Neurodevelopment Problems Perceived by Freshman Students

8/9/2019 Neurodevelopment Problems Perceived by Freshman Students

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PERCEPTION ON THE MANIFESTATIONS OF THE NEURODEVELOPMENT

PROBLEMS PERCEIVED BY FRESHMAN STUDENTS OF

ALABAT ISLAND NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

Submitted by:

Aiza E. Andrade

BSEd III

Submitted to:

Prof. Willy A. Manaog

Professor

November 2009


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CHAPTER I

PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Introduction

Writing, like speaking is such a common part of everyday lives. It is

portable and permanent for it makes every person to think visible. In school and

some other establishments, jotting down numbers and words or constructing

sentences and paragraphs are needed for it is a task to be accomplished.

Writing helps everyone to look objectively at facts and help to make

choices. It helps to discover what to think about an issue. Although, there is

always reasoning on individuals mind, writing gives records of the process that

will help to check the logical chains that lead in making decisions, and it will often

show new ways of looking at connection and relationship among ideas.

Lastly, writing is the primary basis upon which work, learning and

intellectual of an individual will be judged in college, in the workplace and in the

community.

Background of the Study

The researcher chooses Alabat Island National High School to determine

the impacts of the neurodevelopment problems in writing as revealed by the

freshman students. Alabat Island National High School is the only secondary

school here in Alabat, Quezon and it is located in Barangay Camagong, there


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were one thousand four hundred twenty two (1,422) enrollees for the school

year 2009 2010, three hundred sixty (360) of them are freshman students.

The researcher found out that most of the students have the poor

knowledge in writing and she also encountered who have this kind of problem

when she was in high school. This initiates the researcher to conduct this study

and to give possible suggestions and recommendations to help improve the

freshman students writing skills.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to reveal the perception on the manifestation of the

neurodevelopment problems among freshman students during School Year 2009

2010.

Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:

1. Who among the students find difficulties in writing

Students from rural areas; and

Students from urban areas?

2. What is the percentage of each neurodevelopment problems:

2.1 Attention Problem;

2.2 Spatial Ordering Problem;

2.3 Sequential Ordering Problem;

2.4 Memory Problem;

2.5 Language Problem;

2.6 Higher Order Cognition Problem;


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2.7 Graph motor Problem?

3. Is there a significant difference in the number of difficulties committed by the

respondents in terms of:

3.1 Students from rural areas;

3.2 Students from urban areas?

Significance of the Study

This study will be a great help to all respondents, teachers, the school

administration and the researcher who will be a future English teacher.

Through this study, teachers will become aware of the students

competency in writing and will enable them to think some activities to overcome

those neurodevelopment problems and to improve the writing skills of the

students.

The output will help the school administration to be able to know the

different problems and their potential impacts on writing and will become aware

to give solution for that.

This study may be beneficial to the researcher herself to become ready in

confronting many students when she is in the field already and will serve as her

guide to overcome this kind of problem.

Scope and Limitation

The study focused on the perception on the manifestation of the

neurodevelopment problems perceived by the selected freshman students of


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Alabat Island National High School. The respondents of this study was limited to

sixty percent (60%) of the enrolled freshman students during School Year 2009

2010.


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Definition of Terms

The following terms were defined to avoid different interpretation and

misconceptions of the readers:

Attention Problem, children who are inattentive and impulsive.

Freshman is a first year student in an educational institution.

Graph Motor Problem children with this kind of problem struggle to

coordinate the small muscles of the fingers in order to maneuver a pen or pencil,

especially as assignment length increases.

Higher Order Cognition Problem difficulty on which children are

often unable to use writing to present a sound argument or convey sophisticated

or abstract ideas.

Language Problem deals with the childs abilities in writing.

Memory Problem difficulty in recalling, spelling. Grammar, and

punctuation rules assessing prior knowledge while writing, or organizing ideas.

