Factors That Affect the Grade 12 General Academic Strand Students' Concentration in Class

Abstract

Lack of concentration happens almost every day in our lives, ranging from staring into blank space to forgetting something. Lack of concentration mainly correlates to the mental state of the students. It affects the educational performance of the students in the class, ranging from harmless ones like staring in blank space to serious ones like forgetting a requirement needed to be submitted on a certain date. The researchers conducted this study to know the factors that affect the concentration of Grade 12 General Academic Strand (GAS) students. The researchers used descriptive design in such a way that the survey questionnaire was administered to thirty (30) Grade 12 GAS students chosen through random sampling. The survey questionnaire was constructed to determine the most common reason why some students lose their concentration in class, the consequences that it brought, and the proposed recommendations to prevent this. Moreover, the theory of Cerdan (2014) stated that the lack of concentration could most possibly happen due to more spiritual or mental problems occurring to a person. The data collected were analyzed qualitatively. Many students who responded to this study agreed that factors affect their lack of concentration. The respondents stated that the most common factor affecting their concentration was thinking about their problems about their family and personal needs, while in the assessment of the consequences after losing concentration, the respondents emphasized that it resulted in receiving low grades from the different subject areas. The results asked for recommendations to address the lack of student concentration in class. These recommendations could be forwarded to address the said problem: Students should control their thoughts about other problems that are not concerned with their school activities; Teachers and parents should collaborate to help students prevent loss of concentration; Students should try to sort out other problems that distract them; and students must try harder to focus on the lesson to avoid getting low grades.