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Understanding Differential Underachievement in English Among Secondary-School Students from Northern Nigeria

Received: 18 March 2020     Accepted: 7 April 2020     Published: 23 April 2020
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Abstract

Low performance of students in English has been an issue of great concern to education stakeholders in Nigeria. Standardized examination results have consistently shown that students from the northern region perform more poorly than those from the southern part. To this regard, this study combined psychological factors of self-concept, locus of control and students’ demographic factors as fundamental in explaining differential English academic achievement of students in northern Nigerian schools. The aim is to identify some of the major factors causing underachievement of students in English. Hence, a quantitative research approach is used for data collection and analysis. The sample comprised 1,227 students drawn from 15 public Senior Secondary Schools in Bauchi, Kaduna and Niger States. Each of the states represents the 3 geopolitical zones of the northern region. A standardized questionnaire was used to measure self-concept and locus of control. The findings indicate a high level of correlation between English self-concept and English achievement, especially in specific domains than the general aspects. The reading self-concept correlated more with the reading achievement. It was therefore suggested among others that teachers should prioritize specific aspect of English to assist underperforming students in particular domains (writing; reading) of English and its corresponding self-concept. Improve in students’ performance in English can lead to better performance in other subjects and higher standard of education in the country.

Published in Psychology and Behavioral Sciences (Volume 9, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.pbs.20200902.11
Page(s) 6-11
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Underachievement, Academic Attainment, English Self-concept and Locus of Control

References
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[2] Ajayi, K. O. and Lawani, A. O. & Salomi, M. O. (2012) 'The Influences of Self-Concept and Academic Motivation on Students Attitudes to Mathematics in Selected Secondary Schools in Ogun State, Nigeria.'. European Journal of Scientific Research., 67 (3), 444-455.
[3] Bronfenbrenner, U. (2005) ‘Making Human Beings Human: Bio-ecological Perspectives on Human Development’. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
[4] Calsyn, R. J. and Kenny, D. A. (1977) 'Self-concept of Ability and Perceived Evaluation of others: Cause or Effect of Academic Achievement', Journal of educational psychology, 6 (9), 136-145.
[5] Du, M. (2012). A study of the relationship between English self-concept and language learning strategies. Journal of language teaching and research, 3 (3), 508-517.
[6] Darley, W. K. & Lim, J. S. (1986). ‘Family Decision Making in Leisure-Time Activities: an Exploratory Investigation of the Impact of Locus of Control, Child Age Influence Factor and Parental Type on Perceived Child Influence’. Advances in Consumer Research. 13 (1986), 370-374.
[7] Halpert, R. and Hill, R. (2011). 28 Measures of Locus of control. [online]. Dostupné z: http://teachinternalcontrol.com/uploads/LOC_Measures__1_.pdf. Accessed 23/9/2019, at 3pm.
[8] Maikudi, A. S. (2013) Girl-child Education in Northern Nigeria. Zaria: Ahmadu Bello University Press.
[9] Marsh, H. W. (1990a) 'The Structure of Academic Self-concept: The Marsh/Shavelson model. Journal of educational psychology, 82 (4), 623-636.
[10] Marsh, H. W. (1990b) 'Causal Ordering of Academic Self-concept and Academic Achievement: A multi-wave, longitudinal Panel Analysis'. Journal of educational psychology. 82, 646-656.
[11] Ndagi, M. U. (2013). ‘A Letter to Northern State Governors ll’. http://weeklytrust.com.ng/index.php/philosofaith/9092-a-letter-to-northern-states-governors-ii. Accessed: 06/02/2018 at 2pm.
[12] Obilor, I. E. (2012). ‘Interaction between Self-Concept, and Mathematics, English Language and General Academic Achievement of Senior Secondary Students In Port Harcourt’ http://www.hrmars.com/admin/pics/310.pdf.
[13] Oyekuru, B. U., & Ibegbunam, J. O. (2014). Relationships among test anxiety, locus of control and academic achievement among college students. European Scientific Journal, 10 (13), 387-401.
[14] Onzima E. D. (2011) ‘Parents Socio-Economic Status and Pupils Education Attainment in Selected Primary Schools in Malaba Town Council’. Retrieved on 20 Mar 2019 at http://kiu-ug.academia.edu/RobertOnzima/Papers/551678/Parents_socio-economic_status_and_pupils_education_attainment_in_selected_primary_schools
[15] Pinxten, M., Wouters, S., Preckel, F., Niepel, C., De Fraine, B. & Verschueren, K. (2015). The formation of academic self-concept in elementary education: A unifying model for external and internal comparisons. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 41, 124-132.
[16] Rogers, C. (1951) Client-centered therapy: Its current practice, implications and theory. London: Constable
[17] Rotter, J. B. (1954). Social Learning and clinical Psychology. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
[18] Rotter, J. B. (1966) ‘Generalized Expectancies for Internal Versus External Control of Reinforcement’. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 80 (1), 1-28.
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  • APA Style

