See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/335881960

The impact of seating arrangement to the engagement of tertiary-level students

in Philippine Music Classes

Thesis · October 2018

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.21789.26083

CITATIONS READS

0 5,902

1 author:

Thomas Andrew Ancheta Pescador

Philippine Women's University
1 PUBLICATION 0 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Thomas Andrew Ancheta Pescador on 18 September 2019.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

The impact of seating arrangement to the engagement

of tertiary-level students in Philippine Music Classes

Research by:

Thomas Andrew A. Pescador

In partial fulfillment

of the requirements

in English Plus B

during the first trimester

Submitted to:

Dr. Francisco S. Feraro, Jr.

Abstract

Seating arrangement is something not given a lot of attention especially in the Tertiary

level but based on evidence set forth by numerous studies based in different countries there may

be some significance in attempting to do this study in the Philippines and to perform this study in

the tertiary level. According to the studies, changing the seating arrangement has an impact on

the participation of the students, and that is what this research intends to experiment on. This

research employed the experimental method with a self and peer evaluation before and after the

experimental factor was added in. Employing the use of t-test the result of the study proved that

there is an increase in student participation although the results are deemed statistically

insignificant. It has also been concluded that students have become more aware of their

classmates when their seating arrangement was changed from rows and columns to the semi-

circle seating arrangement.

Acknowledgement

I would like to give my sincerest and deepest gratitude to the following people as without

their support this research would not have been possible.

I would like to show my gratitude to Ms. Corazon P. Cruz because without her insistence

assigning the class a seating arrangement during our Filipino class, my interest to find out if

seating arrangements and participation would not have been possible.

I would also like to thank Mrs. Lilymae Francisco-Montano as well as Dean Rivera for

allowing me to perform my experiment during the Philippine Music Class. I would like to extend

my gratitude to the class of Philippine Music of Academic Year 2018 – 2019 because without

their participation during this study this research would not have been possible.

I would like to say thank you to Dr. Ferraro and Mr. Munalim as well for providing me

guidance throughout the writing of this research.

I would like to give special thanks to Ezekiel Velardo for being my research buddy and

someone to compete with to have our research be the best version that is possible. As well as the

many countless times we would eat ice cream after every meeting of English Plus B.

I would like to thank my crush for the times that her smile has brightened up my mood

and the kilig moments which has inspired me to do my research work and to finish it to

completion.
 I would like to thank my parents and brothers because they have supported me in my

studies as well as during the process of this research.

Finally, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the Lord Almighty. I thank Him

for endowing me with the knowledge and wisdom as I travelled this journey from the start until

the finish of this thesis.

Again, without your help this research would not have been possible. I am grateful that

all of you have been there to support and guide me throughout the course of this research,

without your help, this research would not have been possible. For that I am very grateful.
Table of Contents

Chapter

1 THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Background of the Study

Research Locale

Statement of the Problem

Scope and Limitations

Significance of the Study

Definition of terms

2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

Related Literature

Related Studies

Synthesis

Theoretical Framework

Conceptual Framework

Research Paradigm

3 METHODOLOGY

Research Design

Respondents of the Study

Sampling Technique
 Research Instrument

Data Gathering Procedure

Treatment of the data

Ethical Consideration

4 PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

Presentation

Analysis

Interpretation

5 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Summary of the Findings

Conclusion

Recommendation

6 BIBLIOGRAPHY

7 APPENDICES
 Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM OF ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Researching on whether a professor of a Philippine Music class can employ a “U-shaped”

or “Semi-circle” seating arrangement as a possible method to increase student-teacher

engagement because active participation has been linked to higher academic achievement.

Background of the Study

The researcher was inspired to investigate further; a professor had tried his best to

encourage the class to participate in the class. At first, we used to have a “row and column”

typically only those in the front would answer the recitation question. One day, the professor

requested the class to shift the seating arrangement to a “U-shaped” seating arrangement.

