ACTION RESEARCH

BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN TEACHERS’ AUTOCRACY AND

STUDENTS’ TREPIDATION TOWARDS EFFECTIVE LEARNING

Researcher
Chrestine A. Cervantes, Ph.D.

Diagnosing the problem

Every time I conducted classes, I felt that my students had much hesitation
in participating not only in classroom discussions but also in doing their
performance tasks. Upon observing such behaviour of the students, I was worried
knowing that Practical Research required attention and concentration from the
students so that they could produce their own research paper. Indeed, research
writing was not easy. Students’ hesitation bothered me much to the extent that I
kept on thinking how to address this gap. There was no night that I ceased to
figure out what was the cause of the problem. Because I was disturbed by this
situation, I began to ask the students randomly about their reasons why they were
reluctant to participate in my class. Most of them said that they were frightened by
my presence because I was so serious and strict. On the other hand, few
confessed that they could not clearly understand my message because of the
words I used which were new to their senses. It seemed that a needle hit my ego
as a teacher. I thought I have done the best I could, but I was wrong. Suddenly, I
realized that I needed to do something in order to bridge the gap between my
autocracy as a teacher and my students’ trepidation towards effective learning.
Through this experience, I became a reflective teacher. I have come across the
notion of Ulug, Ozden, and Eryilmaz (2011), which clearly stated that positive
attitudes of teachers have positive effects on the performance and personality
developments of the students while negative attitudes have a negative effect on
both the performance levels and personality development of the students. Ulug,
et.al emphasized that teachers were the second-highest determining factor in the
development of individuals, after the parents. This urged me to conduct an action
research to bridge the gap between I and my students so that effective learning
would take place.

Action Planning

I was eager to listen to the outcry of my students. I needed to know their

feelings, comments and suggestions so that I could employ teaching strategies
that would arouse their interest to attend and to participate in my classes. I started
to design interview questions that served as my tool in gathering the data. These
questions were as follows:
1. What personality or character of teachers motivates or inspires you
to go to school?
2. How do you want your teachers to teach you?
Before I conducted the interview and focused group discussion, I saw to it
that students’ identities were kept with anonymity while their responses were
taken with outmost confidentiality. Only those students who were willing to be
interviewed were included. I also assured them that their willingness and/ or
refusal to be part of this study would not affect their grades.
In order to establish trustworthiness of this action research, I followed the
proposition of Lincoln and Guba (1985) of employing four criteria of qualitative
inquiry: credibility, confirmability, transferability and dependability. Also, I
employed purposive sampling in choosing my participants. According to McMillan
and Schumacher (1997), purposive sampling promotes the usage of information
gathered from small samples. Since I handled Practical Research to four sections,
I chose only ten (10) students per section. Students were randomly selected. In
writing the result, I followed the reflection via emic style (Patton, 2002).

Taking Action

Prior to the conduct of this action research, I observed the attitude of my

students towards my subject. I wrote those observations on my journal. Those
observations prompted me to explore students’ trepidation so that I could
effectively connect to them.
During the conduct of the interview and focused group discussion,
participants were truthful in expressing their feelings and in sharing their thoughts
and comments. I took down notes every detail they gave. When they were asked
about the personality or character of teachers that motivates or inspires them to
go to school, participants had varied answers. I was actually expecting to hear
adjectives that connote positive meaning, but it was otherwise. Most of them said
that the teachers they have encountered in senior high school were tough, strict
and worse wicked. Others said that there were teachers who were terror in giving
of activities while few participants blurted out that other teachers were boring.
Though I felt a bit awkward after hearing all those fusses, I remained as objective
as possible. I did not interrupt nor did I give comments. I allowed them to speak
freely.
One thing that bothered me most was the confession of the participants
about cussing. Most of the participants confided that they felt discouraged when
teachers spoke ill words like “puta mo”, “mga piste”, “mga bweshit” and “yawa
mo”. I was speechless for a moment. I could not believe that teachers would utter
those words to the students. I was reminded of the notion of Grecer (2002) that if
a teacher engages in belittling comments towards a student due to his/her failure,
the negative effects of this will be inevitable. He added that being able to interact
with the student and display positive behaviour such as asking questions,
understanding their thoughts, showing interest and appreciation increases the
student’s motivation and success. In the process of intellectual and behavioural
development, teachers become role models for students by way of their own
behaviour and attitude. Positive attitudes lead to success while negative attitudes
lead to failure.
All I wanted was to know what causes students’ hesitation to attend my
classes, but this inquiry led me to a broader spectrum. Teacher factor was one of
the reasons why students were demotivated to perform better in school.
Meanwhile, when participants were asked how they want their teachers to
teach them, they had unanimous answers. They liked teachers who can inject
humour in their classes no matter how serious the subjects were. They preferred
teachers who can connect to them; those who could inspire them to study harder.
Most importantly, they needed teachers who have great sense of sensibility. This
was supported by the proposition that teachers in the 21st century have duty and
responsibility in not just ensuring intellectual development but also character
development. The fulfilment of this responsibility is only possible through the
teachers being able to develop healthy personality values themselves as well as
providing efficiency in their relationship with students so as to allow them to
develop their personality freely (Ulug, Ozden, Eryilmaz, 2011; Can, 2011;
Inelmen, 2011).
While listening to the thoughts and feelings of the participants, I was deeply
moved. I realized how insensitive I was. I might have mastery of the subject
matter I was teaching, but I lacked passion in educating the hearts of these
youngsters. Ulug, et. al (2011) explained that the abilities and characteristics that
are necessary in order to be a good teacher are also the same factors that define
a good education. Hence a good teacher must possess the eight basic
characteristics, which are: knowledge of material, decision making, problem
solving ability, self-understanding and self-correction, reflecting, recognizing
student and knowing student’s needs, applying new findings in education, and
teaching and communicating ability.
The following meeting, I tried to change what I accustomed to. I exerted
effort to be accommodating to all the queries of my students even to those
nonsense questions. I established a friendly environment. At times, I cracked
jokes relevant to our lessons. I started to put a smile on my face. True enough,
little by little, I earned their respect.

