The ABC of Academic Failure: A Phenomenological Study of Academic Failure among Students from Private Universities

This study was conducted by: Celine Dionne Carlos, Leonida Florendo, Berna Kamila Martin and Stephanie Clare Rojas

INTRODUCTION

According to Glasser (1975 as cited in Pickhardt, 2011) failure can have tremendous effects on one’s life. Yet, little attention was given on how people experience multiple academic failures since previous researches in academic failure has been primarily about its causal attributions (McEvoy& Welker, 2000; Le Foll & Rascle, 2006; Lee, 2007; Miller, 1998 as cited in Ojo & Owoyele, 2011). Studying the phenomenon may promote ways on how to deal with people who have failed academics a lot of times since they would have a better understanding of the phenomenon. It is also beneficial in learning contexts since most educators are striving to have a better understvanding how to encourage the students to have more positive self-attitudes after experiencing academic failures (Neff, Hsieh & Dejitterat, 2005). The present study would like to explore students’ multiple academic failure experience to provide insights and rich descriptions about their experience, its effects on them and their attributions of their failure in order for people to address the issues that may occur.

     

METHODS

            The participants for this study are eleven (11) undergraduate students from two private universities in Metro Manila. They are currently in their junior and terminal years who have accumulated multiple (two or more) academic failures during the span of the study. The descriptions of the phenomenon were gathered through conducting five (5) in-depth interviews and one (1) focus group discussion of six (6) people. The data were analyzed by transcribing, reading and re-reading the entire descriptions and listening to the interview tapes. Significant statements were highlighted and examined in order to formulate themes.  In ensuring the validity, the researchers used triangulation where they collected the data from various sources (participants, methods, theories and different investigators). They sorted the descriptions gathered to find common categories and themes and lastly, they eliminated the overlapping areas.

RESULTS

Sub-question 1: What are the effects of the academic failure experience?

Table 1.
Themes for the Effects of the Academic Failure Experience under the Affect, Behavior and Cognition Categories

Theme	Description/Definition	Sample Quote
Shame (AFFECT)	a painful emotion caused by being aware of the individual’s own shortcomings (academic failure)	“Yun nga try to pass the next time kasi nakakahiya.”
More serious and responsible in studies (BEHAVIOR)	allotting more time and effort in studying and complying with academic related requirements.	“I am taking college more serious now than when I first entered college. Well, because the last time I received a failing mark was two years ago which means I’m doing well in my studies now.”
Failure as a hindrance (COGNITION)	negative outlook on the academic failure as it will lead to difficulties and obstruction.	“It meant that I can’t be Cum Laude anymore.”
Failure for personal growth (COGNITION)	positive outlook on the academic failure as it will allow the individual to learn and improve oneself.	“It’s a positive in a way because syempre nadetermine ako lalo na magstudy more and mas lalo ako parang nagising sa truth na kailangan ko talaga mag-aral ng sobra, na college is not a game.”
Acceptance of Failure (COGNITION)	acknowledging the fact that they failed the subject/s.	“Nangyari na eh, wala ka na magagawa dun. Kung nangyari na, nangyari na. Bawi ka na lang next term…”
Failure breeds regrets (COGNITION)	recurrently thinking of what the individual should have done to avoid the academic failure.	“At saka, sayang eh. Sayang yung oras like every subject you fail, parang ‘di ba it delays you from graduating.”

 Note. The themes are divided into three categories: Affect, the changes relating to the participants' moods and feelings caused by the academic failure; Behavior, the changes in actions and conducts of the participants caused by the experience of academic failure; and Cognition, the changes in the participants' thoughts and perceptions caused by their academic failure. The participants felt ashamed after having multiple academic failures but it also led to good changes with regards to their behavior because they became more serious and responsible with their studies. It has positive effects in their thoughts in a way since they took it as an opportunity for growth and just accepted it, on the other hand, they also have negative thoughts towards their academic failures for they thought of it as a hindrance for their goals and it also brought regrets to them at the end.

Sub-question 2: What are the reasons of their academic failure?
Table 2.
Themes for Reasons of their Academic Failure under the External and Internal Categories

Themes	Description/Definition	Sample Quote
Inefficiency of professors (EXTERNAL)	explanations of academic failure that involve the participants’ issues about their professors.	“Professors sometimes don’t know how to teach. They sometimes don’t care if the students learned something or not.”
Difficulty of subject (EXTERNAL)	high levels of struggle or stress that participants experience in complying with the requirements of the subjects.	“I think sometimes they just have a really hard time with the subject. I mean, sometimes it’s not really their forte… they are not that interested in the subject as well…”
Distractions (EXTERNAL)	activities, people or things that hinder the participants to perform better in their classes.	“daming hindrance eh. Andyan yung partying, friends na minsan B.I. sa’yo. Kaya minsan nawawala ka sa focus”
Inability to manage time (INTERNAL)	incompetence in using time efficiently.	“Walang time management. Syempre kaya naman pero … (inaudible)”
Absenteeism (INTERNAL)	unable to attend classes (intentional or unintentional)	“I had FDA – failure due to absence… it was my decision not to go to that class so definitely I expected that I would fail the subject.”

Note. The themes are divided into two categories: External, the explanations of the participants' academic failure that are attributed to their environment or situation; and Internal, the explanations of the participants' academic failure that are attributed to the participants themselves. They usually attribute their academic failures to the professors, subjects, distractions, having no time management and not attending classes.

