Unravelling the Extent of Students’ Procrastination in a State University in the New Educational Landscape ()
1. Introduction
The COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted schools and prompted uncertainty. New cases are rising despite global attempts to curb the virus’s spread [1] . Therefore, to continue providing quality education, schools should consider the new normal while creating and implementing the “new normal educational policy” to maintain high-quality education under lockdown and community quarantine since, as of July 16, 2021, there were 1,496,328 new infections in the Philippines and over 189 million worldwide [2] and [3] . These issues led educational authorities to adopt a new classroom instruction standard. The Commission on Higher Education supported HEI academic freedom. Students should use non-traditional instructional methods [4] . Online education offers many benefits, but it has also created new issues for instructors and students, especially in higher education. Classroom issues hinder students’ growth in academics. The majority of learners today delay things, which hampers their academic performance. Humans often postpone tasks. Procrastination is a culturally diverse issue. Students of all ages procrastinate academically [5] . Stress is almost always linked to educational procrastination. Working late forces you to rush. While they struggle with responsibility, procrastinators are easy to condemn. The classic example is the student who procrastinates and crams the night before an exam. Meanwhile, [6] suggested that people do not want to participate in procrastination because they are afraid of receiving negative feedback from their peers.
Procrastination is not always a problem, but it has negative and permanent implications for students because it might hinder them from achieving their goals. Given these factors, the researchers were encouraged to investigate the extent to which state university students procrastinate on their academic performance. It also investigates whether or not these issues are significantly different among students’ departments. Hence, the researchers believe that students would benefit most from this study by identifying the causes of and developing solutions to the widespread problem of procrastination at this particular time in the four corners of the classroom and among school administration. The result of this study can be used as a starting point for planning future training capacity, both for students and teachers.
2. Research Methodology
This study is anchored on the theory of planned behavior underpinned by Reference [7] . The aforementioned theory is powerful and predictive because “behavioral beliefs,” “normative beliefs,” and “control beliefs” guide human conduct. “Behavioral beliefs” create an “attitude toward the behavior,” “normative beliefs” provide a “subjective norm,” and “control beliefs” create “perceived behavioral control. “Attitude toward the behavior,” “subjective norm,” and “perceived behavioral control” comprise “behavioral intention”. “Perceived behavioral control” is thought to effect behavior directly and indirectly through behavioral intention. Finally, individuals are expected to carry out their objectives when the opportunity presents itself if they possess a significant amount of genuine behavioral control. When students realize that their low academic performance is attributable in part to their procrastination and poor study habits, they are able to adjust their undesirable behavior.
Furthermore, this study employed a descriptive-inferential approach to collect information on the extent of academic procrastination among first-year students with regard to the “new normal of education. Consequently, freshmen students of A.Y. 2021-2022 from several departments at the Quirino State University-Maddela Campus was chosen on purpose.
Thus, researchers assessed the students’ level of procrastination using the Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students (PASS) of reference [8] . Additionally, the mean was utilized to evaluate the academic procrastination and bad study habits of the respondents. And Anova was also used to examine the significance of variations across student profiles based on their level of academic procrastination.
3. Results and Discussion
Table 1 shows the frequency and percentage distribution of the respondents in terms of course. As gleaned from the table, there were 37 (41.1%) respondents who were taking bachelor’s in technology and Livelihood Education (BTLED), 28 (31.1%) respondents were CHM students, and 25 (27.8%) respondents were BSA students. The following respondents are all freshmen students in each department. Thus, most of the respondents are from the College of Teacher Education.
Based on the responses of the research participants to the given questionnaire, the students’ level of academic procrastination was drown by knowing the mean of the indicated by indicators: Writing Term Paper, Critique Paper, Reflection Paper, etc.; Studying for Exams; keeping up with reading assignments, and attendance in a virtual. In addition, it was evident from the qualitative description of all indicators that all were described as a “high” level of procrastination as shown: Writing Term Paper etc., (2.82); Studying for Exams (3.07); Keeping up with Reading Assignments (2.92) and Attendance on Virtual Class (2.94) (Table 2). This implies that among the given indicators writing term papers was given the most priority among the indicators since it has the lowest mean percentage among the following indicators. On the other hand, the respondents considered this indicator to have the highest degree in taking this as a problem since it has a 3.07 mean percentage. This could imply that respondents struggle to write term
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Table 1. Demographic profile of the respondents.
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Table 2. Presents the level of student’s academic procrastination of respondents.
