A phenomenological Study|1

A Phenomenological Study on Verbal Bullying of Grade 11 Students of Baybay City

Senior High School

Bantasan, Mary Jean

Escuadra, Kyla Marie Patte

Impuesto, Janeth

Mendoza, Mafelle

Montajes, Leslie Marie

Paler, Jeric

Salonga, Revyn

Baybay City Senior High School

 A phenomenological Study|2

A Phenomenological Study on Verbal Bullying of Grade 11 Students of Baybay City

Senor high School

Background of the Study

Bullying is a serious social problem with extensive consequences for its

victims. Those who are bullied are subjected to constant harassment by peers who

are exerting power over them. Bullying victims may be physically assaulted, verbally

tormented, socially ostracized, or digitally harassed. These experiences can be

harmful to an individual’s development and can contribute to an array of negative

effects as a result of the victimization. School bullying victims exhibit weaker

academic performance difficulties with school adjustment, mental health issues,

increased substances used and even higher involvement in violence. Bullying

behavior in schools can lead psychosocial problems. School-based interventions are

important in raising student awareness, developing their skills and planning to

reduce bullying behavior (Naidoo, 2015).

In addition, to a fours on prevention, specialized bullying interventions must

also consider the potential aftermath by developing strategies to prevent the

potential repercussions for bullying victims and improve their chances for positive

development (Prez,2015).

According to Lines (2004), Classrooms teachers are aware the during

everyday classroom teaching name-calling can be a wild-scale problem. Verbal

bullying is often converted and pupils are reluctant to report it. Bullying among school

children is certainly a very old phenomenon. The fact that some children are

frequently and systematically harassed and attacked by other has been described in

literary works, and many adults have personal experience of it from their own school
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days. Though many are acquainted with the bully/victim problem, it was not fairly

recently, in the early 1970s, that efforts were made to study it systematically

(Olwues, 1973a, 1978). For a considerable time, these attempts were largely

confined to Scandinavia. In the 1980s and early 1990s, however, bullying among

schoolchildren has received some public attention in Japan, England, Australia, the

United States, and other countries. There are now clear indications of an increasing

societal as well as research interest into bully/victim problems in several parts of the

world.

The World Health Organization’s Behavior in School-Aged Children (Craig &

Harel, 2004, as cited in James, 2010) found out that that a survey of 35 countries

indicate an average incidence rates of 11 percent for both victims and bullies. There

are about 2.7 million students being bullied each year by about 2.1 million students

taking on the role of the bully. According to the same WHO report, one (1) out of

seven (7) students in kindergarten through 12th grade have participated in the

bullying incidents either as a bully or as a victim. Accordingly, over half or about 56

percent, of all students have witness a bullying crime inside the school (Bullying

Statistics, 2010). In the Philippines, the Department of Education (DepEd) reported

the following statistical data based on the baseline study on violence against children

in public schools. Findings have shown that 78.36% in high school in urban areas

suffered verbal abuse; while 37.57% in high school in rural areas experienced

physical abuse; on the other hand 43.71% in high students experienced verbal

sexual abuse and 17.71% of high school students experienced in appropriate

touching commited by peers. Reported cases of bullying for SY 2012-2013 revealed

a total of 1,165 cases (DepEd, 2012).

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Statement of the Problem

The main purpose of this study is to determine the experiences, feeling, and

coping mechanism of the victims of verbal bullying.

Specifically, this study seeks to answer the questions:

1. What are the reasons why a student is being bullied?

2. What are the manifestations that a student is being bullied?

3. What are the ways or strategies in handling the bullying situation?

Significance of the Study

This study will be beneficial to the school personnel, parents, students and

other researchers.

Teacher and Staff

This study will give them a hint to look for ways and teaching strategies to

motivate the students and to divert their attention.

Researchers

The researchers in the near future will make use of the results of our present study.

The study will serve as their basis and comparison to their future study.
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Scope and Delimitation

This study is conducted at Baybay City Senior High School. The researchers aims to

conduct a study that explores and discover the life, experiences, feelings and coping

mechanism of verbal bully victims of the students of Baybay City Senior High School

of School Year 2018-2019. The researchers are targeting to collect the needed data

on the third week of February 21, 2019 to be specific.

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Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature

Bullies are not new issues that students and people face. In fact, over the

years, It has been viewed as being so common place in school that has overlooked

as a threat to the students and reduced to a belief that bullying is a development

stage that most youth will experienced then get one (Ross,2002). But not everyone

gets over the personal trauma that can’t come with bullying both for the victim of the

bully. This is why it is seen happening by adults in work places, in home, and in the

community.

Therefore, this problem is not isolated to school alone. But schools are the

best place to actively intervene. Teachers, administrators, counselors and even

students. It is here that school staff can intervene, support and educate students

through a school system, it is here that school staff can intervene, support and

educate students through a school system, it is here that school staff can intervene,

support and educate about ending bullying, in general at all grade level and but its

intervene focus will be at the high school level. Harris and Hathorn, (2006) state:

Because adolescence is a difficult time in a child’s bullying exacerbates these

difficult times by forming barriers to positive connections with other students
and school faculty members. Consequently, the presence of the bullying at
school often creates a barrier for young people to develop into well-adjusted
adults. (p.50)
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The study discovers that school bullying occurs most among the same gender
in senior high schools. It also shows that boys are most likely to be victims whatever
the types of bullying behavior it is. Possible account is that male students may be
brought up in a chauvinistic culture and prone to bully the weak or the minors.
Hence, school teachers should pay more attention to males peer relationship in
class; meanwhile, educations about human rights should be integrated into courses
and life instructions. Moreover, the main reason for school bullying is the peer
pressure among the same gender. Those who do not have solid relationships among
peers or prefer to be alone tend to be bullied victims. It implies that the bullies tend to
target at the isolated students who do not have team supports. Thus, friendship in
school may be more efficient than teachers’ cares in preventing the bullied cases
from happening. This may explain why the victims do not consider adults the best
assistants when they are bullied. When asked to whom to turn for help in case of
being bullied, it is reported that parents are prior to teachers. Therefore, the teacher-
parent communication is crucial in the dealing and prevention of school bullying
cases. The two have to work together to aid the bullied victims. Interestingly,
appealing to lawsuit or the police is the last measure they would take. Accordingly, it
can be concluded that it is possible to reduce school bullying cases as long as more
concerns and supports from peer students, friends, teacher and parents are
allocated to every student. (Shi & Wang, 2010).

Ross (2002), summarizes characteristics of bullies, home environments that

breed bullying behaviours and possible outcomes for bullies who do not receive
interventions for their behavior. She was echoed Olweus’ work explaining that within
the category of bully there are primarily two distinct groups; aggressive bullies and
anxious bullies. The characteristics of aggressive bullies tend to be that they are
stronger than average, active and impulsive. They use threatening behaviours or
postures, can be easily provoked, and have an underlying positive attitude to
violence. They may experience their world through paranoid thoughts and feelings,
are skillful in avoiding blame and feeling no empathy for their victims or remorse for
their actions; often perceiving their actions as less severe then how the victim
perceives them (p.108). A major difference between difference between aggressive
and anxious bullies is their self-esteem. While aggressive bullies typically have
popularity among their friends and a higher level of self-esteem, anxious bullies lack
confidence, have low self-esteem, and have few friends. They often display
uncontrolled emotions such as temper outbursts. Because of their low self-esteem
and eagerness for friends, they are often loyal followers of the aggressive bullies.
Anxious bullies will often join in to