ABSTRACT: The study examined Study Habit and Academic Performance of Secondary School Students in Agricultural Science. Two null hypotheses were stated to guide the study. The population of the study comprised of all Junior Secondary Two (JS 2) students. The sample size used for the study was two hundred (200) students drawn from eight public secondary schools. Study Habit Questionnaire (SHQ) and Raw Scores of the students in Agricultural Science in 2017/2018 academic session were the instruments used for collection of data. Data obtained for the study were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and independent t-test.
Study Habit And Academic Performance Of Secondary School Students In Agricultural Science
The findings showed that there is a significant difference in academic performance of students who have personal time table, reviewed past questions and those who do not have personal timetable and review past questions in Agricultural Science. Based on the findings, it was recommended that students should be encouraged to adopt good study habits in learning Agricultural Science.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
The concept of study habit is broad as it combines nearly all other sub- topics under it such as study attitude, study method, and study skills. Study habits are the knowledge and application of effective study skills or techniques by students. The term study habit refers to the way in which students study either systematically, effectively or efficiently (Rana and Kausar, 2011). In line with what has been said above, one can deduce that the good study habit will definitely yield positive academic achievement and also inefficient or poor study habit leads to academic failure. Students attitude and study habit toward any subjects have been described as functions of passion coupled with their belief on these particular cases which have a long way to go on their academic achievements.
In Nigeria, many factors have been highlighted to influence the ability of students to cultivate effective and efficient study habit. Such factors include: state of health, motivation, anxiety and state of mind conducive and suitable environment for studying, availability of textbooks and well equipped libraries (Yoloye, 2011).
Allport (2016), has argued that attitude toward study by drafting a good study pattern can greatly contribute to students academic achievement. Successful students all over the world are said to have adopted positive attitude towards study and are time conscious over what they have to do. According to Hussain (2010) study habit refers to predispositions which students have developed towards private readings through a period of time and maintained that study habit is a gateway to successful academic achievement.
Students adopt several study habits and some of these include adoption of personal timetable by students to guide them on their daily activities of which study time is included as well as time for other duties. The adoption of personal timetable to studies in the dimension that assesses the habit of students to avoid certain factors that might distract his/her focus from succeeding in the course of studying.
According to Ogbodo (2009), the objectives of education in Nigeria among others are “the needs to help the individuals to develop their full potentials”. This cannot be achieved without a proper time planning to make the students to develop positive attitudes toward learning. Personal study timetable is a very crucial factor in the success of any programme educationally. When the timetable is wrongly planned and managed, it is possible to produce negative outcome but when properly planned and managed, it produces positive outcome. A student who developed personal timetable is likely to perform well in academics. Such students may prepare effectively well before examinations (Chukun, 2010).
Another important study habit is the act of taking note in the class during lesson presentation by the teacher. During note-taking, the students strive to record fast the major points from a lesson or a textbook. It leads to wider use of abbreviations, acrostic symbols and cryptic sketches, avoiding clear diagrams and tables. It is important as it helps in summary and organization. These notes will further be expanded from note-taking into detailed and well illustrated texts accessible to any person literate in the language and familiar with the subject of the text.
Note-taking enables the student to extract important information from a lesson and book within the time allowed, where time is the essence as in the case of reserved books in the library where one has to read for an hour or two. Also, where scarce books are borrowed from the library, the books are needed back as soon as the important points are taken or information recommended (Eyoh, 2013).
However, Salami and Aremu (2016) are of the opinion that through the internationalization of good study habits, all students will raise their grades and inefficient study habits on the other hand erode self-confidence among students which leads to poor academic achievement as well as poor self-esteem and cheating in examinations to pass (Ekwe, 2015).
Asagwara (2012) described study habits as strategies which students append for acquiring knowledge, skills, idea and competence. The author further observed that students who have good study habits do not spend a lot of time studying before they can achieve success and that students who study very hard without utilizing good habits make little or no progress in their academics.
Onyejiaku (2010) further opined that majority of students who find it difficult to concentrate and do not ignore distraction while studying lack self-discipline, intrinsic motivation or goal orientation. It is pertinent to note that time management is to be recognized as the control idea of the concepts of study habit.
Although habit differs from person to person, some general principles can be derived about studying efficiently. Here are some good study habits that lead to better academic achievement: attending classes regularly, taking down note during teaching; concentrating on study; studying with aim of getting meaning not cramming; preparing a timetable; following a timetable; having a proper rest period; facing the problems regarding home environment and planning; facing the challenges posed by school environment and keeping daily survey of work done. Good study habits rest on the attitudes toward work and sense responsibilities. Child (2015) reported that, ”studies with human subject have revealed that an ability to learn how to solve problems of a given kind, can be developed with sufficient practice on tasks of a similar nature”. Study habits vary from student to student.
Some habits are considered to be more desirable than others from the point of view of academic achievement. Crow and Crow (2016) asserted that study requires a purpose and what one learns as a result of study depends largely upon the degree to which one succeed in achieving that aim or purpose.
Child (2015) asserts that we talk about forming bad or good habits in many everyday activities in both social and educational contexts. We behave, by and large in characteristic ways because we have discovered through experience that some responses are more effective than others. It is therefore against this background that this study has deemed it necessary to investigate the impact of study habits on academic performance of secondary school students in agricultural science in Essien Udim Local Government Area.
1.2 Statement of the problem
The teaching and learning of agricultural science in Nigerian schools have series of challenges owing to the fact that the process involves effort of both the teachers and the students. Thus, one of the major challenges of the educational system is lack of students’ participation in the teaching and learning processes at the junior secondary level of education, which also affects the quality delivery of educational institutions. This implies that the students occupy the central position in the teaching and learning processes. Learning cannot be forceful; as such the students must be ready to learn before they can learn. However, due to the important position occupied by students in the teaching-learning process, their approach or approaches to learning become necessary to be investigated upon.
Similarly, there is tremendous pressure on students to earn good grades because academic achievement is assumed to possess predictive value on the student’s future endeavour. The importance of academic achievement as raised several queries among educational researchers. In search for the answers to the queries, a number of attempts have been made by researchers to identify factors which influence academic achievement. It is therefore based on the above importance that the question arises in mind of this researcher whether this study habit is related to academic performance in Agricultural Science or not?
Study Habit And Academic Performance Of Secondary School Students In Agricultural Science
Little study has been done looking at the study habits of students at any level of the educational system, especially in secondary schools in the study area much of which is directed to mainly the senior secondary school students. Since we live in the information age, this fact clearly makes new demand on the educational system, requiring radical changes on “what” and “how” students learn and why students are not doing as per expectations. It is important to have a clear understanding of what benefits or hindrance to one’s educational achievement. This is the premise which motivates the researcher to investigate the impact of study habit on academic performance of secondary schools students in Agricultural Science.