Neurodevelopment is based on the development profile. The profile

represents which functions are associated with which parts of the central neuron

system.

Respondents one who maintains a thesis in reply.

Rural Area an area outside of cities and towns.

Spatial Ordering Problem children who struggle with this problem have

decreased awareness regarding the spatial arrangement of letters, words, or

sentences on a page.


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Sequential Ordering Problem children who have difficulty in putting or

maintaining letters, processes, or ideas in order.

Urban Areas a geographical area constituting a city or town.

Writing is the representation of language in textual medium through the use

of a set of signs or symbols.


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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter deals with the representation of the related literature and

studies that the researcher gathered in order to provide necessary background of

the study and to guide the research in supporting the gathered data.

Related Literature

William Stafford (2007) said that writing is like any discovery job. You dont

know whats going to happen until you try it.

Murphy (2006) in her Journal of Undergraduate Research stated that

writing is an important relatively unexplored topic for both normal and atypical

learners. It shows where an individuals difficulties lie and his or her performance

level.

Maureen Lindner (2005) told that all affective writing is well planned. The

writer ha s a responsibility to convey ideas in the clearest way possible. Writing is

a process with steps that must be followed.

Yan (2005) added that the process genre approach allows students to

study the relationship between purpose and form for a particular genre as they

use the recursive process of prewriting, drafting, revision and editing and using

the steps develop students awareness of different text types and of the

composing process.


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Pattridge (2004) stated that the process genre approach is known to

focus on teaching particular genres that students need to control in order to

succeed in particular setting which include a focus on language and discourse

features of the text is produced.

Brice (2004) stated that written language is dependent on both oral

language and literacy skills, which provides the foundation that is necessary for

writing.

Wetty (2003) said that writing is one way of discovering sequence in

experience, of stumbling upon cause and effect in the happenings of a writers

own life.

Tucker (2001) stated that it was through writing, the physical and mental

act of putting down thoughts, in haphazard manner, to get a grasp on the subject.

It was also through the act of writing that he began to discover new dimensions

of his topic, new dimensions which ultimately led to a major change of subject.

Bracher (1999) formulated that learning to write well is a developmental

function that progresses as writers learn to integrate, in their speech, split and

dissociated aspect of their own subjectivity. The process of verbalization in

writing, he observes may not be terribly different from the process of

verbalization in psychoanalysis. The insight into writing the understanding the

unconscious characteristically interrupts the conscious minds- offers a clue to

one of the more frustrating dimensions of composition theory. The common

assumption is that writing is not taught like other discipline in the university

because there are no facts to be memorized and directly employed to improve


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writing; writing gets better with practice, but it is not clear what students learn

when their writing gets better.

Raimes (1991) added that students should perceive writing as a tool, for

learning that can be useful to them throughout their professional and personal

lives.

Anne Ruggles Gere in her book Writing and Learning, 2nd Edition (1988)

stated that many people assume that writing ability is genetically determined, like

the ability to curl up the side of your tongue, and at the world is populated by

born writers and the other people. She believes that anyone can learn to write

clear and effective prose, and the first step is recognizing that most writing isnt

done in one sitting; it is a process.

Alcantara et.al (1988) said that writing ability does not depend upon

natural aptitude; it is a skill that anyone with patience and intelligence can

develop. He stressed that basic requirement for learning this skill is practice in

doing themes or other compositions which involve a definite writing aim.

Furthermore, he suggested that rapid improvement can take place only when a

writer has a clear idea of a purpose of his writing and has learned to correct and

to revise initial draft according to whether or not they carry out the purpose. He

also mentioned that habit of self-criticism or the ability to recognize poor

sentences and rewrite them effectively is far more important than any other

amount of casual practice in putting words upon paper. From this reason, he said

that an experienced writer should regard his sentences as inseparable from the

arguments they convey and from the purpose they help to satisfy.