Another experience was when in one class, the researcher was requested to sit at the back

of the classroom because the professor decided to implement an alphabetical seating

arrangement. The researcher noted that he has lost interest in participating in the class, rather

opting to be a passive listener during class discussions; with most of the discussions being

dominated by those in the front.

 Research Locale

The research will take place in the Audition Hall of the Philippine Women’s University

(PWU) School of Music department. The Audition Hall is slightly bigger than the typical

classroom in PWU, almost all of the lecture-type classes in the School of Music take place in the

room.

Statement of the Problem

This study investigated on the changing of the seating arrangement and how it affects the

attentiveness of tertiary-level students in the Philippine Music Classe.

Specifically, it answered the following questions:

1. Will the changing of the seating arrangement to a semi-circle or U-shaped formation

affect the level of student attentiveness?

2. How do the students evaluate their own and peer’s attentiveness in the classroom?

Hypothesis

The researcher hypothesizes that changing the seating arrangement will not affect the

attentiveness of tertiary-level students in the Philippine Music Class. Specifically:

 1. Changing the seating arrangement will not affect the level of attentiveness in the

classroom.

2. The way the students will rate themselves and their peers will not be statistically

significant.

Scope and Limitations

The research for 2-weeks will focus on the engagement between the teacher and students

during the Philippine Music class. The research no longer looked into the academic performance

of the students, opting to focus only on the engagement. There are no researches available here in

the Philippines about the effects of changing seating arrangements in the classroom. The research

would have gone for longer but due to time constraints the research was limited to two weeks.

Significance of the Study

The information this research aims to seek out will benefit a significant portion of academia.

Professors will benefit from the information acquired because the research aims to find

the classroom seating arrangement that encourages professor-student interaction; thus

encouraging them to participate more in the subject they are discussing.

 Students will benefit because the research aims to see if there is any significant effect in

changing the seating arrangement of the classroom to ensure professor-student interaction.

Higher Education Institutions will benefit because many studies have pointed out the

benefit of active classroom participation to the academic performance of average students.

Researchers will benefit because this research will serve as an addition to the existing

body of knowledge, done within the Philippine context. As many researchers have performed

such a study within the developed world, it may be necessary to conduct a research within a

developing nation, such as the Philippines with a different struggles compared to more developed

nations.

Definition of Terms

Seating Arrangement – It is the way the chairs or desks in the classroom are arranged.

Engagement – An interaction between the teacher and the student. Typically it is when

the teacher asks the students questions and vice versa.

Academic Performance – This is the grade of the student as well as the scores of the

students in quizzes, exams and other activities of that nature.

 Row and column arrangement – It is the typical seating arrangement in Philippine

Women’s University, where the chairs are placed in lines; typically forming 6 columns and 5

rows.

U-Shaped Formation – It is when the chairs in the classroom are placed in a semi-circular

direction where the chairs form a “U” shape in the classroom with the opening of the “U” facing

the middle of the “U”. Used interchangeably with “semi-circle formation”.

Semi-circle formation – Used interchangeably with “U-shaped formation”. For the

definition see “U-shaped formation”.

Acronym:

PWU – Philippine Women’s University

 Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

Related Literature

It is necessary to keep in mind the type of classroom present in the Philippines.

According to the Department of Education of the Philippines (2018) the Teacher to Student ratio

has decreased from 1:45 to 1:36 for Junior high school and 1:31 for Elementary and Senior High

school. It is a positive sign that there are more teachers for every students and that there are more

classroom space available for the students. This is necessary to keep in mind as the type of

seating arrangement may also be dictated by the population of the students in the classroom. As

mentioned by Fernandes, Huang & Rinaldo (2011)

Among Educators it has become a growing trend to give emphasis to student in

classroom instruction. As mentioned by Moyer (2001) cited by Abbey (2016) “…learning only

occurs only when students complete math problems with paper and pencil.” With that in mind it

might become necessary for students to take the lead in some or even many of the activities set

forth by the teacher. One avenue for such may be through recitation during class, as concluded

by Heng (2013) the students in Cambodia have noted a significant difference compared to those

who didn’t participate actively during class.

