Chapter I

Introduction

Rationale of the Study

Stephen Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis (1988) is a striking example of the

constant yet often undervalued role of feelings in the practice of teaching. While primarily

focused on language acquisition. It doubtless gives a picture of the real-world classroom

environment, where emotional variables form a legitimate block of concerns that a teacher

needs to manage in order to keep the learning process running smoothly. These variables,

Krashen points out represent universal emotions and are thus arguably contingent to the

learning of both adults and children.

With children, it is particularly important for the teacher to maintain an active role

in the management of emotions because the mental facilities that enable most adults to deal

with their emotions are still under developed. Social anxiety, for instance may prove

overwhelming, as it could interfere with child’s ability to perform in group activities, an

essential and basic element in most modern learning environments (Van Ameringen et al.,

2003).

According to the presentation model, social anxiety occurs when an individual

wants to present a favorable public image, but doubts his or her ability to do so (Schlenker

and Leary 1982). Such doubt may be fueled by low self-worth and internalized shame

(Gilbert and Procter 2006). Together these can exert a strong, untoward impact through

social anxiety on personal identity, social relationships, mental health and success in

education
 On the contrary, this is what this study aims to contribute towards as it examines

the realities that define social anxiety in the context of the Grade 6 students of Tinago

Elementary School. Its specific goals are: (1) To determine the risk factors associated with

social anxiety vis a vis the demographic profiles of the children who will be part of the

study and (2) to identify which interventions are most effective in improving the behavior

of children who suffer social anxiety in view of a marked increase in their willingness to

engage in group activities and consequently, their overall performance in class.

Equivalently, this translates to a methodology consisting of these three major parts:

(1) identifying children who suffer social anxiety, (2) producing learner profiles and (3)

conducting intervention (and their subsequent evaluation).

Due to its pervasiveness and insidious nature, social anxiety disorder has garnered

worldwide attention of researchers and psychologist in the recent years. However, most of

the studies are conducted in the western countries and this research are remains vacant in

the Philippines. Therefore, the present study was conducted as an attempt to find out the

relationship between social anxieties to students performance in class in countries like

Philippines where the research is lacking in this field.

Statement of the problem

In Tinago Elementary School, there are children who exhibit anxiety related

behavior and they are especially averse to group activities. In this regard, it is unclear

whether it is social anxiety that is causing this aversion or similarly in their subsequent

poor performance in class.

The questions that this study seeks to answer are:

1. What anxiety- related behavior do these children exhibits?

 2. Is there a significant correlation between the anxiety- related behaviors and their

performance in group activities?

3. Which anxiety-related behaviors especially require attention?

4. What risk factors are relevant in the identification of children aversion from social

anxiety?

5. Who are the children most at risk from social anxiety?

6. Might several other factors such as (i) shyness, (ii) introversion, (iii) lack of

interpersonal skills, (iv) lack of motivation, (v) family related stress and (vi) socio-

economic status be identified as stronger determinants of children’s aversion to

group activities than social anxiety? Which factors are concomitant to one another?

7. What intervention increase the willingness of these children to engage in group

activities?

8. Which intervention improve learning outcomes?

Significance of the Study

This study will benefits the following entities:

School Administrator. The result of the study will guide the school administrators in

designing an effective strategy on how to manage and help pupils with anxiety and related

problems inside the classroom.

Parents. The study will help to educate the parents who are directly concerned with the

education of their children considering school performance in different discipline.

Other Researchers. This study will add a growing body of information the field of

educational research. The result of this study will be serving as a guide of other researchers

who would like to embark on a conduct of study of similar nature.

 Chapter II

Review of Related Literature and Studies

Social Anxiety

Social anxiety is defined as a marked or intense, fear or anxiety of social situations

in which the individual may be scrutinized or negatively evaluated by others (APA, 2013).

Social anxiety involves feeling of self-consciousness, and emotional distress in anticipated

or actual self-evaluative situations, in addition to an intense fear of judgment. According

the DSM-V, social anxiety can be induced by riding buses, public speaking, test taking and

physical education, as these situations can be distressing and debilitating for some

individuals. In students, these feelings can sometimes lead to the avoidance of school

altogether (Duckworth & Freedman, 2012; Casoli-Reardon, Rappaport, Kulick &

Reinfield, 2012). Social anxiety is also categorized as an internalizing disorder as not all

symptoms are visible or disruptive to others. Internalizing disorders involve keeping the

problem to oneself and symptoms may consist of depression, withdrawal and low self-

esteem (Smith, 2014). Social anxiety can be diagnosed specifically for performance

anxiety, if the anxiety is restricted to speaking or performing in public (APA, 2013).

