Self–Efficacy and Motivation as Correlates of Secondary School Students’ Academic Achievement in Biology in Enugu South Local Government Area

Abstract

The study investigated how self-efficacy and motivation as correlates with secondary school students’ academic achievement in Biology in Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State. Three research questions guided the study and three hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The correlation research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 2, 213 SS2 offering Biology in Enugu South local government area. A sample of 450 students obtained using multistage sampling procedure involving purposive and random sampling technique were involved in the study. The instruments for data collection were Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (ASES), Academic Motivational Scale (AMS) and students’ Cumulative Annual Result (SCAR) validated by experts from Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka. The reliability of the instruments was determined using Cronbach Alpha and the coefficient of internal consistency obtained for ASES and AMS were 0.88 and 0.82 respectively. The students’ achievement scores in Biology were obtained from the teachers’ score folder. Analysis of data from the study was done using Pearson product moment correlation and multiple linear regressions. The result of the study showed that there was a low positive correlation between self-efficacy and academic achievement and also motivation and academic achievement. The findings of the study also revealed among others that self-efficacy and motivation individually and jointly, have significant relationship with academic achievement in Biology. It was recommended that school counsellors should hold seminars for students to help attain higher levels of self-efficacy and motivation necessary for improved academic achievement in Biology.

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