Running Head: PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH 098 STUDENTS

Perceptions of English 098 students on attending English Remedial Class of Ateneo de

Zamboanga University

A research proposal paper

Presented to
Dr. Servando D. Halili Jr.
Graduate School
Ateneo de Zamboanga University

In partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for
English 311 (Language and Literary Research)
1st Semester, Academic Year 2014-2015

by
Lemuel Ian B. Cua
October 2014

PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH 098 STUDENTS

Chapter I
Introduction
Background of the Study
Remedial education is a transformation of the term developmental education (Zhang
and Isino, 2009, p.1). It in this program that students are given the ample opportunity to look
back on certain subjects or courses that they havent able to reach the required competencies.
Usually, students with learning difficulties and disabilities are place in a remedial education.
Students with learning difficulties are those who are intellectually challenged. They lack
motivation and attention. This may be attributed to the teachers way of teaching, classroom
setting, or the group of students. Students with learning disabilities are those with disabilities.
These disabilities may include blindness, deaf, and etc. These students requires more attention
than the others.
In the context of Ateneo de Zamboanga University, the remedial program offered is in
the English subject. This English Remedial Program are given to students who failed to reach the
cut-off score in the ATCU (Admission Test for Colleges and Universities) in the English part.
Students will be considered to have remediation needs. Yet students themselves are not aware of
this. They only know that if they pass the ATCU theyll be eligible to enroll in ADZU. The worst
thing is, they are unware that they are placed under a remedial program which is English 098.
In connection to their unawareness, the present study would like to know how they view
themselves inside an English remedial class. This research shall be focused on the views or the
perceptions of English 098 students on attending English remedial class in Ateneo de
Zamboanga University and how these perceptions could be an indication for future researches
about the English remedial program in the said school

PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH 098 STUDENTS

Statement of the Problem
Students who are placed in an English remedial class are those students who failed to
reach the required score in the ATCU (Admission Test for Colleges and Universities) English
exam. Therefore this reach aims to describe perceptions of students taking English 098 on
attending English remedial class of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University and how these
perceptions could be an indication for future researches.
Research Objectives
This research proposal aims to:
1. Stress how students of English 098 describe why they are attending an English Remedial
Class in Ateneo de Zamboanga University.
2. Describe how students of English 098 view the English Remedial Class in Ateneo de
Zamboanga University based on:
a. Social Environment
b. Teaching Styles
3. Suggest for a possible future research about English Remedial Classes in Ateneo de
Zamboanga University
Research Questions
This research proposal aims to answer the following questions:
1. What are the reasons of English 098 students why they are placed in an English Remedial
class?

PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH 098 STUDENTS

2. How does students of English 098 view themselves in attending English Remedial Class
according to the social environment and teaching styles?
Theoretical Framework
According to Lester (1999) phenomenology approach is to illuminate the specific, to
identify phenomena through how they are perceived by the actors in a situation (p. 1). It is the
gathering of deep information and perception qualitative methods like interviews, discussion and
etc. It is the concerned in the study of human experiences from the perspective of an individual.
According to Husserl (as cited in Lester, 1999) Pure phenomenological research seeks
essentially to describe rather than explain, and to start from a perspective free from hypotheses or
preconceptions (p. 1).
Lester (1999) also stated that phenomenological methods are particularly effective at
bringing to the fore the experiences and perceptions of individuals from their own perspectives,
and therefore at challenging structural or normative assumptions. Adding an interpretive
dimension to phenomenological research, enabling it to be used as the basis for practical theory,
allows it to inform, support or challenge policy and action (p.1). This study aims to describe the
perceptions of English 098 students of English 098 on attending English remedial class in
Ateneo de Zamboanga University that is why phenomenology approach was applied.

