Perceived Factors Influencing Academic Performance of Business Studies Students in Public Secondary Schools in Asaba Urban

Perceived Factors Influencing Academic Performance of Business Studies Students in Public Secondary Schools in Asaba Urban

ABSTRACT

The study was carried out to ascertain the perceived factors influencing academic performance of Business studies students in public secondary schools in Asaba Urban. Three (3) research questions in line with the stated specific purposes guided the conduct of the study. A review of related literature was done based on the research questions raised and variables in the study. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised of thirty-one (31) Business Studies teachers in 13 public secondary schools in Asaba, Urban, Delta State.  Due to the manageable size of the population, all the 31 teachers from the 13 secondary schools in Asaba Urban were used for the study. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled “Perceived Factors Influencing Academic Performance of Business Studies Students in Public Secondary Schools in Asaba Urban (PFIAPBSSPSSQ). The instrument was validated by two lecturers; one from School of Secondary Education (Business) and the other in Educational Measurement and Evaluation, all in Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba. Permission obtained from the management of the selected secondary schools before the distribution of questionnaire to the respondents. The researcher administered 31 copies of the questionnaire to senior secondary school teachers in Asaba Urban and 30 copies were retrieved by the researcher with the help of 2 trained research assistants. Data collected were analyzed using frequency count and mean statistics. The decision rule was that any item with a mean score of 2.50 and above was regarded high extent whereas any mean score is less than or below 2.50 low extent. Findings of the stud revealed that poor study habit influences the academic performance of business studies students in public secondary schools in Asaba Urban negatively, participation in learning activities influences the academic performance of business studies students in public secondary schools in Asaba Urban negatively and poor learning environment influences the academic performance of business studies students in public secondary schools in Asaba Urban negatively. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that public secondary school students should be encouraged to develop positive study habit so as to enhance their academic performance in Business Studies.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

Education remains the best legacy every country can pass to her citizenry. This is because it serves as a tool for economic growth, innovation and even development. Quality education announces a nation to other nations of the world. This is because it helps to produce economic managers and world changers. This is why business studies was introduced to catch them young.

Business studies is the study of the management of individuals to maintain collective productivity, which accomplishes particular creative and productive goals, usually to generate profits. According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, business studies is the study of economics and management. It is the study of subjects connected with money and managing a business. The term business is derived from the word busy. Thus, a business means being busy either as an individual or as a society as a whole, doing commercially viable and profitable work. Business studies is an academic subject that deals with the principles of business, management, and economics. It combines elements of accountancy, finance, marketing, organizational studies, human resource management, and operations (Olayinka, 2018). The subject is designed to give students a general overview of the various elements of running a business. Business education is a branch of education that involves teaching the skills and operations of the business industry (Ronald, 2019). Business studies can be defined as the fundamental theory of business which helps an individual to perform well in the world of business. Business studies involves that aspect of education that provide the knowledge, skills, understanding and other attitude needed to perform well in the world of business as producers or consumers of goods and services that business offers. It is a programme that offers knowledge activities and skills needed by citizen in other to effectively manage their resources and participate well in the economic system (Okoh, 2019).

Additionally, Agwumezie (2021), sees business studies as a programme in education that prepares students for entry into and advancement of jobs within the business. Aliyu (2020), have it as a programme one needs to be proud of if properly designed, adequately prepared and religiously harmonized. Aliyu further affirms that business studies is an educational programme which involves acquisition of skills, knowledge and competences which makes the recipient/beneficiary proficient. It is an umbrella under which all business programmes take a shield, such as marketing, business administration, secretarial studies and accounting. Igboke (2016), defined business studies as a dynamic field of study geared towards preparing youths and adults for and about business. It is a preparation for a career in business when instruction is designed to prepare youths and adults for actual practice in the world of business. On the other hand, education about business involves preparation of youths and adults for intelligent and effective consumption of economic goods and services offered to society in our free enterprise economy. However, business studies ought to produce responsible, productive and self-reliant citizens. This highlights the importance of business studies in inculcating in the recipients knowledge, values, attitudes and skills needed in the business world. The objectives of business studies cannot be over emphasized, hence, business studies generally are borne out of the needs of industry, commerce and society. In addition, it is career oriented that aims at preparing people for gainful employment.

