Undergraduate Thesis

The main thrust of the investigation is to determine and analyze the problems encountered of the college literature students in Olivarez College in understanding and appreciating literature. Specifically it sought answers to the following questions: 1. What is the profile of the students-respondents in terms of 1.1 Age, 1.2 Gender: 1.3 Education of parents; 1.4 Income of parents; 1.5 Textbooks and references read at home; 1.6 Motivation styles; and, 1.7 Attitudes and practices of students toward literature? 2. What are the problems of college literature students in understanding and appreciating literature as categorized by the following literary genres. a. Poetry, b. Drama; and, c. Essay? 3. Is there any significant relationship between the students' profile of age, income of parents, attitudes and practices and the problems they encountered in understanding and appreciating literature? The descriptive method was employed using the questionnaire, interviews and library research to generate data about the problems of college literature students of Olivarez College in understanding and appreciating literature. It is anchored on the "theories of learning" that all knowledge must come from the senses. Man may be borne with capacity to acquire knowledge, but everything we know, we tell comes from experiences The thinking of the following well-known theorists supports this study: John Locke's theory of individual differences states, "that all men differ in all sorts of ways. They differ in physical dimensions, in strength, in interest and skill," Guthrie's Theory of Learning that "the ability to learn means to respond differently in a situation because the response to the situation is what distinguishes living creatures from those endowed with common sense;" Thorndike's law of readiness, "that when a condition unit is ready to conduct, condition by it is satisfying and nothing can alter its action," Whiting and Childi motivation theory, "that few basic motives acquired in early life proliferates into behavior are influenced by this common motives with the use of stimulus-response relationships learning; And the Gestalt Theory of Learning, "that using insight as a basic principle explains learning in terms of modification that takes place in response to meaningful patterns in configuration. The statistical techniques used were percentage, frequency, mean and chi-square The following findings were disclosed in this study: 1. Students Profile a Age - There were 56 or 45% of the students aged from 17-19, 47 or 46% from 20-40, and 1 or 1% from 41 and above. The results indicated that students were already matured enough to determined the problems they encountered in studying literature. b. Gender - among the 104 students respondents there were seventy-five 75 or 72% females and twenty-nine 29 or 28% males. There were more females than males in the study. c. Education of Parents - There were 9 or 9% of the students fathers and 9 or 9% of their mothers were elementary graduates; 32 or 31% of their fathers and 42 or 40% of their mothers finished high school; and 63 or 61% of the student's fathers and 53 or 51% of their mothers reached or finished college. Parents were educated so they can assist their children in their studies. d. Income of Parents - Many of the parents earned to sustain their economic needs. It means that most of the parents of the students of Olivarez College belonged to the middle class. These could indicate that parents can afford to finance the education of their children especially in terms of books, magazines, reading materials and projects so that students may be spared from encountering problems in their studies, because the have enough and suitable references as they study literature. e. Textbooks/References used Teacher used different textbooks/references as revealed in the study however these textbooks/ references are not yet enough in accumulating knowledge and understanding and appreciating the literary pieces. f. Motivation Styles Teachers used high extent of motivation style in teaching literature. This reveals that they tried their best to make their students gain more knowledge in understanding / appreciating literature. Nevertheless, because of some factors which affected the teaching-learning situation, students still encountered problems in these literary works. Students had moderate extent on the problems in understanding poetry, drama and essay. This is due perhaps to the different factors which affected their learning such as; financial difficulties, lack of moral assistance. Etc. g. Attitudes and practices of students toward literature. Students had moderate level of attitudes toward literature. The students sometimes spoke English during class discussion, sometimes expressed their ideas fluently in English, sometimes were encourage to participate in class discussion, sometimes were obliged to speak English inside the classroom, sometimes were obliged to read literary pieces, sometimes they understood the selection read; sometimes enjoyed reading literary selection However, they often consulted the dictionary whenever they meet difficult words. Significant Relationships The computed chi-square value of age and problems was 2.816 lower than the table value of 15.507. The null hypothesis was accepted. The computed chi-square value of income of parents was 3.771 lower than the table value of 21.026. The null hypothesis was accepted. The computed chi-square value of attitudes and practices was 441.31 higher than the table value of 26.296. The null hypothesis was rejected. Conclusion On the basis of the findings of the research, the following conclusions are drawn: That the students of literature were matured enough; therefore they can assess and determine the problems they encountered in studying literature carefully. Most of the students-respondents were females. That majority of the student's parents are college graduate, but they are lack of moral assistance. The students had a moderate level of attitudes towards literature, which results to a moderate learning. Those findings reveal the several factors such as, education of parents, economic status and attitudes and practices towards literature greatly influenced the problems of students in understanding and appreciating literature. If the students lack some of the essential factors to learning, the results nearly negative. There was no significant relationship between age and income of parents and the problems in understanding and appreciating literature. There was significant relationship between attitudes and practices and the problems in understanding and appreciating literature. Based on the conclusion drawn, the researchers highly recommend the following a. Government and private sectors must sincerely help those who could not afford in assisting their children education by conducting researches in other areas so that financial assistance can be extended to those who are really poor b. Administrators and Department Heads should provide the necessary books or references / reading materials to their students so that better results could be realized. c. Professors should have patience and perseverance in guiding and assisting their student especially if they have problems in their studies. d. School Heads, professors and parents must coordinate with one another in shaping the minds of the students by discovering the problems so that proper guidance can be extended. e. Professors should exert more efforts in pursuing their graduate studies so that better if not the best strategies could be applied to those who could not understand the lessons well. f. Students of literature must be motivated to continue reading pieces of literature. g. Students should consult the dictionary whenever they encounter difficult words, which are beyond their knowledge and capacities.