Study Habits And Academic Performance Of Pupils In Social Studies

Study Habits And Academic Performance Of Pupils In Social Studies
Study Habits And Academic Performance Of Pupils In Social Studies

ABSTRACT: The study investigated Study Habits And Academic Performance Of Pupils In Social Studies in Oruk Anam Local Government Area. The population of the study was made up of 3135 primary four pupils in 2016/2017 session in all the Primary Schools in Oruk Anam Local Government Area. One hundred pupils were randomly selected from ten primary schools in the study area as the sample size. Two research questions and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. A survey research design was adopted for the study. Study Habits and Academic Performance Questionnaire (SHAPQ) was used as instrument for data collection. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation was the statistical method adopted in analyzing the data collected for the study.

Study Habits And Academic Performance Of Pupils In Social Studies

Findings showed that there is a significant relationship between personal study timetable and review of past questions study habits and academic performance of Pupils in Primary Schools in Oruk Anam Local Government Area. Based on these findings, it is recommended that pupils should adopt good study habits in studying so as to improve their academic performance. It was therefore concluded that pupils should always adopt personal timetable and should always adopt personal timetable and should also review past questions in schools. 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

Learning is a purposeful, conscious and complex process. An important feature of learning is that it involves a complex interaction between the learner and the learning concepts. According to Ekwe (2015) the learners occupy the central role for learning to occur as learning cannot be forceful and as such the learners must be ready to learn before they can learn. However, due to the important position occupy by learners in the teaching learning process, their approach or approaches to learning becomes necessary to be investigated upon. Bamin, Kazi and Hasan (2013) observed that in addition to personal and mental developments, study is critical for ensuring ones access to social, economic and civic life. Studying is considered to be crucial for people from all cross sections of life for successfully coping with the complexities and challenges of the 21st century.

Studying for an examination can be one of the most stressful events in a learner’s life. In recent time, primary school pupils attending secondary school, experience a problem of coping with the transition from primary schools to secondary schools is very difficult. For brilliant learners to maintain their grade level from primary school until graduation is always taskful  and may seem energy-sapping for the learners. Also for the dull learners to improve in their studying level demands a great task likewise in both instance, studying for examination has been a challenge as some learners may “cram” in order to pass while other study in advance before the examination.

However, Salami and Aremu (2016) are of the opinion that through the internationalization of good study habits, both failing and passing learners will raise their grades and ineffective study habits on the other hand erode self-confidence among pupils which leads to poor academic performance as well as poor self-esteem and cheating in examination to pass well (Ekwe 2015). Asagwara (2012) described study habits as strategies which learners append for acquiring knowledge, skills, idea and competence. He further observed that some learner who have good study habits do not spend a lot of time studying before they can achieve success and that learners who study very hard without utilizing good habits make little or no progress in their academics.

Onyejiaku (2010) further opined that majority of pupils who find it difficult to concentrate and 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. It is therefore against this background that this study has deemed it necessary to investigate the effect of study habit on academic performance of pupils.

Study Habits And Academic Performance Of Pupils In Social Studies

1.2       Statement of the Problem    

Education is an instrument par excellence for the development of any nation according to National Policy on Education (FRN) (2014). Therefore, the focus of the educational enterprise in Nigeria is the development of human capital required to meet present and future challenges of globalization. 

Researchers such as Cernal and Kseria (2015) sustain that all thing being equal, what remain different in a classroom of pupils is the cultural background of the learners and teachers and environmental variables. Class observations and interview showed that some learners’ exhibit different study habits as some learners prefer listening to lectures without taking note into their exercise books while others take note while the lesson is going on.

Similarly, statistics abound to show that mass failure among pupils is real and the trend of pupil’s academic performance has been on the decline Akinboye (2016), oftentimes, the teachers are blamed for the poor academic performance, some people blame Government for not providing sufficient fund to the school and even when the pupils are blamed explanation is proffered only in terms of the peer group influence. Little or no consideration is given to the fact the pupil’s study habit can affect his or her academic performance in school. This motivated the researcher to ask “could the study habit adopted by the pupils influence their academic performance in social studies.

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Peter Hezekiah Lawson (Sir Pee). The CEO of onlineproject.com.ng. A reputable researcher, Web Developer, ICT Instructor and a publisher of many research works in Education.