College Students’ Cognitive and Affective Attitude toward Higher Education and Their Academic Engagement
Summary (4 min read)
Introduction
- Page | 1494 education and how it affects their academic engagement.
- In order to proceed with the study, theories on human attitude and human behaviour and academic engagement were discussed.
- Related literatures were reviewed to strengthen the theory of the study and the validated questionnaires were used to gather the data.
- The study used descriptive correlational research design and supplied by inquiries.
I. RATIONALE
- In the Philippines context, education system has just changed particularly basic education curriculum.
- Philippines was the only among Asian countries that implemented the ten years of basic education (Uyquiengco, n.d)but since 2013, the basic education becomes twelve years with additional two years.
- At this level, the students are choosing their own interest of specialization that will help them to acquire certain basic skills.
- The same in the Philippines, though Senior High School have prepared students for basic skills and are qualified for employment but students and parents are still interested to pursue higher education.
- Along such trend, the current study would like to know how the Filipino students perceive higher education.
Objective of the Study
- The purpose of the study is to help the school management to provide a curriculum that can answer the expectations of students.
- At the same time, it helps the teachers to prepare themselves to deliver knowledge and skills according to the expectations of students.
- The school and the teachers should be able to fulfill the expectations of students.
Understanding Human Attitude
- Human attitude refers to the thoughts, beliefs, feelings and behavior of a person toward certain subject, person, object or institution or event (Cherry, 2019).
- It becomes individual disposition to react in a favorable or unfavorable way toward certain subject, object, institution or event (Ajzen, 1993).
- He contends that attitude is formed by the culture where one is raised.
- Exposure to the object of attitude affects how a person forms his or her attitude toward such object.
- Later studies found that there was no or little correlation between attitude and behavior.
Attitude toward Higher Education
- It cannot be denied that attitude is still recognized as a key predictor toward behavior as pointed out by Znaniecki, (1918) and Watson, (1925).
- Though their ideas were challenged by field researches which disproved the relationship between attitude and behavior, however there were also studies that support their ideas such as the study of Abun (2017) on the relationship between environmental attitude and environmental behavior.
- He also conducted the study on entrepreneurial attitude and entrepreneurial behavior of students and the study found that there is a correlation between entrepreneurial attitude and entrepreneurial behavior of students (Abun, 2018).
- Page | 1497 them have also negative view about higher education because it is expensive and other factors such as unpreparedness (Immerwahr, 2004, Roy & Kareem, 2016).
Academic Engagement
- In recent years, researchers have come out with different concepts of academic engagement as a result of their investigation on academic engagement (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Parks, 2004).
- The authors are warned that academic engagement is not all about the amount or the quantity of participation but it is about the quality of engagement, the quality of students’ participation with learning activities in the classroom ranging from energized, enthusiastic, focused, emotionally positive toward all academic activities.
- Second is participation in learning and academic related tasks and participation in class discussions.
- In relation to cognitive dimension, it involves students’ investment in learning, disciplining one’s self to understand the tasks, willingness to extend efforts to understand and master difficult tasks, using different strategies to understand the subject matter, finding ways to master the tasks including asking questions, studying, etc.
- Beside academic engagement, the authors have also academic disengagement which may consist of disaffected behavior and disaffected emotion.
Statement of the problems
- The study wants to determine the relationship between attitude of students toward higher education and their academic engagement, particularly to seek the answer for the following questions:.
- What is the cognitive attitude of students toward higher education in terms of a.
- What is the academic engagement of students in terms of a.
- The study assumes that students’ attitude toward higher education affects their academic engagement and it can be measured.
- The study also assumes that the questionnaires are valid and the answers of students are objective.
Research Design
- Since the study is a quantitative research and therefore it used descriptive correlational research designand aided by inquiry to determine the level of attitudes of students toward higher education and their academic engagement.
- The nature of descriptive research is to describe what is found in the data collected through questionnaires and statistical treatment.
- It is also used to describe profiles, frequency distribution, describe characteristics of people, situation, phenomena or relationship variables.
- In line with the current study, descriptive correlational method was deployed.
- The study determines the level of attitude toward higher education and its correlation with the academic engagement.
Locale of the Study
- The locale of the study was Divine Word Colleges in Ilocos Region which is composed of Divine Word College of Vigan and Divine Word College of Laoag.
