UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES Bachelor of Arts in Communication Research Julio Danilo P. Silvestre Driven By Words: An Ethnography of Communicating Motivation in the University of the Philippines Men's Basketball Team Thesis Adviser: Professor Randy Jay C. Solis College of Mass Communication University of the Philippines Date of Submission October 2012 Permission is given for the following people to have access to this thesis: Available to the general public Yes Available only after consultation with author/thesis adviser No Available only to those bound by conidentiality agreement No Student's Signature Signature of Thesis Aviser UNIVERSITY PERMISSION I hereby grant the University of the Philippines non-exclusive worldwide, royalty-free license to reproduce, publish and publicly distribute copies of this thesis or dissertation in whatever form subject to the provisions of applicable laws, the provisions of the UP IPR policy and any contractual obligations, as well as more specific permission marking on the Title Page. Specifically, I grant the following rights to the University: a) to upload a copy of the work in these database of the college/school/institute/department and in any other databases available on the public internet; b) to publish the work in the college/school/institute/department journal, both in print and electronic or digital format and online; and c) to give open access to above-mentioned work, thus allowing “fair use” of the work in accordance with the provisions of the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines (Republic Act No. 8293), especially for teaching scholarly and research purposes. Julio Silvestre October 2012 DRIVEN BY WORDS: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATING MOTIVATION IN THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM JULIO DANILO P. SILVESTRE Submitted to the COLLEGE OF MASS COMMUNICATION University of the Philippines Diliman In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of BACHELOR OF ARTS IN COMMUNICATION RESEARCH 4 October 2012 DRIVEN BY WORDS: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATING MOTIVATION IN THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM by JULIO DANILO P. SILVESTRE has been accepted for the degree of BACHELOR OF ARTS IN COMMUNICATION RESEARCH by Professor Randy Jay C. Solis and approved for the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication by Professor Rolando B. Tolentino 6 Dean, College of Mass Communication BIOGRAPHICAL DATA PERSONAL DATA Name Julio Danilo Perez Silvestre Permanent Address 29A Times St., West Triangle, Quezon City Mobile Number/Landline +63917 561 81 07 / +02 374 21 56 E-Mail Address [email protected] [email protected] EDUCATION Tertiary Level BA Communication Research, University of the Philippines-Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila Secondary Level Ateneo de Manila High School, Loyola Heights, Quezon City, Metro Manila Primary Level Ateneo de Manila Grade School, Loyola Heights, Quezon City, Metro Manila ORGANIZATIONS AIESEC Philippines, Interdependent Student Activism (ISA), UP Men's Basketball Team (UP Fighting Maroons) WORK EXPERIENCE Intern Harrison Communication, Inc. (HCI), McCann-Erickson Worldwide Summer 2010-2011 Intern Larc&Asset PR Summer AY 2011-2012 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank everyone, my family and friends, who have expressed support and encouragement to one of the biggest challenges I have encountered in my life so far. Without their vigilant persistence (and constant nagging) I would never have been able to finish this... on legitimate time. To my thesis adviser, Prof. Randy Jay Solis, thank you so so much. Without your support, encouragement, guidance, and most of all, patience, I would not have made it alive out of this. If it weren't for you, sir, I would never have made it this far. Thank you Sir Randy for patiently keeping up for my lack of effort at the beginning of this thesis, the greatest challenge I have ever encountered on my academic journey so far. I would also like to thank Dr. Elena Pernia, for accepting me as a student under the department of Communication Research years ago, and to Ate Vi, for also being patient and comic about my academic endeavors. To my friends: D2007 (RJ O., Tim, Kit, Jordan, Tyrone), B-Wil (Betti, Ria, Arvic, Machi, Duck, Ardi, Vero, Pauline) and Co. (Migoy, Matt, Nikko, etc.), Ateneo “TR”, SVH-A, ISA, AIESEC, etc. I love you all. To my Family: Mom, Dad, Cesca, Ana, Carlo, Sophie, Joaq. I love you all and thank you for being patient with me. I have finished this at last! To the UP Fighting Maroons: Tiwala lang. Mabuhay! DEDICATION To my family. To the University of the Philippines. To the Fighting Maroons. Mabuhay ang pag-asa ng bayan. ABSTRACT Silvestre, J. (2012). DRIVEN BY WORDS: An Ethnography of communicating motivation in the University of the Philippines Men's Basketball Team. Unpublished Thesis, University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication. Basketball is no stranger to communication and motivation. Coaches