Academic performance on the other hand according to Roy (2021), is the ability to study and remember facts and being able to communicate your knowledge verbally or on paper. In other words, academic performance refers to how students deal with their studies and how they cope with or accomplish different tasks given to them by their teachers.  Academic performance generally refers to how well a student is accomplishing his/her tasks or studies. Academic achievement or academic performance is the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has attained their short or long-term educational goals. Completion of educational benchmarks such as secondary school diplomas and bachelor’s degrees represent academic achievement (Olaniyi, 2021). Academic achievement is commonly measured through examinations or continuous assessments but there is no general agreement on how it is best evaluated or which aspects are most important procedural knowledge such as skills or declarative knowledge such as facts (Johnson, 2020).

Several factors such as students’ study habit, participation in learning activities, learning environment and many others influence students’ academic performance especially in such like business studies.

Study habits are defined as those techniques such as summarizing, note taking, outlining or locating materials which learners employ to assist themselves in the efficient leaning of the materials which is at hand.  It plays a vital role in the development of human capital and is linked with an individual well – being and opportunities for better living. It ensures the acquisition of knowledge and skills that enable individuals to increase in their productivity and improve in their quality of life. Paivio (2020), noted that habits of study, which are formed in school, have greater significance and students must realize the need to acquire these effective study habits. Effective studying will help students to prepare schoolwork in less time to achieve greater degree of mastery of the lesson. Students who study effectively and efficiently utilize methods of learning which aid the acquisition, retention, application of knowledge, facts and information from textbook and class discussion, lectures and other resources. According to Pascual (2019), Study habits or study strategies are approaches applied to learning. They are generally critical to success in school, are considered essential for acquiring good grades, and are useful for learning throughout one’s life. There are arrays of study skills, which may tackle the process of organizing and taking in new information, retaining information, or dealing with assessments. They include mnemonic, which aid the retention of lists of information, effective reading and concentration techniques, as well as efficient note taking. Effective study habits are often up to the students and their support, however there is an evidence that they are increasingly taught at Secondary Schools and university levels. It is believed that the development of study habits helps a person become successful and productive.

Students’ participation in learning activities simply means taking part in the teaching and learning process. Not as passive listeners, but active participants. Active participation in class improves objective and subjective students’ performance in any given school subject. Active learning techniques and the associated student engagement during teaching leads to a greater number of students meeting the learning outcomes and thus, by extension, improved academic performance (Olaniyi, 2021). Student participation requires the mental and emotional involvement of students in order for them to achieve their aims (Frymier & Houser, 2018). Their participation in class is usually spontaneous, and occurs naturally (Abdullah, Bakar & Mahbob, 2020). Participation of students in group activiyies is usually not the same and they participate in different ways. The goal of increasing participation is not to have every student participate in the same way or at the same rate. Instead, it is to create an environment in which all participants have the opportunity to learn and in which the class explore issues and ideas in-depth, from a variety of viewpoints. Certain students will raise their voices more than others; this variation is a result of differences in learning preferences, as well as in personalities. Teamwork can help overcome many shortcomings of traditional learning methods and provide benefits for the students and teachers, where students become more active (Brown, 2012). Students can learn better when they are participating, involved mentally, and are committed in the process of investigation, discovery, and interpretation (Tesfaye & Berhanu, 2018).

