Reward as Motivational Approach and its Impact on Academic Performance of Grade 12 HUMSS Strand students at Bestlink College of the Philippines

Abstract

The pursuit of attaining white-collar jobs, such as engineers, lawyers, and programmers, may serve as a motivation in pursuing college degrees and becoming a well-raised person. Supposedly, students should strive to learn without expecting anything but to gain knowledge. However, this ideology is impractical in the 21st century. Personal satisfaction, meeting parent’s expectations, and even materialistic desires are becoming the students’ main motivational factors in achieving excellent academic performance. At present, the reward is the main reason why students strive for excellence. This study aimed to determinethe impact of reward as a motivational approach on the academic performance of Grade 12 Humanities and Social Sciences Strand students in Bestlink College of the Philippines (S.Y. 2019–2020). This study utilized a qualitative method and descriptive designto make open questions that will make the content of this study easy to understand. The researchers used the purposive sampling technique to determine the number of respondents who answered the survey questionnaire administered by the researchers. The results of the study showed that the variables class participation (3.91), activities (4.05), and attendance (4.02) had the same verbal interpretation of “agree,” which showed that rewards affect the students’ class participation in every discussion, the cycle of every activity, and their daily attendances. In the second question, the variables self-confidence (4.13), student-student relationship (3.89), and student-teacher relationship (4.17) had the same verbal interpretation of “agree,” which showed that the rewards have a positive outcome on the academic behavior of the students, such as self-confidence, student-student relationship, and student-teacher relationship. In the third question, the variables self-confidence (3.93), student-student relationship (3.96), and student-teacher relationship (3.65) had the same verbal interpretation of “agree,” which showed that the reward system had a negative outcome on the academic behavior of the students in terms of self-confidence, student-student relationship, and student-teacher relationship. The results showed that the reward system has a considerable impact on the academic performance of the students and has a negative and positive outcome on their academic behavior. Rewards may motivate students, but they can also make them uncontrollable and dependent. The researchers recommended that the students must prefer hard work and gratitude in every task that they are doing in every classroom to not depend on their eagerness on what they are doing.