 The notion that seating arrangement also helps with group interaction has been raised by

Greenberg (1976) where a review was conducted regarding the seating position and how it could

affect the interaction within a certain group. Greenberg references the “Steinzor Effect” where

“the relationship of the seating distance and the probability of responding” (Greenberg, 1976, p.

2), with that in mind it is easy to note how a row and column seating position may positively

affect a student’s participation during the proceedings of the class because they are farther away

from the teacher during regular classroom instruction, but this is not seen. A competing argument

to that is that by Harris (1949) cited by Greenberg (1976) where the farther people are more

distant from the center of the discussion are less likely to interact. We can see the teacher or the

instructor as the center of the discussion for most cases. So teachers who may choose to adopt a

more lecture centered style may choose to adopt a semi-circle formation as this puts the center of

the discussion in the middle of the classroom, thus everybody has the same probability of

participating during the discussion.

Related Studies

A considerable amount of research was taken in order to address the classroom seating

situation in Elementary and Secondary institutions. (Bicard, D., Bicard, E., Ervin & Baylot-

Casey 2012). Fernandes et al (2011) has concluded that the row and column type of seating helps

emphasize individualistic traits while seating arrangements that are considered non-linear such as

the u-shape formation promotes more communication within the classroom setting.
 Though this is beyond the scope of this study; it is important to also take note that

changing the seating arrangement according to Bicard (2012) lowers the rate of disruptive

behavior among 5th grades during individual work. This shift in behavioral attitude can be a sign

that the students are more focused and attentive in the course of the lecture as well as in the

course of the activity.

In Fuhrer, Hartig & Marx (1999) they studied into the effects of seating position and how

this would affect the children’s question asking. They concluded that the difference of the rate of

question asking was statistically significant as the students tended to ask more questions when

the seating arrangement changed. Though explanation was limited, based on the other

information gathered in this study the research may have something to do with the postulation set

by Harris (1946).

Synthesis

For educators, it is certainly necessary that the active participation of students may be

brought into attention as participation of the students is linked to an increase in academic

performance. In order to maximize those chances, one aspect that is often neglected is classroom

seating arrangement, as mentioned especially in the study of Fernandes et al. (2011) there may

be enough evidence for a proper testing to be done here in the Philippines.

 Theoretical Framework

The research looked into constructivism as a Theoretical framework grounded by the

theories of Jean Piaget. This is supported by Abbey (2016) where the Constructivism served as a

theoretical framework for active learning as the theory looks in to the psychological and

philosophical perspective of how students gained knowledge through their experience. The

sharing of knowledge or answering of questions provide an opportunity for students to share any

knowledge that they may have.

Conceptual Framework

Distance from the

Disruptive behavior
one discussing
Factors that affect the
participation of the students
The size of the
Physical Barriers
Classroom

Figure 1: The factors that affect the participation of the students

 Based on the previous studies, it may be of significance that changing the seating

arrangement may prove to be beneficial as the center of the discussion; in this case the teacher is

in the middle of the classroom. The researcher postulates that a factor in why students may

become more participative is due to the removal of the barrier between the teacher and the

students as well as possibility that the students may participate or refrain for disruptive behavior

out of courtesy. A visualization of the conceptual framework has been provided above, see

Figure 1.

Research Paradigm

Changing the
Participation Significant
seating
of the increase in
arrangement
Students the
from rows
during the participation
and columns
Philippine of the
to a semi-
Music Class Students
circle

Figure 2: The Input-Process-Output method that will be employed in the research

 The research will employ an Input-Process-Output (IPO) method where the input is the

participation of the students. The experimental factor will be the changing of the seating

arrangement and from that the researcher thus expect that there will be a significant increase in

the participation of the students after the changing of the seating arrangement. This process is

visualized above Figure 2.