Legend: 1 - 1.49: Very Low, 1.50 - 2.49: Moderately Low, 2.50 - 3.49: High, 3.50 - 4.49: Very High and 4.5 - 5.0: Extremely High.
papers, critique papers, reflection papers, and so on. Because writing term papers requires more time and collaboration with instructors, respondents should take fewer absences during virtual classes or even attend all of their virtual classes.
Additionally, the foregoing results have found assertion on the idea of reference which [5] he stated that procrastination is domain-specific, with academic procrastination being one of the areas/domains in which people procrastinate so this area should be investigated independently in order to fully comprehend its characteristics, implications, and theoretical approaches. This idea has been concluded by reference [9] , according to them, students have a proclivity for procrastination. Meanwhile, reference [10] conducted prospective research on procrastinators’ attitudes, including empirically supported, computer-scored content assessments of procrastinators’ emotions and ideas. They discovered that procrastination was strongly associated with maladaptive thoughts and feelings in four domains: Self-deprecating thoughts and feelings, other deprecating thoughts and feelings, life situation deprecating thoughts and feelings, and frustration intolerance. Additionally, it was connected with decreased optimism.
Table 3 presents the difference in students’ profiles based on their level of academic procrastination. As gleaned from the table, there is no significant difference in the level of academic procrastination among the respondents when grouped according to the student profile. The result is based on the sig. value of 0.590, which is higher than the 0.05 level of significance. This simply indicates that there is no difference in the respondents’ level of procrastination based on their student profiles. And as such, regardless of department, students experience procrastination in a parallel manner, particularly with regard to their studies. And despite the fact that they are enrolled in different courses, they are all first-year students who are still in the process of adopting tertiary student routines.
These results found affirmations in some studies that found insignificant differences between students’ profiles on their extent of academic procrastination, which might affect their academic performance negatively [11] and [12] .
On the other hand, some of the researchers have linked procrastination to demographic profiles including gender and academic performance of students, as well as other adverse behaviors and outcomes including poor study habits, test anxiety, cramming for examinations, late submission of course work, fear of failure, fear of social disapproval by peers, lower grades, a sense of guilt, and depression, and found significant differences on the following in connection to academic procrastination [13] .
Proposed intervention plan to lessen the students’ procrastination
According to the study’s findings, respondents across all college departments exhibit “high” levels of academic procrastination. Additionally, the respondents’ level of academic procrastination. The outcomes call for an intervention strategy like webinars on the following topics: first is on time management, which can finally help students manage their time effectively and finish work as quickly as possible, and the second is on how to lessen their academic procrastination. Its objective is to provide guidance to students on how to create efficient study plans and particular study techniques. Having an intervention strategy address different issue of students’ lack of skills in and problems in their performance in their studies [14] .
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Table 3. The significant difference in students’ profile on their level of academic procrastination.
4. Conclusions and Future Works
Conclusions drawn from the data include the following: 1) most respondents are from the College of Teacher Education; 2) the respondents’ level of academic procrastination constitutes in all the College Departments an overall mean qualitative description of “high”; 3) there is no difference in the respondents’ level of procrastination based on the student’s profile; and 4) the proposed intervention activity is strongly recommended.
In fact, students’ procrastination plays an important role in expanding their understanding and analytical skills. Cramming is a common result of procrastination; this is when students devote the bulk of their time to studying right before a due date, rather than spreading it out over the course of the semester. Thus, it is important for students to understand how both procrastination and poor study habits might hinder their academic performance. In light of the new educational landscape, which may be contributing to students’ increased procrastination and poor study habits, it is suggested that teachers employ a wide range of pedagogical approaches to get their students interested in and motivated to complete many assignments they must turn in for class. Several studies, notably those conducted at the university level, have indicated that procrastinating is significantly correlated with lower levels of academic success.
5. Recommendations
The following recommendations were made based on the findings and conclusion of the study:
1) A variety of teaching methods be used to engage the learners and motivate them to comply with all the requirements and tasks needed to submit in the school, which are useful and relevant instructional materials, especially in this particular time that we are having the new educational landscape, which might somehow be one of the reasons why students’ levels of procrastination and bad study habits have strengthened;
2) The administration should organize an intervention activity like conducting seminars to manage time properly; and
3) The instructors should ensure that the activities given to students can be completed by the deadline or time specified.
4) The future researcher should further some studies on the lived experiences of respondents based on the time of the pandemic.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the students of the different programs of Quirino State University, Maddela Campus for participating in the conduct of this study.