INFLUENCE OF LECTURE TIME ON EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF BUSINESS EDUCATION LEARNERS IN ACCOUNTING IN INSTITUTIONS OF EDUCATION IN NORTH-EAST GEO-POLITICAL ZONE, NIGERIA

INFLUENCE OF LECTURE TIME ON EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF BUSINESS EDUCATION LEARNERS IN ACCOUNTING IN INSTITUTIONS OF EDUCATION IN NORTH-EAST GEO-POLITICAL ZONE, NIGERIA   

ABSTRACT

This research was carried out on the effects of lecture-time on academic performance of business education students in accounting in colleges of education in north-east geo-political zone, Nigeria. The study was necessitated by the continuous decline in the performance of students in accounting in colleges of education of north-east geo-political zone, Nigeria. Three (3) research questions were raised to guide the study while three null hypotheses were formulated and tested. The study adopted quasi-experimental research design with pre-test and post-test. The population comprised one thousand one hundred and twenty two (1,122) NCE II students of all the seven colleges of education offering business education in north east geo-political zone of Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was used to select ninety (90) students. In the course of collecting data for the study, the respondents were exposed to morning, afternoon and evening lectures. Financial Accounting Evaluation Test (FAET) and Financial Accounting Achievement Test (FAAT) were the instruments used in data collection. Mean and standard deviation were used in answering the research questions; linear logistic regression was used in testing null hypotheses 1-3 at 0.05 level of significance. From the result of the study, all the three null hypotheses were rejected. The summary of the result showed that morning lecture had the strongest effect then the evening lecture which has moderate effect and afternoon lecture with weak effects on academic performance of business education students in accounting in colleges of education in north east geo-political zone of Nigeria. It was concluded that teaching and learning of financial accounting in colleges of education is better and more effective in the morning or evening time. Based on the findings of this study, three recommendations were made, among which is that National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), school administrators, business education curriculum planners as well as schools timetable committees should ensure that all accounting lectures are fixed in the morning or evening time.

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1        Background to the Study

Business education as a discipline is expected to expose its recipients to a

diversifiedcurricula and instructional approaches in line with content and structure. Hence, it is that type of education that would inculcate in its recipients knowledge, values, attitudes and skills that are required in the business world. This is a means of producing a healthy, literate selfreliant citizen that would create wealth for human development, when they become selfemployed, thereby resulting to sustainable national development at large. Business education is primarily an integral part of vocational and technical education. It is a training system that encourages the beneficiary to acquire skills that would fit him/her into the world of work.

Accounting is taught in colleges of education as a subject under business education programme, and it remains one among the subjects that carries more credit units required for graduation. According to Udoh, (2004) accounting education offers students all necessary knowledge, understanding and skills of accounting in terms of record keeping, through various accounting books, preparation, analysis and interpretation of financial information of a business. Accounting education can also be seen as that part of education which provides us the knowledge about accounting terms, journal, ledger, final accounts, analysis and interpreting of the result of business. Moreover, this form of education provides all knowledge of cost calculation and control and it also gives different tools for analyzing the financial statement. It is very helpful for making business planning.

Lecture time or time of instruction in financial accounting largely determines whether students would learn or not. It means that if appropriate learning situation is not considered, learning would not take place and students‟ academic performance could be poor. This is because different individuals function more efficiently at different time in a day. In educational settings, this can affect whether students are performing at their best during instructional and test time. (Hartley & Nicholls, 2008). The time of day when academic subjects are taught could affect student‟s achievements. Millar, Styles &Wastell in Wile &Shouppe (2011) claimed morning learning is associated with superior immediate recall when compared to learning in afternoon or evening. If most students perform better in reading during afternoon hours and mathematics during morning hours, class schedules should be matched to meet the learning requirements of more students.

Accounting as a subject is taught at colleges of education at any time of a day whether in the morning, afternoon or evening time. This is because colleges of education, like any other tertiary institutions in Nigeria are operating throughout the time of a day.Morning time is considered the period between midnight and noon or, more commonly, the interval between sunrise and noon.