 Chapter 3

METHODOLOGY

Research Design

The research is a quantitative research that employed an experimental method. The

research was observing the interactions between the teacher and the students and also a

collection of the self and peer evaluation of the students after the 1st and 2nd half of the research.

Respondents of the Study

The research will focus on the nineteen (19) students of the Philippine Music Class of

Academic Year 2018 to 2019. The respondents are composed of mostly 1st year students who

graduated under the K-12 Program.

Sampling Technique

The research employed the purposive sampling technique called “Total Population

Sampling”. This method was employed as the research wants to consider the effects of changing

the seating arrangement on the whole class/population.

 Research Instrument

The research employed observation and a self and peer evaluation after the 1st and 2nd

half of the class. The interactions observed between the teacher and student will be tallied and

analyzed using the “z-test”. Aside from that, the research handed out self-evaluation forms which

will be tallied and analyzed. The students will answer the evaluation form that contains a likert-

scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest. The participants answered questions about their

participation during the class as well as their peers.

Data Gathering Procedure

The research was done over the course of 2-weeks, with two halves. The first week or the

first half will use the normal row and column seating arrangement that is done during class. The

students are arranged according to their preference in the classroom. The researcher positioned at

the side of the class; taking note of the interaction between student and teacher (such as questions

asked and answered by students and any other information added between the teacher and the

student). At the end of the two weeks of the class, the researcher asked the respondents to fill out

a self and peer evaluation form. On the second week/half, the teacher then rearranged the seating

arrangement into a semi-circle. Same as the previous seating arrangement, the researcher will
collect the interactions between the student and the teacher and at the end of the two weeks the

participants will answer the same self and peer evaluation form.

Questions asked by either the teacher or the student, the question will not be counted, as

well as any additional information mentioned by the student will not be recognized in the

observation during the course of this research.

Treatment of the Data

At the end of every class, the interactions between the student and the teacher will be

tallied, at the end of the 1st half the interactions will be arranged; the evaluation at the end of the

1st half will also be averaged. The same procedure followed for the 2nd half of the experiment.

The data gathered from the 2 halves was be subjected to “z-test” in order to determine whether

there is any significant difference between the two halves. The same was also done for the

evaluation.

Ethical Consideration

The researcher has asked and received the verbal consent of the Dean of the School of

Music, the Professor in charge of the Philippine Music Class, while on the other hand the

students involved in this research received a consent form along with the self and peer evaluation
form. The participants were informed of the purpose, risks and other identification aspects of the

survey. The participants were not put at any undue risk of emotion, economic or physical injury

and were ethically treated. Steps were taken to ensure the safety of all of the individuals involved

in the research.
 Chapter 4

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

Presentation

1. Will the changing of the seating arrangement to a semi-circle or U-shaped formation

affect the level of student attentiveness?

Week Teacher ask Student asks Student shares any Total Number
Student Question Teacher additional of Interactions
Questions information
1st 63 52 45 160

2nd 126 133 139 398

Table 1: Tally of the number of student-teacher interaction organized by type of interaction

2. How do the students evaluate their own and peer’s attentiveness in the classroom?

Self Evaluation 1st Week 2nd Week

Raw Mean Raw Mean
Attentiveness during the class 79 4.16 92 4.84

Enthusiasm for the subject 79 4.16 90 4.74

Interaction with the professor 79 4.16 92 4.84

Table 2: The tally of the students’ self-evaluation of their attentiveness, enthusiasm and

interaction with the professor.

 Peer Evaluation 1st Week 2nd Week
Raw Mean Raw Mean
Attentiveness during class 84 4.42 92 4.84

Enthusiasm for the subject 83 4.37 86 4.53

Interaction with the professor 85 4.47 91 4.79

Table 3: The tally of the students’ peer-evaluation of their attentiveness, enthusiasm and

interaction with the professor

Analysis

1. Will the changing of the seating arrangement to a semi-circle or U-shaped formation

affect the level of student attentiveness?