Individuals suffering from social anxiety can show symptoms such as blushing, trembling,

sweating, stumbling over one’s words, and changing their habits to avoid the situation.

Unlike individuals with general social anxiety, individuals with performance only social

anxiety disorder do not fear or avoid nonperformance social situations. This means that

even if students appear to be social with friends and family, they may be suffering through

their school presentations and speeches, and are most likely not displaying their best work

(Maloney, et al., 2014; Cassady, 2010).

 Social anxiety generally leads to poor social outcomes, including avoidance

behavior, poor social skills, social isolation, loneliness, negative outcomes in peer

interactions and limited extra-curricular activities (Casoli-Reardon, et al., 2012; Meldrum,

Venn, & Kutcher, 2009; Grover, Ginsburg & Ialongo, 2007; Coplan, Girardi, Findlay, &

Frohlick, 2007; Beidel, Turner, & Morris, 1999; Spence, Donovan, & Brechman-Tussiant,

1999; Pine et al., 1998). As previously mentioned, social anxiety also includes performance

anxiety and the constant fear of being judged. This pattern is not only found in elementary

school students, but is seen in adolescents as well (La Greca & Lopez, 1998), which

supports the claim that action should be taken as soon as the anxiety symptoms are noticed

in order to prevent students from developing more severe symptoms in high school.

Students are oftentimes required by teachers to participate in class discussions, to work in

groups, and to give oral presentations in front of the entire class. These expectations may

be troublesome for students with performance anxiety, as they require social behaviors.

Irving and Irving (1994) found that shyness and anxiety are significantly correlated, and

that this correlation is most significant around grade five, a time for social skill

development (Statistics Canada, 2013; Kessler, et al., 2007). If shyness is a large

contributor to anxiety, teachers have a responsibility to understand these factors, especially

with the knowledge that anxiety inhibits school performance. It is thus important that

teachers exhibit empathy and skill in dealing with shy or anxious students by appreciating

their strengths and helping them develop in areas where they appear to be weaker, as

students with social anxiety are reluctant to ask questions, seek help, initiate new ideas,

and volunteer in class (Levine & George, 1992).

Classroom Performance

A study by Muris and Meesters (2002) found that high anxiety was associated with

poor classroom functioning. Students also had difficulty with peer relationships and low

self-esteem, in addition to poor classroom functioning. If students do not have the

necessary support system, it is understandable that they perform below their potential and

avoid leadership positions. Both this study and the study by Bernstein et al. (2008) were

clinical studies. This is important to note as it can be assumed that participants in these

studies had a greater severity of symptoms and impairments than nonclinical studies, and

thus results found from these studies may be slightly exaggerated.

A lot of research has been done examining anxiety in the classroom and its’ impact

on classroom performance. Anxiety can have a negative impact on a student’s education

and certain types of evaluation may not demonstrate the full extent of their abilities

(Cassady, 2010). In a 2009 report, the Canadian Council on Learning states that, poor

mental health in Canadian school children poses a significant risk to their academic

development and puts them at greater risk of dropping out of school, substance abuse and

suicide (Canadian Council on Learning, 2010; Grover, et al., 2007). Schools are well

positioned to be at the forefront of public health strategies designed to prevent and detect

mental health disorders early among young people.

Anxiety in general has been shown to be beneficial in small amounts, as those

students who have high levels of anxiety in preschool could produce higher grades in

adolescence (DiLalla, Marcus & Wright-Pillips, 2004). Although this pattern is typical,

according to Sharma (1970), this is only the case with moderate levels of anxiety not low

or high levels, as students with high or low levels of anxiety in early years, underachieve
in intermediate and senior grades (Mychailyszyn et al., 2010; Grover, et al., 2007). In a

comprehensive study by Duchesne, Vitaro, Larose, and Tremblay (2008), 1817 children

from kindergarten to grade 6 were tested for anxiety. Parents and teachers reported on the

child’s social behavior and classroom functioning. Those students who had chronic levels

of anxiety the kindergarten still had high to chronic levels of anxiety in grade six. It was

also found that anxiety is highly correlated with high school and university dropout rates

(Meldrum, et al., 2009; Duchesne, et al., 2008; Fergusson & Woodward, 2002). Again this

shows the importance of early recognition and intervention.