Research question: How do students from private universities experience academic failure?
Table 3.
Themes for the Experience of Academic Failure under the Affect, Behavior and Cognition Categories

Themes	Description/Definition	Sample Quote
Disappointed (AFFECT)	being strongly displeased with the academic failure.	“I’m not used to failing, I usually can handle schoolwork and pass. But then you know, if I set my mind into it, I usually can do it that’s why I was so hurt when I didn’t (pass the subject).”
Anxiety (AFFECT)	a strong feeling of worry; being uneasy with the academic failure.	“Nung first time, sobrang napraning ako  kasi I promised my parents na wala akong bagsak… I felt scared lalo na on the succeeding failures. Kasi right after the failures, I keep promising my parents na hindi na ulit ako babagsak.”
Annoyance (AFFECT)	a strong feeling of anger; being greatly displeased with the experience of academic failure.	"Sobrang galit ako nung time na yun that’s why I opted to just keep quiet then I tried to look back on the whole term”
Communicating with others (BEHAVIOR)	talking to other people to inform   them about their academic failure and to seek comfort, help and advices.	“Calling my friends and saying ‘bro, I failed’ then I had to tell my parents…”
Self-talk (BEHAVIOR)	self motivation through talking to   oneself.	“I just told my self lang don’t let it bother you kasi you know, you can bounce back.”
Distracting self to forget (BEHAVIOR)	diverting one’s attention to other   tasks instead of thinking about the academic failure.	“I cried really really bad and I felt so bad I baked so many cookies.”
Acceptance (COGNITION)	consenting with the idea of failure	“I just accepted it. I can’t do anything about it anymore…”
Decrease in self-efficacy (COGNITION)	decline in the confidence that an individual has over his abilities and knowledge.	I felt guilty na parang that was my only job. I mean, I’m provided with everything and my only job was to pass and I couldn’t even do that so I felt like I’m a failure.
Optimism (COGNITION)	looking at the academic failure in   a more positive note	“Definitely not fun, but these experience are sometimes needed to help a person grow as an individual.”
Regrets (COGNITION)	recurrent thoughts about the academic failure, which leads to resentment and disappointment of the experience.	“Syempre nung una akala mo okay lang pero nung tumagal maiisip mo sayang yung pera, sayang yung oras kung kelan gagraduate ka na, mapapatagal ka pa ng apat na terms.”

Note. The themes are divided into three categories: Affect, the experiences of academic failure that concern the participants' emotions and feelings; Behavior, the experiences of academic failure that involve the patterns of their actions and conducts; and Cognition, the experiences that involve the participants’ thoughts and perceptions.  They have negative emotions during the experience and these emotions brought them to have talks with other people and/or to themselves and they also keep themselves busy with other activities for them not to constantly think about their academic failures. They have thoughts wherein they just accepted it and just have a positive outlook about it and negative thoughts as well, wherein their self-efficacy decreased and they had regrets about the experience.

CONCLUSION, DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATIONS

There’s a great impact on the affect, cognition and behavior among students from private universities who experienced multiple academic failure, and generally, the themes were found to be consistent with some studies done in the past. In fact, the themes were found to be highly related to Kubler-Ross Model of the Five (5) Stages of Grief (1969): denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. In addition, students generally feel disappointed, anxious and annoyed whenever they experience failure supported by the affective reactions to academic failure found in other studies which further suggests that students do not feel pleased with failure (Le Foll & Rascle, 2006; Miller, 1998 as cited in Ojo & Owoyele, 2011; Gracia & Jenkins, 2002). These emotions are said to further influence their way of thinking, the decisions they make, and the way they act (Adolphs & Damasio, 2001; Ciarrochi et al, 2001 as cited in Gracia & Jenkins, 2002) and in this particular study, the students’ way of thinking is affected such that with the experience, students generally accept and are able to keep their optimism with regards to their experience of academic failure, though it was also found that having regrets and decreasing self-efficacy were also common among students undergoing failure in academics. Moreover, certain coping mechanisms were observed such that students usually communicate with other people, undergo self-talk and distract themselves in order to forget their academic failure which are really common among students experiencing academic failure as seen in the study of Neff et al (2005). And finally, they also attribute their failures in both internal factors (Le Foll and Rascle, 2006; Miller, 1998 as cited in Ojo & Owoyele, 2011) including lack of motivation, inability to manage time and absenteeism,  as well as to external factors (Duran, 1991; Lee, 2007; Le Foll and Rascle, 2006; Miller, 1998 as cited in Ojo & Owoyele, 2011) such as inefficiency of professors, difficulty of subjects and distractions. And yet, for a more in depth and richer analysis of the experience of academic failure, the next researchers may include not only students from private schools but also the public schools for more generalized results. They may use other qualitative approaches such as Grounded Theory in order to have more in depth results - the explanations of the student’s affect, behavior, cognition and consequences for further individual action and interpersonal relations. Lastly, they could also study the difference of the experiences of academic failure in minor and major subjects.

REFERENCES

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Kübler-Ross, E. (1969). On death and dying. Retrieved August 19, 2012 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/6512450/Five-Stages-of-Grief

McEvoy, A. & Welker, R. (2000). Antisocial behavior, academic failure and school climate: A critical review. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. Vol. 8. No. 3. pp. 130-140

Neff, K., Hsieh, Y. & Dejitterat, K. (2005). Self-compassion, achievement goals, and coping with academic failure. Self and Identity, 4 263 – 287, 2005 DOI: 10.1080/13576500444000317

Ojo, A. & Owoyele, J. (2011). Causal attributions and affective reactions to academic failure among undergraduates in the Nigerian Premier University of Education. European Journal of Scientific Research, Vol.52 No.3 (2011), pp.406-412

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Pickhardt, C. (2011). Adolescence and failure. Psychology Today. Retrieved August 18,2012, from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/surviving-your-childs-adolescence/201109/adolescence-and-failure