TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE i
CERTIFICATION ii
APPROVAL iii
DEDICATION iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v
TABLE OF CONTENTS vi
ABSTRACT viii
CHAPTER ONE 1
INTRODUCTION 1
Background of the Study 1
Statement of Problem 6
Research Questions 6
Purpose of the Study 7
Scope and Delimitations of The Study 8
CHAPTER TWO 9
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 9
Concept and Definition of Study Habits 9
Dimension of Study Habits 15
Effects of Study Habits on Academic Performance. 27
Effects of Gender on Study Habits 29
Effects of Age on Study Habits 31
Influence of Socio-economic Status on Study Habits 32
CHAPTER THREE 34
METHODOLOGY 34
Research Design 34
Population of Study 34
Sample and Sampling Technique 35
Research Instrument 36
Validity of the Instrument 36
Method of Data Collection 37
Method of Data Analysis 37
CHAPTER FOUR 38
PRESENTATION OF RESULTS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS 38
PRESENTATION OF Results 38
Research Question 2 45
Research Question 3 46
Research Question 4 48
Discussion of Findings 50
Summary 51
Conclusion 53
Recommendations 53
Suggestions for further Study 54
REFERENCES 55
APPENDIX 56
ABSTRACT
This study examined the study habit of Senior Secondary School Students in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State. The study also examined the influence of gender, school type, and socio-economic status on study habit of Senior Secondary School students.The Sample of the study comprised of one hundred and twenty (120) Senior Secondary School Students, and the sampling technique used is the random sampling technique.
The research design used for this study is the Survey design. The research instrument was a questionnaire, used for data collection of the study. The validation of the instrument was carried out by the project supervisor and two experts in the field who carefully examined the items in the instrument. Descriptive Statistics such as frequency count, percentage, mean and Standard deviation were used for the analysis of the data collected.
The findings showed that the study habits of Senior Secondary Schoolstudents inOredo Local Government Area isgood i.e. they have good study habits. Based on gender differences, it was discovered that the females have better study habit than the male Students. Students in private senior secondary schools have better study habit than those in public schools.Also, Students from high Socio-economic background had the best study habit than those of students in medium and low socio-economic status. Students from medium socio-economic status do better than those from low socio-economic status. Therefore, it was recommended that male students should be encouraged to develop goodstudy habit like the females,teachers in public school should try all their possible best in making sure that students in public school develop good study habits, all students irrespective of their socioeconomic status should be encouraged to develop good study habit. Parents should also assist their children in developing good study habit by encouraging them to do their home work and assignment and allocate good time to their studies.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
In this era of globalization and technological revolution, education is considered as the first step for every human activity. It plays a vital role in the development of human capital and is linked with an individual’s well-being and opportunities for better living (Battle & Lewis, 2002). It ensures the acquisition of knowledge and skills that enable individuals to increase their productivity and improve their quality of life. This increase in productivity also leads to new sources of earning which enhances the economic growth of a country (Saxton, 2000). The quality of students’ remains a top priority for educators. Educators, trainers, and researchers have long been interested in exploring variables which contribute effectively to quality performance of learners. These variables are both external and internal based that affect the students’ academic achievement. These factors may be termed as student factors, family factors and peer factors (Crosnoe, Johnson & Elder, 2004). Defining and measuring the quality of education is not a simple issue and the complexity of this process increases due to the changing values of quality attributes associated with the different stakeholders’ view point (Blevins 2009, Parri 2006)
Developing countries like Nigeria view education as an important tool for national advancement, growth and development. Arising from this point the legislative arm of the Nigerian government on 24th of May 2004, passed into Law the Universal Basic Education Act (UBE Act) which is to provide compulsory, free universal and basic education for all its citizens.
Over the years, the nations educational system has been in troubled waters, accompanied with changes in educational programmes and policies, still the problems of poor academic performance of students from secondary schools and mass failure at public examinations persists even seems to worsen as the years go by, leaving the nation clueless as whether learning takes place in schools.
The height to which learning has taken place could be measured by the grades students get after a period of learning has taken place, this implies that these grades are the main tools that reveals how much students with high grades have learnt, showing that they have finished a level of learning and are ready for the next level of instruction. On the contrary, students with low grades have learnt little, signifying that they need remedial session or to repeat a level of instruction. Hence, the academic performance of the students as viewed from the results of public Examination like the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the unified tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) are major concerns for both educators and the society at large.