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Guzman et. Al (1985) of the four communication skills of listening,

speaking, reading and writing perhaps the most exciting is writing. Because it is

the least spontaneous of the four, it presumes careful thought and deliberate

planning. He added that writing does not enjoy the immediacy of a speaking

situation; it demands precision in the translation of ideas into words. He said that

when put something down in writing, your intention is, generally to communicate

with someone who is not present. He added that you will not be around to

answer questions or clear up vague points, so the reader has all the right to

expect to have taken the time and care to minimize the occasion for error,

misunderstanding, doubt and confusion.

Shaughessey et.al (1983) pointed out that students produces dull and

syntactically snarled writing because they are trying too hard to write in bookish

style. To get these written, to write more clearly and less stuffily, should we

encourage them to write as they talk, have them to do a hot expressive writing.

So, we should do both these things: encourage the students to realize that lively,

interesting talk is a good model for lively interesting writing; and urge them to

read good writers in the hope that they will pick up techniques of imitating speech

in writing.

Raimes (1983) cited that a variety of approaches to the teaching of writing

has flourished such as the controlled-to-free approach, the free writing approach,

the communicative approach and the process approach, which emphasize the

process of writing rather than the end product.


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Schfer (1983) emphasized that good writers, in fact, encourage reader

involvement and take the advantage of the opportunity to revise provided writing

but not speaking to achieve it.

Mukesh Kumar (1982) found that there is no courses, institutes, and

software for developing the writing skill; it is already present in every persons

body and only need to expose it through ones own interest and techniques.

Rivers (1981) cited that writing is not a skill that can be learned or

developed in isolation, but it should be taught and developed in cooperation with

other skills and aspects of the language studied.

Ramos et.al (1980) the writer, especially the Filipino writer in English , has

three major problems: the question of the subject matter, the problem of the

language and the manner or writing commonly known as style. The writer needs

to have abundant and varied experiences, for his themes will not come to him

ready made and unbidden.

Cruz et.al (1976) asserted in her book that writing composition in second

language capitalizes primarily on the premise that one hold experience of the

language. The writing of themes provides practice in correct usage, correct

spelling, vocabulary words acquired and handwriting. Theme writing is the

activity wherein the skills acquired by the child are fully civilized. The success of

their writings depends primarily upon the extent of practice the pupils have on the

forms and structures of the language.


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Related Studies

Graham and Perin (2007) found that the writing skills of struggling

students, including those with learning disabilities, significantly improve when

explicit writing strategy instruction is provided.

Tac-an (2005) the students encountered difficulties in writing paragraph

with regards to the different aspects physical aspect, intellectual aspect,

psychological aspect and environmental aspect.

De la Paz and Graham (2002) discussed that the students who were

taught to use writing strategies produced higher quality written essays than did

those who were not taught writing strategies.

Dator (2000) in her study said that the weaknesses of the students are

centered on their writing skills. Students not only in written composition but also

in oral communication exhibit all the weaknesses. If ever defective problem in

written composition will be solved, then the students would be very effective in

expressing their ideas, new points and their sentiments.

Tutunis (2000) academic input received through reading information on

how to develop writing skills causes improvement in students essays.

Newcomer and Barenbaum (1991) concluded in their study that children

diagnosed with learning disabilities were less proficient than other children in

writing stories. Learning disabilities children had difficulty with most aspects of

writing including mechanics such as spelling and punctuation, syntax, and

fluency as expressed by their decreased performance in word usage.


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Natividad (1990) showed that the devious weaknesses of first year

students in writing are implications due to their lack of drill in spelling and

vocabulary skills. Another one is the grammatical problem, which is lack of

knowledge in usage and syntax.

Gocon (1990) conducted in her study that in sentence structure the

students met difficulties in determining these words that make the basic sentence

pattern. They were not familiar about the principal part of the verb. The pupils

were confused both in present tense and past tense.

Tena (1990) grammar is like a navigator traveling in the midst of ocean

who finds difficulty in tracing the right route.