Significance of the Study

This research contributes to existing knowledge by showing how students of English 098
describe why they are attending English Remedial Class in Ateneo de Zamboanga University
and what it means to be a student in that setting, thereby suggest a possible future research that

PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH 098 STUDENTS

will evaluate the English Remedial Class in Ateneo de Zamboanga University. This research
shall also be beneficial for:
1. The students of English 098 because they will be able to show their views about the
English remedial class of Ateneo de Zamboanga University.
2. The instructor of English 098 for them to be able to see if there is a need to change,
revise, or improve the English remedial program of Ateneo de Zamboanga University.
Scope and Delimitation
This study will be focused and limited to students enrolled in English 098 (Remedial
Class) of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University in the first semester of the Academic year 20152016.
Definition of Terms
1. English 098- English remedial class of Ateneo de Zamboanga Univeristy.
2. Phenomenology- gathering deep information and perceptions through inductive,
qualitative methods such as interviews, discussions and participant observation, and
representing it from the perspective of the research participant (Lester, 1999, p.1).
3. English Remedial Class- refers to the Ateneo de Zamboanga Univserity English remedial
class (English 098).
4. Remediation needs- refers to the students need of remedial class in English.
5. Perceptions- the students of English 098 way of thinking and understanding about the
English Remedial class of Ateneo de Zamboanga University.

PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH 098 STUDENTS

Chapter II
Review of Related Literature
Remedial education is a transformation of the term developmental education. It
originally refers to special preparatory courses offered by some American community colleges to
potential incoming students who are not yet equipped with admirable scholastic abilities (Zhang
and Isino, 2009, p.1). Remedial education is given to students who were diagnosed with
remediation needs. Students are diagnosed through a placement examination. Students who
failed to reach the required score for the placement exam shall be placed under remedial
education. The schools assumption is that students who failed to reach the cutoff score of the
placement examination are considered to be students with remediation needs.
In the study of Ljusberg (2010) to children enrolled in a remedial class, he concluded that
all interviews with the children indicate that they are carriers of their schools compensatory
perspective. This means that they are fully aware of the fact that they are regarded as difficult,
with annoying and problematic behavior, deviating from pupils in general. The remedial class
creates social difficulties for the children; they see themselves as deviant, they lose old friends
and there are limited possibilities of establishing new friendship in remedial classes. This shows
that children view themselves negatively in a remedial class.
In a similar study, Ndebele (2014) showed that very few pupils were benefiting from
remedial instruction. Remedial teachers were poorly trained for remedial teaching, materials for
use for both teachers and pupils were grossly inadequate, while supervision and monitoring by
Schools Psychological Services (SPS) was virtually non-existent. The study recommends that
Schools Psychological Services considers an integrated approach where, rather than pupils being
sent to an external expert for fixing, the grade four teacher provides the extra tuition using
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PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH 098 STUDENTS

authentic contextualized grade four material. This study shows that students were not benefiting
from remedial classes. There is a need to improve the teachers and learning materials.
On the positive side, Galvez and Delos Reyes (2006) concluded that the results showed
that the students of English 098 had significantly improved. The improvements both in the
reading and writing skills may be attributed to a lot of factors; however, the reflections of the
students and the interviews with the Remedial English teachers revealed that the improvements
were attributed to the methodology and activities employed in the Remedial English Program. It
is recommended then that the Remedial English teachers should continue on using the
methodology and the activities of the Remedial English Program. This study shows that students
benefit from remedial classes depending on the teaching methodology in the class.
In terms of the function of Remedial classes, Atewell, Domina, Lavin, and Levey (2006)
stated that Remedial education acts as a gatekeeper and a quality control in higher education,
though this function is rarely acknowledged. Students who can successfully pass these courses
continue into regular college-level courses. Students who cant make it through remediation
either drop out or are academically terminated. Ironically, when colleges require that their
students demonstrate proficiency in basic skills by passing remedial courses, they are criticized
for wasting the time of the students who fail to overcome these hurdles. At the same time, the
provision of remedial courses is perceived by the public as indicating a lack of standards rather
than as a mechanism for setting a basic skills standard. Therefore remedial classes only acts as a
gatekeeper for higher education.
Howard (2008) explains the possible reason why there are students who need remedial
classes. He explains that external factors in elementary and secondary education may have
contributed to the number of students coming out of high school who are lacking in basic skills.

PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH 098 STUDENTS

In order that students can progress with their own age group, students may be passed to the next
grade without demonstrating proficiency. Teachers may also not be proficient in teaching some
of the skills. Therefore the teacher might be the factor why students lack basic skills.
In terms of the classroom environment Schweinle, Meyer, and Turner (as cited in
Howard, 2008) suggested that a positive classroom climate promoted engaged learning. In
classrooms that provided a significant positive affective climate, students reported considerable
intrinsic motivation, additional help seeking, positive emotions related to content, and significant
perceptions of task-specific competencies (p. 276).
Hidi and Harackiewicz (as cited in Howard, 2008) stated that students motivation and
degree of interest is a significant factor that influences learning. This shows that teachers must
also learn to motivate student in a nice way. Usually teacher get mad and angry. They shout and
reprimand. Thats forcing them to motivate. But the motivation mentioned here should be
according to the interest of the students.
There are significant number of studies about the English remedial classes yet there is
indeed a lack of study about how students viewed themselves in a remedial class. Therefore this
study aims to address this gap.
It is then established that students might be able to view themselves positively or
negatively in a remedial class depending on how they see it and take it. The teaching styles and
social factors might affect how students perceived or view themselves in that setting.
The present study shall be focus on the views or the perceptions of English 098 students
on attending English remedial class in Ateneo de Zamboanga University and how these
perceptions could be an indication for future researches.

PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH 098 STUDENTS

Chapter III
Methodology
Participants
First year students taking English 098 (English Remedial Class) in Ateneo de Zamboanga
University will be chosen as the participants in this study. Higher year students who are taking
English 098 are not included in this research because the research will be focusing on students
who are attending the English Remedial class for the first time. Perceptions of students who took
the remedial class more than once might be different from those students who took it for the first
time.
Research Design
This study is in a descriptive qualitative phenomenology research design. A qualitative
study is an approach useful for exploring and understanding a central phenomenon (Creswell,
2002, p. 648). Phenomenology is a specific qualitative approach that seeks to describe the
meaning of the lived experiences for several individuals about a concept or the phenomenon
(Creswell, 1998, p. 51). Moran (2000) maintained that the subjective view of experience
portrayed by phenomenology was a necessary part of any full understanding of the nature of
knowledge (p. 21). Since this study is sought to describe the perceptions of English 098
students on attending English remedial class, a phenomenology research design was selected.
In gathering data, Polkinghorne (cited in Howard, 2008) suggested three steps in
accomplishing a phenomenological study: (a) gather information from participants who have
experienced the phenomenon under investigation, (b) analyze the data for the common elements
that are essential to make the experience what it is, and (c) write an accurate research report

PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH 098 STUDENTS

articulating the common essential themes of the phenomenon. This steps shall be followed in this
research.
Sampling Design
The researcher shall choose six participants in each class of English 098, three males and
three females. The participants shall be chosen randomly by the researcher through fish bowl
method.
Research Instrument
The instrument shall be an open-ended questions that will be asked during the FGD.
There are seven questions that will be asked during the FGD that will show the perceptions or
views of English 098 students on the English Remedial class of Ateneo de Zamboanga
University.
Data Gathering Procedure
The research shall be done during the first semester of the academic year 2015-2016. The
researcher will first request for a list of students currently enrolled in English 098 from the
univerity registrar of Ateneo de Zamboanga University (Appendix C). In each class of English
098, the researcher shall pick six respondents, three males and three females through fish bowl
method. There shall be six students per batch for the FGD. The researcher shall be working with
the OSA (Office of Students Affair) in finding and notifying the chosen student respondent in
this research. The FGD shall be done depending on the respondents availability. The
respondents shall be notified of their participation the study through a letter (Appendix D)
informing them of their selection. Before the FGD, respondents shall be asked to fill up a
demographic survey (Appendix A). The researcher shall also remind the respondents about the
FGD (Appendix B). During the FGD, the researchers shall ask questions based on their

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PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH 098 STUDENTS

perceptions or views about English 098 (Annex B). The researcher shall facilitate the entire
group discussion. The whole discussion shall be recorded. The researcher shall assign an
assistant to take down notes of the discussions. The students are free to interact with each other
and to the researcher. The data gathered from the FGD shall be analyzed to form the results of
the study.

