Cultural Diversity And Its Effects To The Academic Performance of Grade 11 and 12

of Villamor Senior High Students

An Undergraduate Thesis Presented to the Faculty of

Villamor College of Business and Arts
General Santos City

In partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

of Bachelor of Technical Teacher Education
Major in Electronics Technology

By

KEENLY MAE C. VALDERRAMA

ANNABEL G. HERMOSO
JOILYN A. MOSO
 CHAPTER I
PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Background of the study

In school, students have different beliefs, manners, tradition, religion as well as

tribe that make every learner unique from each other. This aspect is called cultural

diversity. According to Dr. Belfield, L. (2012), cultural diversity is a system of beliefs and

behaviors that recognizes and respects the presence of all diverse groups in an

organization or society, acknowledges and values the socio-cultural differences, and

encourages and enables their continued contribution within an inclusive cultural context

which empowers all within the organization or society. This study aimed to determine

how beneficial cultural diversity and how it affects the Grade 11 and 12 students

academically.

Students are diverse in terms of their identities; in this aspect they are become

more aware of something towards from each other. In University of Geneva,

Switzerland, a study titled “Cultural Diversity in the Classroom and its Effects on

Academic Performance” found that performance benefits as the percentage of

immigrant students increased across nations. Moreover, these effects remained

significant for both native and immigrant students, once several other predictors of test

performance at the national, school, and individual levels were controlled for.

Cultural diversity is such a vital aspect of the learning environment because it

helps the student learn more. Particular schools given each student the same rights to

acquire quality and affordable education that results to the combination of the different

learners across the nation. In Far Eastern University, there are students enrolled
coming from foreign countries, students who have different identity, culture, tradition,

and beliefs. The students are mixed from various races, acquire new knowledge from

each other, can have a good connection that leads to friendship and a better start for

the future and strong relationship between two or more nations. In terms of acquiring

new knowledge, a student can enhance his skills and widens his/her perspectives just

like a Pilipino student can be more fluent in speaking English language or a foreign

student will know how to speak Filipino language. This shows that cultural diversity

helps the student to perform well in class knowing that they gain new information from

their classmates’ everyday as they interact.

The main interest of the study is to: (1) Identify the demographic file of the

students in terms of their religion and tribe; (2) Determine the academic performance of

the students; and (3) Investigating the significant relationship between the cultural

diversity of the Grade 11 and 12 students and their Academic performance. The study

will be conducted during the period of S.Y. 2019-2020 in Villamor College of Business

and Arts.

Statement of the Problem

This study will focus on “Cultural Diversity of Grade 11-12 and Its Effects to their

Academic Performance”

The specific questions that the researchers aim to answer are the following:
1. What is the demographic profile of the students in terms of:
1.1 Religion
1.2 Tribe
2. What is the academic performance of the students?
3. Is there a significant difference between the cultural affiliation of the respondents and

their academic performance?

 Conceptual Framework

Its Effects to the Academic

Cultural Diversity Performance of Grade 11
and 12

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Figure 1:
The figure above presented the conceptual framework of the study. The independent
variable is the cultural diversity, while the dependent variable is Its Effects to the
Academic Performance of Grade 11 and 12.
Significance of the Study

The results of the study are beneficial to:

The Teachers. This study will help them to gain in-depth knowledge about the

beneficial effects of the Cultural diversity of the students inside the classroom and how it

affects them academically.

The Students. This study will be a tool to inform the students on how Cultural

diversity affects their academic performance, treat each other’s classmates equally

knowing that everyone is a unique individual and they can also perform well in class.

The future researcher. This study is beneficial to the future researchers

because they can use this as their references, specifically when they are also studying

the same field.

The researchers: This study will help the researchers to investigate and deeply

understand the beneficial effects of the Cultural Diversity of the students in the

classroom and how it affects the students’ academic performance. The researchers can

also apply the new information that they can gain in this study in their daily lives.

Scope and Delimitation

The study will determine the Cultural Diversity of Grade 11 and 12 and Its Effects

to their Academic Performance S.Y. 2019-2020. This study will limit only in the Cultural

Diversity of Grade 11 and 12 and Its Effects to their Academic Performance in Villamor

College of Business and Arts, and further information aside from the said limitation will

not be included.
Definition of Terms

The following terms are defined conceptually in this study.

Academic Performance – this refers to on how Grade 11 and 12 students performs

inside the classrooms that includes their grade and classroom achievements

Cultural Diversity- This refers to the different identity of the students in terms of their

religion and tribe.

Religion – This refers to the fundamental sets of beliefs and practices of the students

(i.e. Islam, Christianity, etc.).