Fortales (1987) in her study recognized that the approach to spelling is

important not only for the mastery or particular lists of words but also for handling

of words on the pupils vocabulary for later life. She observed that spelling in

everything else there is no substitute for good background, the more the students

read, the better the writing she likes to manifest. She advised that pupils should

be trained to write correctly in the home the words that they misspelled after

which they be asked to indicate the device by which they have learned spelling

by rule, by words, be memorization, by finding other words and some other

means.

Kaula et.al (1984) viewed that written communication requires precise use

of form and mechanism; punctuation marks, spelling and capitalization.

Blount (1971) conducted the study learning purposes to verify students

ability toward structural and transformational grammar in the formal linear. The


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importance with students attitudes should not be minimizing. This is related to

present study knowledge of the structural and transformational grammar play a

great deal in improving the students attitude toward grammar. If the students

knew the rules and principle involve in structural and transformational grammar

he will be optimistic about it.


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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the samples and methods used in analyzing the

data. The researcher made use of a simple procedure in data gathering and

appropriate statistical treatments for valid findings.

Research Design

The method that we used in this study was the descriptive method. The

researcher had used questionnaire to know the perception of the students about

the different neurodevelopment problems.

Sources of Data

The respondents of this study were the selected freshman students of

Alabat Island National High School for the School Year 2009 2010. They were

composed of two hundred sixteen (216) students.

Instrumentation

In the preparation of this research study, there were books and

encyclopedia. She also surfed the net for some data for the introduction, related

studies and literature. The questionnaire to be used was shown to her adviser

and suggestions from him was properly considered and followed.


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Data Gathering Procedure

The researcher sought permission from the Principal of Alabat Island

National High School in Alabat, Quezon for the administration of this study.

With the permission, a questionnaire was conducted to the freshman

students.

The researcher personally conducted the study to the respondents.


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Name: _____________________________________ Section:_______________

Address:_______________________________________________________________

Direction: Below are the neurodevelopment problems and their potential impacts or

writing. After each statement are five choices of responses. Kindly put a check in the

column that corresponds to your answer.

Where:

SA Strongly Agree

A Agree

U Uncertain

D Disagree

SD Strongly Disagree

StatementSA S U D SD

I. Attention Problem

1. I find difficulty getting started on writingassignments.

2. I am easy distractibility during writing tasks.

3. I feel mental fatigue or tiredness while writing.

4. I have inconsistent legibility in writing.5. I have uneven writing tempo.

6. I have many careless errors.

7. I poorly planned papers and reports.

II. Spatial Ordering Problem

1. I use poor lines on the paper.

2. I have organizational problems.

3. I put uneven spacing between letters.

4. I have many misspelled words.

III. Sequential Ordering Problem

1. I have poor letter formation.

2. I transposed letters and spelling omissions.3. I am poor in narrative sequencing.

4. I have lack of transitions.

IV. Memory Problem

1. I have poor vocabulary.

2. I have many misspelled words.

3. I have frequent capitalization, punctuation, andgrammar errors.


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StatementSA S U D SD

V. Language Problem

1. I have poor vocabulary.

2. I am awkward in phrasing and unconventional in

grammar.3. I use inappropriate colloquial language.

4. I find difficulty with sentence structure and wordorder.

5. I have trouble reading back what is written.

6. I find difficulty with word sounds, spelling andmeanings.

VI. Higher Order Cognition Problem

1. I have trouble generating ideas or elaborating them.

2. I find difficulty in developing and generating ideas.

3. I have lack of opinion or sense of audience.

4. I find difficulty with writing tasks that requirecreativity and/or critical thinking.

VII. Graph Motor Problem

1. I write only very short passages.

2. I write exceptionally slowly and with great effort.

3. I use an awkward pencil grip.

4. I have lack fluidity in cursive writing.

5. I find hard to form letters.

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Neurodevelopment Problems Perceived by Freshman Students