Government at all levels, educators, parents, researchers and others concerned organizations as well as associations have shown great interests in unravelling the cause of the poor academic performance in Nigeria secondary schools. Research has made it clear that there are many factors which contribute to the quality of students’ academic performance. Crosnoe Johnson and Elder (2004) termed these factors as students’ factors, family factors, school factors and peer factors.
Broadly speaking, these factors are career development, gender, social and personal development, family relationship, educational planning, financial adjustment problems, physical and health development, mental ability, parents’ educational attainment. Research has also revealed that not a single factor can be absolutely held accountable for the poor academic performance of students.
Students poor performance in their academics, especially in examination cannot be explained by the factors mentioned above without including the study habit problems of students. Students fail in their academic work, not because they do not have the mental ability to perform brilliantly, but because they lack or do not know how to use the most effective and efficient methods of studying and learning, these hamper the academic performance of students.
Furthermore, students’ study habits determine students’ level of academic performance, be it high or low. If the quality of education delivered is dependent on the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process, therefore study habits are necessary for the upgrading of students’ academic performance.
Study habits can be positive or negative. Good study habits are encouraged by teachers, they include attending class, effective reading and being organized, these study habits can help students attain high level of intelligence, and greatly improve their performance in academic work. On the other hand, bad study habits are discouraged by teachers as they retard students’ intellectual growth, which results in poor academic performance. Bad study habits include missing classes, not taking notes at all, not reading and lack of organization. Study habits are behavioural and they can be developed through study skills or strategies. The more students carryout these behaviours, the more they adapt to negative acts. Study habits, skills and motivations show a very strong relationship with examination results and even school performance of student. How a student takes his or her studies greatly determines his or her level of academic performance. The strategies of learning and reading developed by the students and the level of preparation developed and employed go a long way to affect their level of academic performance.
Study habits are learning tendencies that enable students work privately. Study habits are defined as those techniques such as summarizing, note taking, outlining or locating materials which learners employ to assist themselves in the efficient learning of the method of studying. An individual student has to take more responsibility to acquire the desired knowledge to develop positive values, critical thinking, attitudes and skills. Effective study skills and strategies are opportunities to approach learning tasks systematically and independently. Practicing good study habit is the key to becoming smarter and achieving success in school. Therefore, this study seeks to examine the study habits of Senior Secondary School Students in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State.
Besides other factors, socioeconomic status is one of the most researched and debated factor among educational professionals that contributes to the academic performance of students. The most prevalent argument is that the socioeconomic status of learners affects the quality of their academic performance. Most of the experts argue that low socioeconomic status has negative effect on the academic performance of students because the basic needs of students remain unfulfilled and hence, they do not perform better academically (Adams, 1996). The low socioeconomic status causes environmental deficiencies which results in low self-esteem of students (US Department of Education, 2003)
Gender has also been found to influence students’ study habit. Ogoemeka (2013), in her study indicated that females scored significantly higher scores in reading and note taking, homework and assignment, study period procedure than their male counterparts. Therefore, this study seeks to determine whether gender influenced students study habits in senior secondary schools in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State.
Statement of Problem
Studies have shown that most senior secondary school students’ academic performance is very poor, is it because they don’t study at all or could it be due to the kind of study habit they have. Hence, this study examined study habits of Senior Secondary School students in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
In order to carry out this study the following questions were raised
What are the study habits of Senior Secondary School Students in Oredo Local Government Area?
Are there differences in male and female study habits of Senior Secondary School Students in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State?
Are there differences in the study habits of Senior Secondary School Students in private schools and public schools of Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State?
Are there differences in the study habits of Senior Secondary School Students from low and high socio-economic backgrounds of Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State?
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study was to:
examine the study habits of students in senior secondary schools in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State.
find out if there are differences between male and female students’ study habit in senior secondary schools.
find out if there are differences between private and public Senior Secondary School students’ study habits in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State.
Determine whether there are differences among Senior Secondary school students from low, medium and high socio-economic backgrounds inOredo Local Government Area of Edo State.
Significance of The Study
The findings from this study would be of immense benefit to students, teachers, parents, policy makers, planners of educational programmes, institutions and the society in general. The study will be very useful to students by helping them to know the type of study habit they have, the reason behind it and how to improve on it. It will help teachers to know the type of study habit students have and how to help to improve their study habits. It will also be of help to parents, parents will know the type of study habits their child has whether to teach the child to improve on his or her study habit or keep it up.