Tribe – This refers to the group who shared the same interest in where the students

belong (e.g. Cebuano, Tagakaulo, Blaan, Ilonggo, etc.).

 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter will discuss the previous studies of different researchers about the

cultural diversity of the students and its effects.

Cultural Diversity

Cultural diversity is a broad aspect specifically when it comes to learning

environment. According to Delgado and Stefancic (2012), diversity is “the policy

founded on the belief that individuals of different races and ethnicities can contribute to

workplaces, schools, and other settings”. When viewed from a strengths-based

perspective rather than the traditional deficit model of culture, diversity can contribute to

positive learning outcomes and enhanced social interactions in higher education

settings.

According to Public Speaking Cultural Diversity Definitions, that cultural diversity

or multiculturalism is the acceptance of the various ethnic cultures in schools,

organizations, businesses, neighborhoods or cities. At the best it involves treating

impartially and fairly each ethnic group without promoting the particular beliefs or values

of any group.

Effects of Cultural Diversity in the Academic Performance of Students

The uniqueness of the students inside the learning environment has a big impact

towards everyone. Completion of a diversity course requirement reduces students’ level

of racial prejudice, and is associated with students’ cognitive development and civic

behaviors and dispositions (Bowman, 2011).

Differences of the students inside the class are a vital aspect that should

consider by an adviser. According to Futterman, L. (2015), that educators understand

that not all learners are the same, and they continue to treat all the students in the same

manner despite of the differences inside the learning environment. Hence, addressing

cultural difference in the teaching-learning process is both important and controversial.

It is important because the diverse population of the students is increasing as well as

the wide achievement gap between minority and non-minority students. And it is

controversial because there would be a case of cultural stereotyping and making naïve

attempts to explain different achievements among students.

Being diverse of a student has an impact towards each other within the class.

Based on the idea of Lynch (2016), that a person’s culture and upbringing has a

profound effect on how they see the world and how they process information. Like for

instance, the Asian children see the world in terms of the relationship between things,

whereas the American children see the world in terms of the objects as distinct entities.

He stated the three different theories about the effects of cultural diversity in learning

environment. These includes the: The cultural deficit theory (students cannot excel in

school because the linguistic, social, and cultural nature of the home environment does

not prepare them to do the required tasks in school); the expectation theory (focuses on

how teachers treat students); and the cultural difference theory (students who are raised

in different cultural settings may approach education and learning in different ways).
 According to Wells, A., Fox, L. and Cobo, D. (2016), that diversity runs in all

directions there is increasing evidence that “diversity makes us smarter”. A finding that

selective colleges long ago embraced and increasing numbers of young parents are

coming to appreciate at the K-12 level. They added that students’ exposure to other

students who are different from themselves and the novel ideas and challenges that

such exposure brings leads to improved cognitive skills, including critical thinking and

problem solving.

Based on the idea of Maigne (2017), nowadays diversity and socio-cultural

awareness have become more important than they ever were before. A multicultural

classroom can produce great communicators since the students have different

languages, it can also make the students become open-minded knowing that each one

of them has different cultures and stories and this allows the learners get deeper

understanding in every individuals in the class, the students can build empathy in the

classroom they are able to put themselves in each other’s shoes,and there will be a

celebration of various cultures that serve as the appreciation of each diverse students.

Rosh (2018) stated the advantages and disadvantages of cultural diversity inside

the classroom. Cultural diversity is advantageous because it gives an opportunity to

each learners acquire information about varied cultures, there would be a rise in level of

maturity in each one of them, they can have a skills for a bright future, and can learn a

new language and culture. Despite of the beneficial effects of cultural diversity, there

are still problems that it may bring inside the classroom. It can loss the cultural identity

of the students, there will be a separation inside the class, and the teaching quality can
be a main problem of the teachers specially when the students are using various

languages.

According to Zapata (2018), that diverse classroom prepares students for career

in job markets with less concern for community or national boundaries. Various

backgrounds in a classroom enable the learners to connect and cooperate in a

comfortable and creative way. This means that when students learn to communicate

with those of other races, ethnicities, and cultures it better prepares them for the

workforce. Furthermore, an integrated classroom environment fosters creativity, critical

thinking and problem-solving. People with differing viewpoint can each bring something

unique to the table.

Button (2018) stated the disadvantages of cultural diversity that includes

language barriers, social tension, and civic disengagement. This means that if these

problem exist in a learning environment there will be a problem rises, students cannot

perform well in class and they may not able to connect with the other students since

they cannot understand each other.

