Identifying Skills Affecting the Research Writing of Senior High School Students: A Basis for Making Supplementary Activities in Practical Research

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Writing a research paper creates undesirable judgment for many Senior High School students. As soon as they hear the word research or thesis, the first description that pop-up to their mind is the word difficult. Non-research advocates could have the same perception for those students, but for those research enthusiasts, they consider writing research as challenging and an avenue to acquire learning. Thus, the researcher conducted the study to identify the factors affecting the Grade 12 students in writing research in terms of writing skills, collaboration skills, and computer skills. The problems encountered by the Grade 12 students in writing research were also identified.

METHODS

The study was action research. The researcher sought to develop assumptions from observations and numeral values taken from the questionnaire. Random sampling was used to determine the number of respondents. The researcher-made questionnaires were distributed among the forty Grade 12 students of Pinagtongulan Integrated National High School. The data from the questionnaire were processed and were subjected to statistical treatment.

RESULTS

Based on the three factors presented, computer skills got the highest weighted mean of 3.15. It is followed by reading skills with a weighted mean of 2.78, writing skills of 2.77 and collaborative skills of 2.55. All three skills fall under the verbal interpretation of agree. The study also revealed that the students encounter difficulty in making research due to lack of internet access. Though the students have a cellphone to search on, internet connection is still needed to gather related literature and other information.

DISCUSSIONS

The results demonstrate that the students are lack of basic knowledge in computer apps like the utilization of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint; although, they are knowledgeable in using social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the like. Computer, reading and writing skills affect the research writing of the students; thus, there is a need to strengthen the students' computer, reading and writing skills. If the students will develop the three skills, the students' collaborative skills will also improve because they will be confident enough to face the difficulties in writing research.