Abstract

INFLUENCE OF STUDENTS? ATTITUDE ON THEIR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN SECONDARY SCHOOL MATHEMATICS

Chika C. Ugwuanyi,1 Cynthia T. Nnolum,2 William C. Nwachukwu3*

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This study was carried out to investigate the influence of students? attitude on academic achievement in secondary school mathematics. The researchers employed descriptive survey research design. Two (2) research questions and two (2) hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study comprised two thousand, four hundred and one (2401) SS2 students from the thirty-one (31) secondary schools in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State. A sample of one hundred and fifty (150) students from five (5) schools was selected through random sampling techniques. The instrument for data collection was Students? Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ) structured on a four point Likert scale. The instrument was validated by three (3) experts from University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Cronbach Alpha was used to ascertain the internal consistency of the questionnaire and a reliability coefficient of 0.908 was obtained. Mean and standard deviations were used to answer the research questions while chi-square (? 2) and t-test were used to test the null hypothesis 1 and 2 respectively at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that there is significant influence of students? attitude on their academic achievement in mathematics. Also, there is no significant influence of gender on students? attitude towards mathematics. Based on the findings it was recommended that students should be made to realize that it is their own attitude toward the learning mathematics that leads to their success or failure. Keywords: Mathematics, Attitude, Gender, Achievement.

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