Instructional Scaffolding and Students’ Academic Performance in Business Studies in Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area, Rivers State

Abstract

The present study examined the impact of instructional scaffolding on the academic performance of students in Business Studies at Community Secondary School Okposi, located within the OgbaEgbema-Ndoni Local Government Area. The scaffolding instructional strategy was employed as the experimental condition, while the traditional lecture method served as the control condition. The investigation was guided by two objectives, two research questions, and one hypothesis. A quasi-experimental pre-test post-test design with intact classes was utilized for the study. The population for this research comprised all 100 junior secondary school two students enrolled in Business Studies, with a sample size of 41 participants selected randomly from this population. The theoretical framework underpinning the study was grounded in Vygotsky's Social Constructivism and the principles of instructional scaffolding. The Business Studies Performance Test was utilized as the primary instrument for data collection. Responses obtained from the Business Studies Performance Test were analyzed using the Kuder Richardson 20 (KR-20) formula, yielding a reliability coefficient of 0.81. The mean and standard deviation were employed to address the research questions, while paired t-test and two-way ANCOVA at a 0.05 alpha level of significance were utilized to evaluate and analyze the hypotheses. The findings of the study indicated, among other conclusions, that the scaffolding instructional strategy exerted a significant positive influence on students’ performance in Business Studies. In light of these findings, it was recommended, among other suggestions, that Business Studies educators should implement scaffolding instructional strategies in their teaching practices, as this approach would facilitate the incorporation of relevant examples and support from the immediate school environment, thereby rendering the learning experience more authentic for the students.