RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SUCCESS MOTIVATION AND EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF SCIENCE SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN KANO, KANO STATE, NIGERIA  

ABSTRACT

This study determined the relationship between achievement motivation and academic performance among science senior secondary schools students in Kano state, Nigeria. The study employed correlational design. The study was also guided by four (4) objectives, four (4) research questions and four (4) hypotheses. The population of the study consisted of 2,665 science senior secondary school students in Kano state. A sample size of 302 was randomly selected based on the recommendation of Krejcie and Morgan. Achievement Motivation Inventory Questionnaire (AMIQ) and Academic Performance Test in Biology (APTB) were used for the study. Percentage, means, standard deviation (SD), Pearson Product Moment Correlation (r) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to answer research questions and test the null hypotheses that were raised in the study. The findings of this study reveal that there is significant relationship between achievement motivation needs and academic performance (r=0.931, p=0.001); between achievement motivation drives and academic performance (r=0.899, p=0.003); and between achievement motivation motives and academic performance (r=0.920, p=0.002). Significant differences exist in the overall achievement motivation between high, moderate and low achievers of the respondents (f=341.943; p=0.000). On the basis of these findings, the following conclusion was deduced: the respondents‘ achievement motivation needs is high, especially most always work very hard to be among the best students in their schools, the achievement motivation drive is high with a cumulative mean agreement of 3.4060 and achievement motivation motives is high especially majority of the respondents‘ like reading biography of great people inorder to learn how they overcome hurdles and achieve in life. On other hand, the following recommendations were made: Students should be well motivated through using needs, drive and a motive motivational means to improve their academic performance. Teachers and educators should focus on needs, drives and motives forms of motivation which will have greater impacts, academic counselors should organize workshop, symposia, public lectures periodically to equipped the students with needed skills to enhance their motivation, school authorities‘ should employ capable and qualified guidance and counselors to guide the children in building their achievement motivation and academic performance as well.

 

 

CHAPTER ONE 

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background to the Study

The growing concern for success, commitment and high achievement in the field of education among educationists make studies in the area of motivation as a psychological construct relevant. The control and direction of human energy plays a vital role in learning and it takes priority over other considerations about teaching. Maehr (2008), asserted that wishing to achieve control over elements of the environment and experience success to realistic gaol setting. Motives can be described as a search for some optimum level of arousal or general stimulation. Motives have two function:- they direct behaviour toward or away from some goals by potentially certain perception, behaviours and feeling rather than others. They also save to activate the organism, which becomes more aroused, the greater strength of the motive. This means that a student may learn a great deal if he is sufficiently aroused and interested.

Motivation may be regarded as something which prompts, compels and energises an individual to act or behave in a particular manner at a particular time for attaining some specific goal or purpose. Motivation is an inner condition of the organisms that initiates, energizes and directs his behaviour towards a goals; just as the need for shelter sets in motion behaviour aimed at meeting this requirement or motivation which is goal-oriented, it believed to affect human behaviour in a variety of situations like learning, thinking, perceptions, creativity and feeling.

Motivation is   used by educational psychologists to describe the drive, energy and activity that an individual displays. It is of interest to psychologists to seek know why is it that one child works hard at many different tasks, and persists in the face of difficulties, while another child is rather lazy at school, has few interests, and tends to withdraw when faced with frustration. Motivation is the force that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviours. The force that lies beneath motivation can be biological, social, and emotional or cognitive in nature.

Human beings are said to be extrinsically or intrinsically motivated. Intrinsic motivation is said to be derived internally in the job itself. It is that which occurs while a person is performing an activity in which he takes delight and satisfaction in doing. Intrinsic motivation is seen as internal reward, while extrinsic motivation is incentive or reward that a person can enjoy after he finishes his work. Mohammed (2016) opined that motivation holds the key to the understanding of human behaviour. According to him, motivation explains why one individual dodges work, another works normally satisfactorily enough to reach the height, while yet others resort to illegal and unconventional methods of achieving social, academic, economic and political recognition. He added that motivation should be carefully manipulated whether in the work situation or study situation, so that our students are neither under motivated or over motivated but appropriately motivated so as to be useful to themselves in their society and the world at large. The idea of motivating learners is an important aspect of effective learning.

