EFFECT OF STUDY HABIT INSTRUCTION ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SOCIAL STUDIES AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN OBIO/AKPOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Some students achieve better than others even when most variables are controlled. The way the students go about their studies, the targets they set for themselves, motivation and the efforts invested in studies by individual students have influence on their academic achievement. Greatest contributors to academic achievement of the students are study skills and study habits. Hence, this quasi-experimental study investigated the effect of study habit instruction on the academic performance in social studies among secondary school students in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. A sample of 98 junior secondary school 11 (JSS II) students participated in the study. The students were grouped into two of which one group constituted the experimental group while the other constituted the control group. Treatment included given the experimental group instructions on study habits while the control group was not given study habit instructions. The pre-treatment data for the study were students’ social studies results for the term preceding the term of study. The post-treatment data were the students’ social studies results at the end of the term of the study. The data analysis was done using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) where the post-treatment data served as a dependent variable while the pre-treatment data served as a covariate. The results of the study revealed that there was a significant gain in mean achievement of experimental group compared to the control group. This implies that study habit instruction has enhancing effect on the academic achievement in social studies among secondary school students and that both male and female experimental groups achieved greater and significant academic feats than their counterparts in the control groups. It was therefore recommended that for students to achieve commendable academic feats, they should be given instruction on study habits.