Learning environment encompasses how students interact with and treat one another in the pedagogical setting. Further, the educational setting (learning environment) which is conducive for effective learning includes the natural ecosystem, grouping of students, arrangement of desks and seating order in specific ways, audio, video and digital technologies. The qualities and characteristics of learning environment are also determined by a wide variety of other factors such as policies of the institution, governance structures and financial stability. Literature on learning environment can be categorized into three broad aspects; academic environment, physical environment and psychological environment and all these affect the overall academic success in acquiring second language (Lizzio, 2019). Some experts in education distinguished learning environment as positive or negative. Positive learning environment includes conducive physical and social settings that facilitate effective learning. Learning environment that is with facilities of seating arrangements, conducive light, podium and the white and black boards in addition to digital and electronic equipment in the classroom such as multimedia and sound systems belong to positive learning environment while classroom environments with bare minimal facilities of accessibility with congested student numbers can be termed as negative. The concept of learning environment as perceived by Balog (2018), consists of people, teaching materials, technical tools, learning resources, curriculum, training and instruction, and physical learning space. Malik and Rizvi (2018), segregate learning environment as physical and human.

Learning environment is so important because it help students to have maximum effectiveness in the learning process. The importance of learning environment in achieving success in learning has been highlighted by many scholars in education.

Statement of the Problem

Success as the name implies is wished for by everybody but it does not easily come by on a mere platter of gold; one must work for it through hard work and diligence. The social and economic development of a country is directly linked with students’s academic performance; the desire of success is derived from individual’s concept of himself and in term of the meaning of various incentives as they spell success and failure in the eyes of others.

However, students’ academic performance in business studies over the years have not been encouraging. Essey (2022), asserted that many students perform poorly in business studies, especially in external examinations. This has raised an issue of concern among educators, parents, stakeholders and other concern citizens as to what could be responsible for the mass failure of students in a very important subject as the business studies. Many have attributed it to teachers’ method of teaching, others are attributed it to students’ poor study habit, participation in learning activities and learning environment. It is against this backdrop that this study is seeks to examine the perceived factors influencing academic performance of Business studies students in public secondary schools in Asaba Urban.

Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to examine the perceived factors influencing academic performance of Business studies students in public secondary schools in Asaba Urban. Specifically, the study seeks to:

1. examine the influence of study habit on academic performance of business studies students in public secondary schools in Asaba Urban
2. examine the influence of participation in learning activities on academic performance of business studies students in public secondary schools in Asaba Urban.
3. examine the influence of environment on academic performance of business studies students in public secondary schools in Asaba Urban

Research Questions

The following questions are raised to guide the study:

1. To what extent does study habit influences academic performance of business studies students in public secondary schools in Asaba Urban?
2. To what extent does participation in learning activities influence academic performance of business studies students in public secondary schools in Asaba Urban?
3. To what extent does environment influence academic performance of business studies students in public secondary schools in Asaba Urban?

Significance of the Study

This study could be beneficial to students, teachers, government and researchers.

Students could find this study beneficial because it could help them understand the various factors that influence their academic performance in Business studies. Having identified that their study habit influence their academic performance, they will be able to improve on their study habit so as to enhance their academic performance. It will also enable them understand the influence of their participation on their overall academic performance. This will motivate to be more active in learning activities for enhanced academic performance.

Teachers would equally find this study useful because it will help them understand better how students’ study habit, participation in learning activities and learning environment influence their academic performance, especially in business studies. This will go a long way in motivating them to find ways of encouraging students to develop good reading habit that will help them participate active in learning activities that will result in excellent academic performance.

For researchers, the study would form a basis for further research which will serve as a reference material for those who may wish to carry out related studies.

For Government, the study would be of immense benefit because it would identify certain factors that influence students’ academic performance in Business studies which will enable them allocate resources and build infrastructure that will improve students’ academic performance.

Scope of the Study

This study is delimited to perceived factors influencing academic performance of Business studies students in public secondary schools in Asaba Urban. With study habit, participation in learning activities and environment as variables of interest. The respondents of the study are public secondary school teachers in Asaba Urban.

Pages:  61

Category: Project

Format:  Word & PDF         

Chapters: 1-5                                 

Source: Imsuinfo

Material contains Table of Content, Abstract and References.