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 |
Underachievement, Academic Attainment, English Self-concept and Locus of Control
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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
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
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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Download@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}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Understanding Differential Underachievement in English Among Secondary-School Students from Northern Nigeria AU - Amina Ahman AU - Mohammed Kudu Isah AU - Abubakar Musa Y1 - 2020/04/23 PY - 2020 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20200902.11 DO - 10.11648/j.pbs.20200902.11 T2 - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences JF - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences JO - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences SP - 6 EP - 11 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2328-7845 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 IS - 2 ER -
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