Morning proceeds afternoon, evening, and night in the sequence of a day. Originally, the term

„morning‟ referred to sunrise. Colleges of education in Nigeria categorize morning time as from 7:00am to 12:00pm. Afternoon is the time occurring between noon and evening. Afternoon is currently defined as a constant 12:00 pm, but when afternoon ends it depends on when evening begins. It can also be seen as the time when the sun is descending from its daytime peak. During the afternoon, the sun moves from roughly the center of the sky todeep in the west. In late afternoon, sunlight is particularly bright and glaring, because the sun is at a low angle in the sky.

Afternoon time in Nigeria categorized to be from 12:00pm to 4:00pm, while Evening is the period at the end of the day activities. It is usually the closing hours that is from 4:00pm to 6:00pm.

Academic performance is the extent to which a teacher or an institution achieved their educational goals. Academic performance is commonly measured by examination or continuous assessment or Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of students. Academic performance also refers to what students achieve in their studies and how they cope with or accomplish different learning experiences given to them by their teachers. Ibrahim (2011) reported that in educational institution, success is measured by academic performance, or how well students meet the standards set out by the institution. North-East Geo-political zone Nigeria consists of six states, namely: Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe states. Each state has at least a college of education that run business education programme, except Yobe state who has two colleges of education running business education programme. All the described variables constitute the background in which this study was conducted on the effect of lecture time on academic performance of business education students in accounting in colleges of education in North-East Geo-political Zone, Nigeria.

 

1.2        Statement of the Problem

The poor performance of students in financial accounting in colleges of education in NorthEast Geo-political Zone is of great concern to the government, parents, guardians, teachers, policy makers and well meaning citizens. This is so because data collected by the researcher show the analysis of business education student‟s performance in financial accounting in Aminu Saleh College of Education, Azare and Federal College of Education (Tech.) Potiskum for the period of four (4) years 2011 -2015. For instance in 2011/2012 session 61% and 56% of the students failed to score credit and above in financial accounting. The 2012/2013 session result showed that 45% and 69.1% of the students were failed to score credit grade in financial accounting. In 2013/2014 session the result also indicated that 50.3% and 60.8% did not score credit as a grade and in 2014/2015 only 34.2% and 48.7% of the students passed within the range of credit and above in Aminu Saleh College of Education,Azare and Federal College of Education Potiskum respectively. The same situation has been observed generallythat the performance of students in Accounting has not been impressive in higher institutions in Nigeria.

(Drennan& Rhode, 2010).

As a result of this, the researcher went on to interact with students of business education in colleges of education of North-East Geo-political Zone, Nigeria. The researcher interviewed students about the causes of students‟ poor performance in accounting. The reasons suggested by the students included inappropriate time of instruction employed by their lecturers.

In order to verify the claim of the students, the researcher visited and investigated the timetables of business education department in five out of the seven colleges of education offering business education in North-East Zone of Nigeria. The researcher found that the time allocated for accounting lecture varies from one college to another for example the first semester 2014/2015 time-tables for accounting lecture of the five colleges of education visited by the researcher were as follows: Federal College of Education Potiskum, the accounting lecture for

NCE 100 level is between 11am to1pm while NCE 200 level accounting lectures heldbetween

4pm to 6pm in the evening. For Federal College of Education Gombe, accounting lectures of NCE 100 level was held between 3pm to 5pm in the evening and NCE 200 level lectures held in the morning hours between 10am to 12pm. The situation was different at Federal College of Education Yola because the accounting lectures for NCE 100 level held between 9am to 11am in the morning while NCE 200 level lectures was held at exactly 12pm to 2pm in the afternoon. In Aminu Saleh College of Education,Azare accounting lectures were fixed for NCE 100 level in the morning between 8am to 10am while NCE 200 level lectures was fixed in the evening between 4pm to 6pm. But the accounting lectures at Umar Sulaiman College of Education Gashua indicate that NCE 100 level have been taking place in the morning between 9am to 11am and NCE 200 level lectures held between 11am to 1pm.

Basedon this observation it can be suggested that there is no specific time when accounting lectures used to be placed on the time tables in colleges of education in North-East Geo-political

Zone of Nigeria. On the basis of this situation, the researcher become interested in knowing the more appropriate time for teaching accounting subjects in colleges of education in North-East Geo-political Zone, Nigeria.