Review of the Related Studies

A study conducted by Yang, D., Olesova, L. and Richardson, J. (2010), title

“Impact of Cultural Differences on Students’ Participation, Communication, and

Learning in an Online Environment”, examined the perceived differences of participants

from two different cultures (1) students’ participation behavior; (2) students’

communication styles; (3) the impact of cultural differences on their participation,

communication, and learning in an online course. Results showed that the two groups

participated equally but communicated differently in asynchronous online discussions.

And the study concluded that there is a must for designing and implementing effective

online learning environments in an increasingly globalized world of online learning for

researchers, instructors, designers, and students.

A study conducted by Konan, P., Gabriel, M., Selimbegovic, L., et al (2014), titled

“Cultural Diversity in the Classroom and Its Effects on Academic Performance”, results

indicated that performance benefits as the percentage of immigrant students increased

across nations. Interestingly, these effects remained significant for both native and

immigrant students, once several other predictors of test performance at the national,

school, and individual levels were controlled for. And the study concluded that the

findings challenge the assumption that the increasing presence of immigrant students in

educational institutions represents a threat to native students’ academic performance.

Another study conducted by Kilgo, C., Troilan, T., Pascarella, E., et al (2017),

titled “Engaging with Diversity: How Positive and Negative Diversity Interactions

Influence Students’ Cognitive Outcomes, showed that in a sample of over 2,500

students at four-year institutions, 43% of African-American students reported having a

“high” number of negative diversity interactions, as well as 37% of Hispanic students

and 40%of Asian students. 25% of white students said the same. These negative

experiences- which may reflect hostile, hurtful or tense interactions with students who

are categorically different from them- have negative consequences for the development

of critical thinking skills and show a need for cognitive development among some white

students and students of color. On the other hand, all four ethnic and racial groups
studied had more positive diversity experiences than negative, 47% of African-

Americans, 56% of Hispanics, 53% of Asians, and 30% of white students. The study

concluded that positive diversity experiences, which might be associated with

constructive discussions, shared meaningful experiences or friendships across different

races, religions, genders, or ethnicities, encourages students to challenge their

viewpoints and consider complex issues.

A study conducted by Thomas, L. (2016), titled “The Impact of diversity on

Student Engagement and Academic Success”, the results showed that Hispanic college

students reported more frequent experiences with diversity that did their Black or White

peers. And the study concluded that there is no significant relationship between

diversity experiences and GPA, regardless of gender, race/ethnicity, or generational

status.

A study conducted by Maestri, V. (2017), titled “Can ethnic diversity have a

positive effect on school achievement?”, the study investigated the impact of ethnic

diversity on test scores, on top of the effect of the share of non-native pupils. The

researcher used a rich survey of Dutch primary school students and exploit variations

between subsequent cohorts within the same school as her identification strategy. The

study found that ethnic diversity has a positive impact on the test scores of minority

students, in particular for language skills. Moreover, some evidence of a negative

relationship between ethnic diversity and school social integration. And the study

recommended that ethnic diversity stimulates language proficiency and increases the

time students spend studying.

 CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY

This chapter will present the discussion on the research methodology of

the study, the subjects, sampling technique, research instruments and procedure

of data gathering that will be used for the accurate data analysis and

interpretation.

Research Design
This section specified what method of research will be used; the

researchers will use descriptive comparative research because they will

determine the cultural diversity of the students and its effects on their academic

performance.

Research Locale
This study will be conducted at Villamor College of Business and Arts,

Balimbing Street, General Santos City, 9500.

Research Respondents
The researchers will use purposive sampling, the researchers will utilize

the whole population of the Senior High School Students. There are 92 Grade 11

students and 31 Grade 12 students, so there will be a total of 123 respondents.

Research Instruments
The researchers will design questionnaires for the data gathering process

to get a quantitative data. The main purpose of the questionnaires is to determine

the cultural diversity of the students and its effects on their academic

performance.

Data Gathering Procedures

The researchers will personally administer the questionnaires to the

respondents of this research; they will discuss what the study all about and will

properly distribute the questionnaires. The respondents will be given time to

answer the questions honestly and accurately. After the questionnaires have

been finish, the results will be tallied and tabulated. The data will serve as the

basis of analysis and interpretation.

Statistical Treatment

The researchers will use weighted mean frequency count, that represents

the relationship between two variables that are measured on the same interval or

ratio scale and a measure of the strength of association between two continuous

variables, (Investopedia, 2018), because the researchers will determine if there is

a significant difference between the Cultural Diversity of the Grade 11 and 12

students and their Academic performance.

 References

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