ABSTRACT
The study focused on the Influence of Self-esteem on Academic Achievement of Pupils with Hearing Impairment in Enugu and Nsukka Education Zones. Ex-post Facto design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consist of sixty-six (66) pupils with hearing impairment and were drawn from three (3) Special Education Centres in Enugu State namely: Special Education Centre Ogbete which had 30 participants Special Education Centre Oji River had 30 participant and Centre for Academic and Vocational Training for Special Needs Children Nsukka had a population of 6 participants. Due to smallness of the population, there was no sampling. The 66 pupils participated in the study. The instrument for data collection was 20 standardized self-esteem inventory adapted from Harriel Self-esteem Inventory (HSEI). The instrument was structured on a 4-point rating scale and validated by an expert n Special Education, one in Education Psychology and one in Measurement and Evaluation all in the Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka using Cronbach Alpha, the reliability coefficient of 0.92 was obtained for cluster A and cluster B had the reliability coefficient of 0.89. The overall reliability coefficient of the instrument was 0.91. Mean () and Standard Deviation (SD) were used to answer research questions while t-test statistics was used for hypotheses. Result showed that both high and low self-esteem significantly influence academic achievement of pupils with hearing impairment with p > 0.05; critical value = 57.85 for high self-esteem and p > 0.05; critical value = .045 for low self-esteem. The findings revealed that high self-esteem significantly improve the academic achievement of pupils with hearing impairment in Enugu and Nsukka Education Zones. The findings suggest that there is need for pupils with hearing impairment to be equipped with communication skills in order to facilitate their social interaction with others. Also, the curriculum planners should modify primary school curriculum to include the building of self-esteem to facilitate and improve on their social adjustment especially for pupils with hearing impairment.