 

1.3    Objectives of the Study

The main purpose of this study was to determine the effect of lecture-time on academic performance of business education students in accounting in Colleges of Education in North-East Geopolitical Zone, Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to determine:

1. determine the effect of morning lecture time on academic performance of business education students in accounting in colleges of education in North-East Geo-political Zone, Nigeria
2. assess the effect of afternoon lecture time on academic performance of business education students in accounting in colleges of education in North-East Geo-political Zone, Nigeria
3. ascertain the effect of evening lecture timeon academic performance of business education students in accounting in colleges of education in North-East Geo-political Zone, Nigeria

1.4    Research Questions

In line with the specific objectives, the following research questions were formulated to guide the study:

• What is the effect of morning lecturetime on academic performance of business education students in accounting incolleges of education in North-East Geo-political Zone, Nigeria?
• What is the effect of afternoon lecture time on academic performance of business education students in accounting incolleges of education in North-East Geo-political Zone, Nigeria?
• What is the effect of evening lecture time on academic performance of business education students in accounting incolleges of education in North-East Geo-political Zone, Nigeria?

 

 

 

 

1.5        Research Hypotheses

Based on the research questions formulated above, the following null hypotheses were postulated:

• Morning lecture time has no significant effect on academic performance of business education students in accounting in colleges of education in North-East Geo-political Zone, Nigeria.
• Afternoon lecture time has no significant effect on academic performance of business education students in accounting in colleges of education in North-East Geo-political Zone, Nigeria.
• Evening lecture time has no significant effect on academic performance of business education students in accounting incolleges of education in North-East Geo-political Zone,

Nigeria.

1.6        Significance of the study

The result of this study is expected to be beneficial to the government, accounting lectures, accounting students, school administrators, parents, curriculum developers and further researchers.

Government is always investing in education sector especially in tertiary institutions in Nigeria, if academic performance of students improves and encouraged through appropriate and effective learning situation, this will help the government in achieving its aim for investing in education sector in Nigerian tertiary institution. Accounting lecturers will also benefit from the result of this study in the sense that, it will help them to select and use appropriate time for teaching accounting that will enhance the students‟ performance. With the use of appropriate time and learning situation, accounting students will also benefit by improving their academic performance and their interest toward the course. Also, school administrators will have an insight as to where and when to fix the time for accounting class on their time table. Parents are also among the beneficiaries of the study because the performance of their children/wards is their priority. They always concern more about the performance of their children as they believe good academic performance will provide good career and jobs opportunity. Curriculum developers who decide on syllabi and recommended effective and suitable learning situation might wish to consider the results of this study with a view of recommending effective time for teaching of accounting subject.

Finally, the study is expected to be used by further researchers as reference materials and empirical studies.

1.7        Basic Assumptions of the Study

For the purpose of this study, the following assumptions were made:

1. It is assumed that the poor academic performance of students in accounting in colleges of education was as a results of inappropriate timing and learning situations.
2. It is also assumed that appropriate lecture time will improve students‟ performance in accounting in colleges of education.
3. Students under study have the ability and interest for studying accounting in colleges of education in north-east zone, Nigeria.

1.8   Delimitation of the Study

 This study is delimited to morning, afternoon and evening lecture time on academic performance of business education students in accounting in all the seven colleges of education offering business education in north east zone, Nigeria, because these were the variable being emphasized by this study. The study isalso delimited to 200 level business education students because they have the background knowledge in financial accounting during their 100 level. Among the seven colleges of education, the study was also delimited to Aminu Saleh College of Education, Azare because it is among the oldest College of Education where business education training first started as its foundation in north-east zone. This was done in order to eliminate the entire intervening variables that may affect the study such as: peer group, instructional materials and environment. The study is delimited to Financial Accounting students because it is from them that the researcher want to assess the effects of lecture time on their academic performance in accounting. The study concentrated on the topic manufacturing account up to trading profit and loss account because of the importance of this topic to the knowledge of accounting and it is also part of the NCE II course contents for second semester.

INFLUENCE OF LECTURE TIME ON EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF BUSINESS EDUCATION LEARNERS IN ACCOUNTING IN INSTITUTIONS OF EDUCATION IN NORTH-EAST GEO-POLITICAL ZONE, NIGERIA   

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