which is devoted to 21 classrooms and 4 offices.
However, with its current population, the classrooms and school premises can be considered as congested at any one time. Fifty (50) or more students make up one class. Children are the clients of the school system. They make up the students in the educational system. How the students perform academically depend largely on how they behave academically. A negative academic behavior, more often than not, results to academic failures. Inversely, positive academic behavior result to better academic achievements. The past few years, the school administrator, teaching and non-teaching staff at GEANHS in Gen.
Emilio Aguinaldo, Cavite, have witnessed and observed their share of dire consequences resulting from aggressive and mild violent behaviors perpetuated by students both in and out of the school premises. It cannot be denied that more and more students from this high school became involved in fraternities, thus, engaged in fraternity wars and other in-and-out of campus violent acts. Some of the students belonging to higher year levels even had drink and drug-related problems that affected their grades and the way they dealt with their classmates and teachers in school.
Additionally, a few of the older students who were in relationships with the opposite gender exhibited unnecessary affectionate behaviors inside and outside of classrooms that disrupted class activities and set undesirable examples to younger high school students. These behaviors have been considered as one of the factors that may have influenced the academic performance of 3rd year students at GENHS in a negative manner. This study has important implications for fostering behavioral maturity among students that would ultimately benefit the students in terms of academic achievement.
Regardless of perspective, a clear understanding of the relationship between behavior and academic performance would help generate appropriate assessment, prevention, and intervention strategies for at-risk or troubled youth. Theoretical Framework One of the biggest impacts that behavior analysis of child development has had is on the field of education. In education, there are many different kinds of learning that are required for later interaction in the world.
Such aspects of learning include socialization and peer interaction, the development of which are deemed crucial for a growing child. Each child’s personality traits come in opposite, it may be optimistic or pessimistic, independent or dependent, emotional or unemotional. Many of these are inborn temperament traits, but other characteristics such as aggressiveness or passiveness, feeling competent or inferior, appear to be learned, based on the challenges and support that a person received growing up.
Erikson’s theory of Identity vs. Role Confusion, covering the ages of 13 to 19 years states that as children make the transition from childhood to adulthood, adolescents ponder the roles they will play in the adult world. Initially, they are apt to experience some role confusion—mixed ideas and feelings about the specific ways in which they will fit into society—and may experiment with a variety of behaviors and activities (e. g. tinkering with cars, baby-sitting for neighbors, affiliating with certain political or religious groups).
Erikson is credited with coining the term "Identity Crisis. " Each stage that came before and that follows has its own 'crisis', but even more so now, for this marks the transition from childhood to adulthood. This turning point in human development seems to be the reconciliation between 'the person one has come to be' and 'the person society expects one to become'. This emerging sense of self will be established by 'forging' past experiences with anticipations of the future.
Given the right conditions, what may emerge is a firm sense of identity, an emotional and deep awareness of who he or she is. Oftentimes, this leads to conflict with adults over religious and political orientations. Another area where teenagers are deciding for themselves is their studies and career choice, and oftentimes parents want to have a decisive say in that role. If society is too insistent, the teenager will acquiesce to external wishes, effectively forcing him or her to ‘foreclose’ on experimentation and, therefore, true self-discovery (Wilder, 2003).
Kail and Cavanaugh (2004), exploring Erikson’s theory, further stated that as children make the transition from childhood to adulthood, teens may begin to feel confused or insecure about themselves and how they fit in to society. As they seek to establish a sense of self, teens may experiment with different roles, activities and behaviors. Accordingly, this is important to the process of forming a strong identity and developing a sense of direction in life.
Those who receive proper encouragement and reinforcement through personal exploration will emerge from this stage with a strong sense of self and a feeling of independence and control. Those who remain unsure of their beliefs and desires will insecure and confused about themselves and the future. Bosch and Hixson (2004), on the other hand, exploring behavioral activation theory outlined by Charles Ferster, and later continued by Peter Lewisohn and Hyman Hops, explained the role of negative reinforcement in children, some of these variables could set the pattern for lifelong problems.
For example, a child whose behavior functions for negative reinforcement by stopping fighting between parents could develop a lifelong pattern of depressive behavior in the case of conflicts. Two paths that are particularly important are first, the lack or loss of reinforcement because of missing necessary skills at a developmental cusp point or second, the failure to develop adequate rule-governed behavior.
For the latter, the child could develop a pattern of always choosing the short-term small immediate reward (i. e., escaping studying for a test) at the expense of the long-term larger reward (passing courses in school). In addition, use of positive reinforcement has been shown to improve the self-concept in children with depression co morbid with learning difficulties. Dunst and Kassow (2004), using B. F. Skinner’s theory on behaviorism, stated that any behavior that is positively reinforced, or rewarded, will repeat itself, especially over time. Second, this repetition, over time, will lead to the desired behavior becoming a habit.
What this means in real terms is that an object's behavior over time can be predicted on the basis of its previous experiences. Things that have provided it pleasure will be pursued; things that provide it pain will be avoided. For students in a classroom, for example, positive behavior is encouraged through the promise of rewards. Bad behavior is responded to with negative consequences. The social vision of Skinner was based on the idea that the interests, motivations and drives of specific individuals or even groups could be understood if a full history of that person's experiences could be ascertained.
In other words, if a person had a history of parental neglect, this would explain the patient's interest in community or a cynicism toward the family, the school, and the community where he belongs. The mental makeup of a person, according to Skinner's theory, could be understood and behaviors predicted through the history of what has been provided or deprived from that person's life with sufficient frequency to create a habitual attitude.