and players are always seen to be talking or signaling one another whenever they are playing. Whenever a player is not performing the best he or she can be, there will always be someone on the team pushing them in one way or another. The researcher approaches this study with a belief that basketball has its own forms of communication that differs between different teams, and that every team has its own way of motivating its members through speech and behavior. The study's purpose then is to find out what communication is and how motivation is part of the communication involved in the setting of a basketball team’s games, specifically, the UP Fighting Maroons in the 74th season of the UAAP. Dell Hymes' SPEAKING Grid, along with Vockell and Pelletier, et. al.'s concepts on Extrinsic and Interpersonal motivation were used as the scope in which the researcher observed the UP Fighting Maroons' communication culture and motivation practices. The team was observed during their pre-game, halftime, and post-game meetings during the 74th season of the UAAP. The researcher, however, was only able to observe five out of fourteen possible games due to his attending of his duties to the team as it's student manager. Results have found that motivation was communicated in the form of instruction, direction, and encouragement in the team's observed meetings. Concepts of Extrinsic and 12 Interpersonal Motivation was then found (as mentioned in the previous chapter), not only in a single genre of Dell Hymes' SPEAKING Grid, but in the collective output of the observations done by the researcher in terms of the different parts of the grid. The presence of motivation in the communicative practices of the UP Fighting Maroons in the observed games came mostly in the form of instructions of the coaches, and the results and outcomes which came from the players' recognition of the coaches' instructions. The three forms of extrinsic motivation were seen as processes that players had to understand, perform, and accomplish while they were in the playing in the game court. The concepts and goals of interpersonal motivation in the UP Fighting Maroons' communication and interaction, on the other hand, were ultimately addressed as the team's desire to win and to be recognized. Communicating motivation was in the context of the UP Fighting Maroons basketball team looking to improve their standing, and with goals to develop their team dynamics. The goal of communicating motivation was for the team to excel in their performance and win the game/s they were playing and participating in. 14 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Title Page i University Title Page ii University Permission iii Approval Sheet iv Biographical Data v Acknowledgments vi Dedication vii Abstract viii Table Of Contents xiv List of Figures xv List of Tables xvi I. INTRODUCTION 17 A. Background of the Study 17 B. Research Problem and Objectives 25 C. Significance of the Study 26 II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 27 A. Ethnography of Communication 27 B. Communication in Small Groups 28 15 C. Communication in Sports 30 D. Communication and Motivation 31 E. Motivation in Sports 32 F. Synthesis 34 III. STUDY FRAMEWORK 36 A. Theoretical Framework 37 B. Conceptual Framework 41 C. Operational Framework 44 IV. METHODOLOGY 45 A. Research Design 45 B. Units of Analysis 45 C. Research Instruments 46 D. Sampling 48 E. Data Gathering 50 F. Data Analysis 52 V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 53 A. Summary of the UAAP Season 74 53 B. Summary of Observed Games 59 C. The UP Fighting Maroons' Communication Practices in Terms of Dell 87 Hymes' SPEAKING Grid D. Motivation in the UP Fighting Maroons' Communication Practices 99 VI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 100 A. Summary 100 B. Conclusion 104 VII. IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 105 A. Theoretical and Practical Implications 105 B. Study Limitations and Recommendations 108 16 BIBLIOGRAPHY 109 APPENDICES 114 LIST OF FIGURES Number Title Page 1 SPEAKING-Motivation Integrated Conceptual Model 44 LIST OF TABLES Number Title Page 1 SPEAKING-Motivation Observation Matrix 49 2 Members of the Coaching Staff 94 3 Players of the UP Men's Basketball Team in UAAP Season 74 95 17 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Basketball has been the most popular sport in the Philippines for decades. There has been no concrete or scientific reason why Filipinos are crazy about the sport. Rafe Bartholomew enforced the previous statements in his book (which was also his dissertation), Pacific Rims, wherein he observed the basketball culture in the Philippines for around half a decade. In the end, he has found irony in the phenomenon of the Filipino passion for basketball; a sport in which we are physically at a disadvantage against taller nations. However, this situation has not dampened the Philippines’ love for basketball. One would find a basketball court, or a make-shift one, built upon any piece of flat space, whether or not the floor is made out of concrete, asphalt or soil.