Evaluating

After listening to the clamours of the students, I felt a bit disappointed.

Such disappointment was on me because after all these years my autocracy has
a negative impact on my students. I thought that it was one way of imposing
discipline among them, but I was wrong once again. Nevertheless, I could still
change my misconceptions. I knew it was never too late to start anew.
I must admit, at first, I was in denial. I could not believe that my attitude
towards my students impacted their interest and motivation. My intention was to
give them more knowledge on the subject matter. I cared less about their feelings
without knowing that educating the heart of the students was also vital in the
teaching and learning process. Then I realized that I had to change for the better.
The succeeding meetings turned out to be productive. I transformed myself
from an autocratic teacher to a democratic one. I always involved my students in
making decisions particularly on their performance tasks. I allowed them to make
their own rubric on how they wanted to be graded. I noticed an increase in
students’ participation since then. Every time they negotiated with me, we always
consider the pros and cons of their request. In that way, they realized that not all
requests will be granted. This conformed to the study conducted by Frymier
(1993). She found that certain positive behaviour of teachers such as giving
feedback for students’ works, complementing, wanting to listen to students and
involving them in decision making significantly increases students’ motivation
level. Results further showed that teachers’ nonverbal actions such as smiling,
having a relaxed stance, various gestures and facial expressions come first in
improving the learning experience of students whereas the topic of the class itself
comes second.

Specifying Learning

Before the conduct of this action research, students had much hesitation in
attending my classes. At times, they were tardy if not absent. They showed less
interest in my class. I felt disturbed and bothered. I tried to figure out what causes
this students’ trepidation towards learning my subject. After I conducted an
interview and focused group discussion, all my quandaries were answered. I
learned that it was my attitude towards the students that caused this hesitation. I
admitted my lapses as a teacher. Eventually, I changed not only my attitude but
also my approach in the class. I transformed myself from an autocratic to a
democratic teacher. Little by little, I earned students’ trust and respect.
Consequently, I began to develop sensibility towards them. I tried to
connect to them the best way I could. Fortunately they were responsive. From
then on, my serious class became an enjoyable environment for effective
learning.

References

Can, G. (2011). Development of personality. Educational Psychology:

Development-Learning Teaching 7th ed (119-151)

Frymier, A.B., (1993). The impact of teacher immediacyon students’ motivation. Is

it the same for all students? Communication Quarterly, 41, 454-464

Grecer, A.K. (2002). The effect of teacher immediacy on students’ performance,

attitude and motivation. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of
Ankara, Ankara
Inelmen, E. (2011). Integrating al learning activities around a city study curriculum.
Cypriot Journal of Educationaal Sciences, 6(1), 37-45.

Lincoln, Y.S. & Guba, E.G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage

McMiIlan, J.H. and Shumacher, S. (1997). Research in education: a conceptual

introduction. N.Y. Addison- Wesley Educational Publishers Inc.

Patton, M.Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Thousand

Oaks, C.A: Sage Publication

Ulug, M., Ozden,M.S., Eryilmaz, A. (2011). The effects of teachers’ attitudes on

students’ personality and performance. Procedia_Social and Behavioral
Sciences 30 (2011)738-742

Conducted by:

CHRESTINE A. CERVANTES, PhD

Senior High School Teacher III

Noted:

ROAR A. CALLAMAN
SHS Academic Coordinator

Recommending Approval:

JOSE O. OGUIS ELEANOR A. MALLABO

Master Teacher II Master Teacher I

MEDILYN B. UTONG MIRASOL O. FABUNA

Master Teacher I Master Teacher II

Approved:

NELMA LYN R. BARNIJA

Public School District Supervisor
Cluster IV- Division of Davao City