In fact, some psychologists believe that motivation is a necessary ingredient for learning. It is believed that satisfactory school learning is unlikely to take place in the absence of sufficient motivation to learn. Students‘ motivation has to do with stimulating someone with the aim of making him to participate in a particular cause of action. Many motivated activities begin with a need as an internal deficiency, Need cause a drive activities which can energized motivation to develop, Drive activates a response motives designed to attain a goal. Psychologists have tried to provide the answer by identifying these activating forces

(indicators of motivation) as:-

• Needs
• Drives
• Motives

Needs:- needs are general wants or desires of an individual. Every human being has to strive for the satisfaction of his basic needs if he has to maintain or improve or fulfil himself in the world. It implies the lack of something that if present will further the psychological and physiological equilibrium of the organism. The motivation satisfy the numerous human needs may either be cognitive or emotional, just as there are primary and secondary needs. The primary needs includes basic physiological ones like food, water, air which are innate. Secondary needs which are learned within the environment includes affections, aggression, autonomy and dominance.

Drive Needs: - drives is another fundamental indices of motivation. Drive, which is broad and general is an inference made from observed behaviour and is assumed to be the tension induced by needs. It is source of energy within the bodily structures which determines the pattern and direction of behaviour just as the motor in an engine propels and determines the functioning of the system.

Motives: - motive as a psychological process, is a desire or determination to achieve or to arrive at a certain goal. The stronger the desire, the greater will be the effort. The motive can either be conscious and unconscious. Motives are believed to possess some basic characteristics in the motivated behaviour of the organism. Firstly, motives energize and sustain behaviour, thereby arousing the organism for action. Secondly, motives direct and regulate our behaviour, promoting behaviour to be purposeful, directional and persistent. Finally, motives sensitise behaviour to be selective. For instance, a student who is motivated to excel in his examination concentrates on his studies by selecting appropriate means to reach his goal.

The need to achieve is the spring board of the achievement motive. This desire is the basic and natural as the other biological or socio-psychological needs. However, in a competitive society or set-up the desire to excel over others or achieve a higher level. Than one‘s peers is intensified, which in turn may lead to a stronger drive or motive to achieve something or everything that is essential, to beat the other in the race, and consequently experience a sense of pride and pleasure in the achievement. The type of motivation produced by such desire for achievement is called achievement motivation.

We can say that the achievement motives moves or drives an individual to strive to gain mastery of difficult and challenging situations or performances in the pursuit of excellence. It comes into the picture when an individual knows that his performance will be evaluated, that the consequence of his actions will lead either to success or failure and that good performance will produce a feeling of pride in accomplishment. The achievement motive may thus be considered to be a deposition to approach success or the capacity to take pride in accomplishment when success is achieved in an activity.

Academic performance is the outcome of education the extent to which a student, teacher or institution have achieved their educational goals. According to Stumm, Sophie,Hell, Benedikt, Premuzic and Tomas (2011), achievement could also be defined as an end product of learning whose level and performance are affected by various conditions existing at the time of learning as well as the conditions intervening between learning and use (Badola, 2013). Academic performance can be described as low, or high depending on the level of performance of the learner in an academic task. It is said to be low, where a student‘s performance is below an expected level of accomplishment or high where, a student‘s performance is above an expected level of performance. Those students whose performance in a learning task is below an expected level of accomplishment are referred to as lowachieving students (Mohammed, 2016). Academic performance is commonly measured by examinations or continuous assessment but there is no general agreement on how it is best tested or which aspects are most important procedural knowledge such as skills or declarative knowledge such as facts.