Using t-test, the researcher got the mean of 3 qualities being observed: Teacher asking

questions, Students asking Questions and Students giving additional information. From the one

week observation, the results have turned out to be “statistically insignificant".

2. How do the students evaluate their own and peer’s attentiveness in the classroom?

In the self evaluation of the participants, the researcher handed the participants 3

statements which will be rated in a Likert scale of 1 to 5

Using t-test the researcher has identified that the answers in Question 1,2 and 3 before

and after the injection of the experimental factor has been deemed “statistically insignificant”.
 In the peer evaluation of the participants, the researcher handed the same 3 statements

which will be rated in a Likert scale of 1 to 5.

Using the t-test the researcher has identified that the answers in Questions 1, 2

and 3 before and after the injection of the experimental factor has been deemed “statistically

insignificant”.

Interpretation

1. Will the changing of the seating arrangement to a semi-circle or U-shaped formation

affect the level of student attentiveness?

Changing the seating arrangement during the course of this 2-week long research proved

to cause an increase in the level of participation of students in the class but the difference is not

statistically significant.

Certainly the population of the students was a contributing factor to the ease of

communication in the classroom. As mentioned in Fernandes et al (2011) that classroom size

dictates the seating arrangement, aside from that we can see that the size of the class affects the

strategy employed by the teacher. With the many of the meeting being dominated by classroom

discussion whether the seating arrangement is in a semi-circular formation or by rows and

columns. In Bicard et al (2012) they mentioned that research regarding seating arrangement has
mainly been for research in Primary and Secondary grade levels. This may point to a certain

cultural difference in the classroom teaching of the primary and secondary to the college level.

The number of questions asked by both the teacher and the students have certainly

increased, as mentioned before, though not statistically significant this may fall in line also with

the research of Fuhrer et al (1999) where they have determined that changing the seating

arrangement has affected the question asking behavior of the participants in their study.

2. How do the students evaluate their own and peer’s attentiveness in the classroom?

The participants, in the first week alone have given a high rating to many of the

statements provided. This may signify that many of the students are satisfied with the level of

participation being done in the classroom. Keeping in mind that the students are fresh graduates

from Senior High School, this could mean that the level of interaction is sufficient or even at par

to the level of interaction in Senior High School Classroom.

In the peer evaluation of the first week, noticeably the students rated their peers lower,

although not statistically significant; there has been a small increase in the following week. This

could have been because of the increased awareness among the participants of the classroom as

mentioned by Fernandes et al. (2011) aside from the also statistically insignificant increase in the

participation of the students in the classroom.

 Chapter 5

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

This study attempted to seek whether changing the seating arrangement of the classroom

will affect the participation of the students during classroom discussion; specifically focusing on

the class of Philippine Music in Academic Year 2018 – 2019. In this study, there were nineteen

participants, all first year students who graduated under the K-12 Program.

The researcher employed the use of experimental method with a self and peer evaluation

form as a data gathering instrument to get a consensus on the participation of the students based

on their own experience in the classroom.

This research specifically sought to answer:

1. Will the changing of the seating arrangement to a semi-circle or U-shaped formation

affect the level of student attentiveness?

2. How do the students evaluate their own and peer’s attentiveness in the classroom?

Summary of Findings

In this study, the researcher concluded, utilizing the t-test that data gathered was

statistically insignificant although there is a certain increase in the participation of the students

after the experimental factor compared to before the addition of the experimental factor; the
difference is not big enough to draw any conclusions regarding the participation of the students.

The self and peer evaluation after the 1st and 2nd week has also been deemed statistically

insignificant.

Conclusion

Based on the findings presented during the course of this research, the following

conclusions were drawn:

1. Based on the findings presented in Chapter 4, it has become evident that the hypothesis

mentioned in Chapter 1 is to be accepted.

2. Though in this specific study the research results have been deemed statistically

insignificant it may be important to draw from more sources as there was a certain increase in the

participation of the students during the course of this research, though, statistically insignificant.