Stevenson and Odom (1965), found that verbal processing skills were also impaired

due to anxiety. 318 students in grades four to six completed a variety of tests examining

verbal and performance IQ, along with concept formation, discrimination tasks, anagrams

and anxiety. It was found that as anxiety increased, performance on tasks decreased.

Performance showed a significant decrease on verbal processing tasks specifically. This

finding adds to findings that anxiety can impair a student’s understanding of instructions

in the classroom, or even what is being taught in class, and thus their classroom

performance.

Theoretical Framework of the Study

The definite cause of social anxiety is still unidentified, but the research supports

that multiple causes including biological, genetic and environment contribute to an increase

in anxiety (Morris, 2001; Rapee, 2001). Literature elaborates that causes of social anxiety

can be classified into four theoretical models. First, the skills deficit model (Leary, 1983)

assumes that social anxiety occurs due to inappropriate social skills that often result in

awkward social encounters and lead subjects to avoid situations that elicit this anxiety. This
simply shows that the student doesn’t have the idea on how to perform the certain task

given by the teacher.

The cognitive self-evaluation model (Deci & Ryan, 1985) states that negative self-

perception results in social anxiety and subjects affected by this overly underestimate

themselves and believe that they do not perform well in social situations, even if it is not

true.

The classical conditioning approach (Pavlov, 1902) assumes that social anxiety

develops when neutral stimuli are followed by negative conditions, hence creating an

adverse association with that situation. For example, if a student is bullied at school they

may learn to associate the school with fear. It could also explain why some students show

a particular dislike of certain subjects that continue throughout their academic career. This

could happen if a student is humiliated or punished in class by a teacher.

The fourth model, personality traits approach (Allport, 1961) states that social

anxiety occurs due to differences in the emotional, cognitive and behavioral aspects of

personality and shyness may even have an inherited component.

Conceptual Framework of the Study

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

Social Anxiety An Analysis of Social

Anxiety
Other related factors
Survey
 Shyness
 Introversion
 Lack of Data Gathering
An Analysis of other
interpersonal
related factors.
skills Data Analysis
 Lack of
motivation
 Family related Data Interpretation
stress
 Socio-
economic
status

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework of the Study

Definition of Terms

For better clarification and understanding of the terms related to this study, the

following terms are defined technically and operationally.

Classroom Performance. This refers to the action or process of carrying out or

accomplishing an action, task, or function in a classroom.

Group Activities. This refers to a formal assessment tasks that require students to

work in groups
 Chapter III

Methodology

Research Design

This study will utilize the descriptive- correlation method research design.

Descriptive - correlation was selected to determine if there’s a significance and positive

relationship between children performance in group activities and social anxiety and other

related factors in terms of shyness, introversion, lack of interpersonal skills, lack of

motivation, family related stress and socio- economic status.

Research Locale

This study will be conducted in Tinago Elementary School, Tinago, Tomas Oppus,

Southern Leyte.

Research Respondent

The target respondents of this study will be the Grade 6 pupils of Tinago

Elementary School, school year 2018-2019.

Name of School Grade Level Male Female Total

Tinago ES 6 22 18 40

Table [Link] Number of Respondents

Research Instrument
 The instrument used was a researcher – made questionnaire to gather the needed

data. The draft of the questionnaire was drawn out based on the researcher’s readings,

previous studies, professional literature, published and unpublished thesis to the study.

The checklist was based on the social anxiety and other related factors namely

shyness, introversion, lack of interpersonal skills, lack of motivation, family related stress

and socio- economic status. Keeping in view the low level of English understanding of the

participants, it was first developed in English and then translated in Bisaya.

Data Collection Procedure

The first step before going to the testing proper is to make a request letter addressed

to the School Principal to conduct the research. Upon approval, the class adviser will be

called upon and the researcher would explain what the researcher would like to do. Ask

permission to the students to gather information from them. In administering the

questionnaire, the researcher was use the time allotted for vacant to avoid distraction of

class discussion. The student responses were given enough time to answer the questions.

Data Analysis

Responses to the questionnaire by the students were statistically analyzed with the

data requirement of the study. Descriptive statistics such as frequency count, mean, and

rank are considered.