Different levels of achievement motivation beliefs of students may have different levels of correlation with academic performance of students. It is against this background the researcher investigate into study of relationship between achievement motivation and academic performance among science senior secondary school students in Kano State.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The secondary education stage plays a significant role in the quest to develop the nation‘s future manpower for rapid development (Quist, 2003). As a result, successive governments of Kano State have made several efforts to improve the standards of learning through infrastructural development in science secondary schools among other policy initiative. Despite all these efforts, the standard still remains low at the academic performance of students in science senior secondary schools Kano State. This  has  prompted  many  research  into  more  effective  ways  of  improving  academic standards  and  have  found  out  that  inadequate  motivation  for  students  of  higher  learning among other factors as a disincentives to learning and academic achievement. The development of any nation is usually barometer by the degree and extent of the socio cultural, socio economic and political improvement that are brought bear through the enterprise of science and technology. Development lead to fulfilment of societal ideals considered relevant to the needs and aspiration of the society. Factors which influence such developments are based on human ability to explore, invent and utilize satisfaction of spiritual, physical and material needs and the mastery of the environment are parameters of development when applied to the human society. Education supplies people with specific skills and therefore it enables them to perform their tasks effectively. The better the performance on an individual is, the more competitive and rewarded the individual will be.

The poor  academic performance of  students  in  external examinations in Nigeria has become a source of great concern  to  parents,  teachers,  educationists, educational institutions  and all  stake  holders  in education.  This calls for concerted efforts for remediation. In everyday language achievement is something which someone has succeeded in doing. In education the term academic performance refers to the performance or accomplishment of students in academic or learning task. It is used to indicate the  degree  of  success  attained  in  some  general or  specific  area  of  academic  task.  One  of  the  urgent  needs  in  Nigeria  is  how  to  improve the  teaching  and  learning  of  science.  Presently, the condition of science teaching and learning is very discouraging. The researcher observed that students‘ performance in science in public examinations has been consistently low.  The  problem  of  low  performance  in  science  seems not  to  be  a  new  thing.

Several research has attempted to identify important factors to student success by assessing the relations among many psychological and academic variables. Few studies have  used  different  methods  to  propose  and  test  models  that can  be  used  to  understand  the  relations  among  factors  that influence student  academic  success. Various factors have been identified for low academic performance among students and these include poor study habit, laziness, ineffective classroom instructions and inadequate provision of needs, age, location, school types, anxiety, phobia, subjects, self-efficacy, self-esteem, creativity, intelligence, parental influence, teachers influence, community influence, environmental influence in science secondary schools in Kano State. But yet low achievement is still recorded in science secondary schools in Kano State. For the past five years Kano state science student have continue to record mass failure in high stakes examinations such as WAEC, NECO and UTME. It is against this background the researcher investigate into study of relationship between achievement motivation and academic performance among science senior secondary school students in Kano State.

 

 

 

 

1.3       Objectives of the Study

This study aimed to achieve the following objectives:-

1. find out if there is any significant relationship between achievement motivation of needs and academic performance among science senior secondary school students in Kano State.
2. assess the relationship between achievement motivation of drives and academic performance among science senior secondary school students in Kano State.
3. determine the relationship between achievement motivation of motives and academic performance among science senior secondary school students in Kano State.
4. examine the differences between high, moderate and low achievers in achievement motivation among science senior secondary school students in Kano State.

1.4   Research Questions

This study aimed to answer the following research questions.

1. What is the relationship between achievement motivation of needs and academic performance among science senior secondary school students in Kano State?
2. What is the relationship between achievement motivation of drives and academic performance among science senior secondary school students in Kano State?
3. What is the relationship between achievement motivation of motives and academic performance among science senior secondary school students in Kano State?
4. What is the difference between high, moderate and low achievers in achievement motivation among science senior secondary school students in Kano State?

1.5    Null Hypotheses

This study aimed to address the following hypotheses:-

1. H₀₁: There is no significant relationship between achievement motivation needs and academic performance among science senior secondary schools students in Kano

State.

2. H₀₂: There is no significant relationship between achievement motivation drives and academic performance among science senior secondary schools students in Kano

State.