- Divine Word College of Vigan belonged to the Province of Ilocos Sur and located within the heritage city of Vigan.
- The questionnaires were adapted from Public Attitude on Higher Education of Immerwahr (2003) and Motivational Perspective on Engagement and Disaffection questionnaires of Skinner, et.al (2009) Data Gathering Procedures.
- In the process of data gathering, the researcher sent letters to the President of the Colleges, requesting them to allow the researcher to flow his questionnaires in the college.
- In consistent with the study as descriptive research, therefore descriptive statistics was used.
Statistical Range Descriptive Interpretation Overall Descriptive Rating
- The findings of the study are presented according to the statement of the problems of the study.
- The study was to determine the relationship between the attitude of students toward higher education and their academic engagement.
- It was specifically to answer the following questions: 1. What is the cognitive attitude of students toward higher education in terms of a.
1.81-2.60 Disagree Not Important 1.00-1.80 Strongly disagree Not Very Important
- As it is indicated in the composite mean, it shows that as a whole, students’ attitude toward higher education, in terms of its positive component, is 4.08 which is interpreted as agree or students consider higher education as important.
- This overall composite mean is supported by its single mean.
- Taking it singly, the students agree that higher education is useful for employment (4.30), for the improvement of the quality of life (4.19), for updating knowledge and skills (4.02), to get a better job (3.86),to be successful in today’s work world (3.89) and they agree that higher education should be for all (4.28).
- In terms of its negative component, as shown in its composite mean, it reveals that as a whole, students’ attitude toward higher education in terms of its negative component, is 2.53 which is translated as “disagree”.
2. What is the affective attitude of students toward higher education in terms of:
- As reflected on table and on its composite mean, it reveals that as a whole, students’ attitude toward higher education in terms of their affection is 3.98 which is interpreted as “agree” or “important”.
- Though the students agree in terms of their affection toward higher education, but in terms of its disaffection, as a whole, it appears that attitude of students toward higher education is 2.81 which mean that students do not totally agree or agree but “somewhat agree.
3. What is the academic engagement of students in terms of
- A. Behavioral engagement b. Emotional engagement 2 Strongly disagree Based on its composite mean, as a whole, it shows that students’ academic engagement particularly behavioral engagement is 3.98 which can be understood as “agree”.
- As it is in their behavioural engagement, as a whole, it also shows that students’ academic engagement in terms of emotional engagement is 3.77 which is interpreted as “agree”.
1.81-2.60 Disagree 1.00-1.80 Strongly disagree
- Looking into students’ academic disengagement, as indicated by its composite mean, as a whole, it appears that students’ academic disengagement in terms of behavioral disengagement is 3.07 which is understood as “somewhat agree”.
- In terms of academic engagement., students have 3.98 for behavioral engagement and 3.77 for emotional engagement in which they all agree that they are behaviorally and emotionally engaged in their academic activities.
- "Attitudes," in A Handbook of Social Psychology, ed. C. Murchison.
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Frequently Asked Questions (7)
Q2. What is the definition of academic engagement?
Academic participation involves activities inside and outside classroom such as class discussion, home assignment, not skipping classes, etc.
Q3. What is the definition of attitude in the Philippines?
Attitude is a result of upbringing or culture which later influence the behavior of the person toward certain subject or object, person, institution or event, etc. According to Ajzen (1993), attitude is a result of exposure or experience such as watching television or other kinds of exposure.
Q4. What does the definition of academic engagement mean?
From the concept of academic engagement, the authors come to a conclusion that academic engagement encompasses engaged behavior and engaged emotion.
Q5. what is the relationship between cognitive and affective attitude toward higher education and academic engagement?
In terms of academic engagement., students have 3.98 for behavioral engagement and 3.77 for emotional engagement in which they all agree that they are behaviorally and emotionally engaged in their academic activities.
Q6. How many years of basic education is required for Filipino students?
Philippines was the only among Asian countries that implemented the ten years of basic education (Uyquiengco, n.d)but since 2013, the basic education becomes twelve years with additional two years.
Q7. What was the main argument of the old theory?
later social psychologists such as Ajzen and Fishebin (1977, 2000,) still defended the old theory that attitude is key predictor toward human behavior which was also supported by Allport (1968).