Abstract

In the system of education, the strategies on how students should be grouped in schools and in classes have remained a subject of interest for nearly a century. The findings from the various researches in the past 100 years have given birth to a persistent cycle of debate ability grouping benefits students more and heterogeneous grouping works better. The previous studies focus on how these types of grouping affect the academic performance of the students. Yet, little is known about the relationship between these three variables: heterogeneous grouping, academic motivation, and self-efficacy. This phenomenological study aims to present the perceptions of the Grade 11 students in Senior High School towards heterogeneous grouping after experiencing the homogeneous grouping in Junior High School, regarding the engagement of oneself in class, the development of one's academic motivation, and the influences of the grouping on one's academic motivation and self-efficacy. The researchers have gathered their data by interviewing six Grade 11 students from the Senior High Department in Holy Family Academy. Each student represents his or her own section, excluding the researchers' own section. After conducting face-to-face and online interviews, the researchers found out that: (1) Heterogeneous grouping is an advantage for the average and low-ability students; while, it is a disadvantage for the high-ability students in the work setting; (2) Regardless of academic abilities, the students have positive responses in the social setting; (3) Students develop academic motivation through their self-efficacy; and (4) The type of classmate influences the relationship between a student's academic motivation and self-efficacy, which affects one's performance. The findings suggest that heterogeneous grouping challenges the educators in their teaching styles because of the great diversity in class.