3. H₀₃: There is no significant relationship between achievement motivation motives and academic performance among science senior secondary schools students in Kano

State.

4. H₀₄: There is no significant difference in achievement motivation of high, moderate and low achievers among science senior secondary school students in Kano State.

1.6      Basic Assumptions

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

1. Significant relationship may exists between achievement motivation of needs and academic performance among science senior secondary schools students in Kano

State.

2. Significant relationship may exists between achievement motivation of drives and academic performance among science senior secondary schools students in Kano

State.

3. Significant relationship may exists between achievement motivation of motives and academic performance among science senior secondary schools students in Kano

State.

4. Significant differences may exists in achievement motivation of higher achievers, moderate and lower achievers among science senior secondary school students in

Kano State.    

1.7       Significance of the Study

Since secondary school education calls for high performance and competition toward achievement, it is therefore hoped that the findings of this study will enable educators to know how those concerned (students) achieve or fail to achieve in school. As such, this investigation will be of tremendous assistance in the wider field of education. Furthermore, the level of students‘ achievement motivation are not taken into consideration when it comes to placement in school after completing their junior secondary schools. Therefore, the concern is not only with the ability to achieve but also with attitudinal and motivational factors. The results of this study will contribute towards;

1. The results of this study would clarify whether or not, there is any link with achievement motivation and academic performance. Hence, the researcher will be able to make recommendations, administrators, government teachers, parents, caregivers and students on how to handle these factors to enhance the academic performance of science senior secondary school students.
2. To point out how the negative effects of lack of achievement motivation have been highlighted by several studies and to devote concerted efforts to reduce these effects and this would facilitate the development of positive interest in the learner to excel academically. Such information would be useful to the stake holders in education.
3. Subject to the outcomes of this study, it is presumed that the identified areas where government, educational policy-makers, science and technical school board teachers, administrators at different level could come in will be brought into focus in order to bridge the gap of academic performance or the research will aid in addressing the role achievement motivation plays in task performance by monitoring special education programmes in the schools.
4. The study is also important to psychologist as it will help in understanding some human behaviours that persists over the long term without external inducements, presumably due to the effects of intrinsic interest and achievement motivation.
5. The teachers and school administrators will also benefit from the research through encouraging and motivating students at all level of hard work and learning. This can

be inform of reward to the best student and encouraging the weaker ones that they can make it.

6. Students who are the central theme of the study will stand a better chance of acquiring skills that are pertinent to enhancing their achievement motivation so as to adjust and boost their academic performance at school.
7. On the part of clinical counsellors, the findings of this study is expected to assist the counsellors to understand the role of achievement motivation, so that, the counsellors will help students see the need to develop achievement motivation.
8. However, the findings or results of the study can be published in journal, and other print media, television and radio pragrammes can also be broadcasts to feed the members of the public on the benefits of the study. Also, seminars, workshop, conference could be organized for the stake holders to have direct benefit from the findings of this study.
9. Furthermore, parents in particular can understand the benefits of the study through the

Parents‘ Teachers‘ Association (PTA) and School Based Management Committee (SBMC) meetings. This can be done by the principals, school counsellors who might have benefited from the study.

10. This study would serve as a missing link to future researchers and would also add to the existing body of literature on achievement motivation and academic performance. The study will be significant, because it explained series of anti-achievement motivation and academic performance due to inadequate attention and lack of attitude through dissemination, conference, journals and media.

1.8   Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The study covered Achievement motivation, three indices of motivation viz; needs, drives, motives and academic performance among students of science senior secondary schools in Kano State. It was delimited to SS 2 students; both boys and girls and was confined to four (4) public secondary schools. The choice of these schools was because the community where they are based comprised of people representing the entire geographical region of the country, and proximity of the schools is also another reason.

The research limited the scope to science senior secondary school students and which do not include the junior part, In addition to this even the technical senior secondary school students and Private senior secondary schools are not included.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SUCCESS MOTIVATION AND EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF SCIENCE SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN KANO, KANO STATE, NIGERIA  

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