    Amina Ahman, Mohammed Kudu Isah, Abubakar Musa. (2020). Understanding Differential Underachievement in English Among Secondary-School Students from Northern Nigeria. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, 9(2), 6-11. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20200902.11

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    ACS Style

    Amina Ahman; Mohammed Kudu Isah; Abubakar Musa. Understanding Differential Underachievement in English Among Secondary-School Students from Northern Nigeria. Psychol. Behav. Sci. 2020, 9(2), 6-11. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20200902.11

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    AMA Style

    Amina Ahman, Mohammed Kudu Isah, Abubakar Musa. Understanding Differential Underachievement in English Among Secondary-School Students from Northern Nigeria. Psychol Behav Sci. 2020;9(2):6-11. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20200902.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.pbs.20200902.11,
      author = {Amina Ahman and Mohammed Kudu Isah and Abubakar Musa},
      title = {Understanding Differential Underachievement in English Among Secondary-School Students from Northern Nigeria},
      journal = {Psychology and Behavioral Sciences},
      volume = {9},
      number = {2},
      pages = {6-11},
      doi = {10.11648/j.pbs.20200902.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20200902.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.pbs.20200902.11},
      abstract = {Low performance of students in English has been an issue of great concern to education stakeholders in Nigeria. Standardized examination results have consistently shown that students from the northern region perform more poorly than those from the southern part. To this regard, this study combined psychological factors of self-concept, locus of control and students’ demographic factors as fundamental in explaining differential English academic achievement of students in northern Nigerian schools. The aim is to identify some of the major factors causing underachievement of students in English. Hence, a quantitative research approach is used for data collection and analysis. The sample comprised 1,227 students drawn from 15 public Senior Secondary Schools in Bauchi, Kaduna and Niger States. Each of the states represents the 3 geopolitical zones of the northern region. A standardized questionnaire was used to measure self-concept and locus of control. The findings indicate a high level of correlation between English self-concept and English achievement, especially in specific domains than the general aspects. The reading self-concept correlated more with the reading achievement. It was therefore suggested among others that teachers should prioritize specific aspect of English to assist underperforming students in particular domains (writing; reading) of English and its corresponding self-concept. Improve in students’ performance in English can lead to better performance in other subjects and higher standard of education in the country.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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    AU  - Mohammed Kudu Isah
    AU  - Abubakar Musa
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.pbs.20200902.11
    T2  - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
    JF  - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
    JO  - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
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    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20200902.11
    AB  - Low performance of students in English has been an issue of great concern to education stakeholders in Nigeria. Standardized examination results have consistently shown that students from the northern region perform more poorly than those from the southern part. To this regard, this study combined psychological factors of self-concept, locus of control and students’ demographic factors as fundamental in explaining differential English academic achievement of students in northern Nigerian schools. The aim is to identify some of the major factors causing underachievement of students in English. Hence, a quantitative research approach is used for data collection and analysis. The sample comprised 1,227 students drawn from 15 public Senior Secondary Schools in Bauchi, Kaduna and Niger States. Each of the states represents the 3 geopolitical zones of the northern region. A standardized questionnaire was used to measure self-concept and locus of control. The findings indicate a high level of correlation between English self-concept and English achievement, especially in specific domains than the general aspects. The reading self-concept correlated more with the reading achievement. It was therefore suggested among others that teachers should prioritize specific aspect of English to assist underperforming students in particular domains (writing; reading) of English and its corresponding self-concept. Improve in students’ performance in English can lead to better performance in other subjects and higher standard of education in the country.
    VL  - 9
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Author Information
  • Department of Languages, Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna, Nigeria

  • Department of Social Sciences, Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna, Nigeria

  • Department of Education Technical, Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna, Nigeria

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