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PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH 098 STUDENTS

References
Attewell, P., Domina, T., Lavin, D., & Levey, T. (2006). New Evidence on College
Remediation. The Journal of Higher Education, 55(5), 886-924. Retrieved from
http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=baf22f1a-328a-471c-9424c1c57db57a7e%40sessionmgr111&vid=7&hid=103
Galvez, C. B., & Delos Reyes, R. A. (2006). Remedial English program for college freshmen
Of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University: An evaluation [Abstract]. Ateneo de Zamboanga
Univserity, Zamboanga City.
Ishino, F., & Zhang, R. (2009). Key To effective English remedial education: Intimation derived
from multiple regression. lAENG Transactions on Engineering Technologies, 2, 98-109.
Retrieved from
http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=11&sid=baf22f1a-328a-471c9424-c1c57db57a7e%40sessionmgr111&hid=103
Lester, S. (1999). An introduction to phenomenological research. Retrieved September 21,
2014, from http://www.sld.demon.co.uk/resmethy.pdf
Ljusberg, A. L. (2010). Childrens views on attending a remedial class because of
concentration difficulties. Child: care, health, and development, 37(3), 440-445.
doi:10.1111/j.1365-2214.2010.01178.x
Ndebele, C. (2014). Teacher Perceptions on the Effectiveness of an English Remedial Teaching
Programme in Primary Schools in Zimbabwe: Towards an Alternative to the Deficit Model.
Centre for Higher Education Teaching and Learning, 487-508. Retrieved from
http://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/IJES/IJES-06-0-000-14-Web/IJES-06-3-00014-Abst-PDF/IJES-6-3-497-14-280-Ndebele-C/IJES-6-3-497-14-280-Ndebele-CTx%5B14%5D.pdf
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PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH 098 STUDENTS

Appendix A

Demographic Survey
1. English 098 section: ____
2. High School attended:____________________________
3. Course and year:_______________________________
4. Gender: ____Female _____Male
5. Age: _____ years
6. Languages/dialect:_______________________
7. Race/ethnicity: _________________

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PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH 098 STUDENTS

Appendix B
FGD Protocol before the FGD begins, the students will be informed that:
The interview will be digitally recorded.
The research assistant shall write down notes of the discussions.
Their identity will remain confidential during the whole course of the study and in the written
report of the study.
They can discontinue their participation at any time.
They can interact with the other respondent present in the FGD as well as the researcher.
The following questions will be asked:
1. Why are you enrolled in English 098?
2. Are you aware that English 098 is an English remedial class? How?
3. How do you feel about your being in a Remedial Class?
4. Can you easy adjust with your classmates in English 098?
5. Is your relationship with your classmates affect the way you learn? Why?
6. Can you easy adjust with your teacher? Why?
7. How do you find the teachers teaching style?

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PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH 098 STUDENTS

Appendix C

July 20, 2015

Iluminada M. Cortez
Registrar
University Registrar
Ateneo de Zamboanga University

Dear Madam Cortez

Good day!
I am a student currently enrolled in English 311 (Language and Literary Research) in Ateneo de
Zamboanga University. One of the major requirements of this course is to write a research paper
by collecting and analyzing pieces of information from different published sources, surveys and
interviews.
My research is mainly focused on determining the perceptions of English 098 students on
attending English remedial class.
In connection with this, I would like to ask for the list of students currently enrolled in English
098. This is for the choosing of respondent.
We thank you in anticipation of your most favorable response.

Sincerely,

Lemuel Ian B. Cua

English 311 Student

Noted by:

Dr. Servando D. Halili, Jr.

English 311 Instructor

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PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH 098 STUDENTS

Appendix D

July 20, 2015

Dear __________

Good day!

I am a student currently enrolled in English 311 (Language and Literary Research) in Ateneo de
Zamboanga University. One of the major requirements of this course is to write a research paper
by collecting and analyzing pieces of information from different published sources, surveys and
interviews.
My research is mainly focused on determining the perceptions of English 098 students on
attending English remedial class.
In connection with this, I would like to inform you that you are chosen to be one of my
respondent for my research. I will be doing an FGD (Focus group discussion) based on your
available time.
We would appreciate your granting us this interview within the month because the research paper
is due on the next month. Should you need to contact us, please feel free to call us at 09178780459.

We thank you in anticipation of your most favorable response.

Sincerely,

Lemuel Ian B. Cua

English 311 Student

Noted by:

Dr. Servando D. Halili, Jr.

English 311 Instructor

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