3. The students had more awareness of their classmates when the seating arrangement was

changed from the row and column to the semi-circle kind of arrangement. As seen in the peer

assessment, although the findings in the observation of the students were not statistically

significant there has been an almost statistically significant (still, not yet statistically significant)

difference in the 2nd week compared to the 1st week.

Recommendation

In light of this, it has been deemed certain that there are certain recommendations to keep

in mind for any future researchers as well as any other readers who are interested to implement

such as system in the classroom:

1. It is important to keep in mind the time, the biggest constraint of the research was the fact

that the researcher did not have enough meetings to gather data. As the research only lasted for 2

weeks with the first week dedicated for the control and the second week dedicated for the

experiment.

2. It may be of importance to look in different classroom sizes as this study specifically

focused in a classroom of only nineteen students. The research may be more meaningful if the

students were homogenized thus to eliminate more variables in the study. So that the research

will look into the merits of the seating arrangement itself, instead of concerning if the

participants are more proficient compared to another group.

3. In future studies, it will become necessary to look into the quality of the questions asked

in the study. As there are time when questions would be rephrased or repeated because the one

being asked a question did not understand the question being asked. This research avoided this

problem by only accepting the questions that have been responded by person being asked the

question.
References

Mateo, J. (2018). Teacher-student ratio improves in public schools. Manila, Philippines: The

Philippine Star. Retrieved from: https://www.philstar.com/other-sections/education-and-

home/2018/03/29/1801232/teacher-student-ratio-improves-public-schools

Fernandes, A., Huang, J. & Rinaldo, V. (2011). Does where a student sits really matter? – The

impact of seating locations on student classroom learning. Niagra University.

Abbey, T. (2016). Active learning through a constructivist lens: The effects of manipulatives on-

task behavior. Atlanta, GA: Proquest.

Heng, K. (2013). The relationships between student engagement and the academic achievement

of first-year university students in Cambodia. De La Salle University.

Greenberg, J. (1976). The role of seating position in group interaction: A review, with

applications for group trainers. ABI/INFORM Global.

Bicard, D., Bicard, E., Ervin, A. & Baylot-Casey, L. (2012). Differential effects of seating

arrangements on disruptive behavior of fifth grade students during independent

seatwork. University of Memphis.

Fuhrer, U., Marx, A. & Hartig, T. (1999). Effects of classroom seating arrangements on

children’s question-asking. Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.

Appendix A

Class-Participation Survey Form

Hello, my name is Thomas. I am conducting a research for my class, English Plus B. I am researching
about the impact of seating arrangement to the participation of students during Philippine Music Class.
Rest assured, the information collected during this research will be used for the purposes of research only
and the identity of the participants in this study will remain confidential.

Instructions: Encircle the number Lowest (1) to Highest (5) if the statement is accurate.

A. Self-Evaluation
1. I was attentive during the class.

1 2 3 4 5
2. I am very enthusiastic for this subject.

1 2 3 4 5
3. I interacted with the professor during the class.

1 2 3 4 5

B. Peer-Evaluation
1. My classmates are very enthusiastic about the subject

1 2 3 4 5

2. My classmates were attentive during the class.

1 2 3 4 5

3. My classmates interacted with the professor frequently.

1 2 3 4 5
 Appendix B

Consent Form:

I understand that I am being asked to participate in a survey activity and an experiment that forms as part
of Thomas Pescador’s required coursework in English Plus B. It is my understanding that this survey-
experiment has been designed to gather information about: the Student’s participation and how the seating
arrangement affects this.

I have been given some general information about this project.

I understand that the results of this activity will be used exclusively in the Mr. Pescador’s research.

I also understand that there are no risks involved in participating in this activity, beyond those risks
experienced in daily life.

I have read the information above. By signing below and returning this form, I am consenting to
participate in this survey-experiment designed and conducted by Mr. Thomas Andrew A. Pescador.

______________________________
Signature above printed name

_______________________________
Date

View publication stats