WhatsApp or SMS: 07087083227
Click here to Get The Complete Research Project Chapter 1-5

Full Project – IMPACT OF PEER GROUP INFLUENCE ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SECONDARY SCHOOL

Click here to Get this Complete Project Chapter 1-5

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to Study

Academic performance (public secondary school students) has been largely associated with many factors. Most students in secondary schools in Nigeria are daily confronted with challenges of coping with academic under serious emotional strains occasioned by long walk to school, poor school environment, and being taught by unmotivated teachers. Couple with this, is an uncooperative-to-study teaching related factors and learning style of students may make or mar academic success. Academic performance is undoubtedly a research after the heart of educators, teachers, psychologists, policy makers, parents and guardians, social workers. In their attempts to investigate what determines academic outcomes of learners, they have come with more questions than answer. In recent, prior literature has shown that academic performances (academic achievement or academic performance) have been determined by such variables as; school factors, teachers’ factors and students’ factors.

Shimazoe and Aldrich (2010) provides several benefits on the use of peer group approach for students. First, peer-group promotes deep learning of materials. Second, students achieve better grades in peer-group compared to competitive or individual learning. Third, students learn social skills and civic values. Fourth, students learn higher-order, critical thinking skills. Fifth, peer-group promotes personal growth. Finally, students develop positive attitudes toward autonomous learning.

Apart from academic performance, attitude is also a major focus in peer-group. A study conducted by Ifamuyiwa and Akinsola (2008) found that students in the experimental group showed a positive attitude towards Business studies. Similarly, Brush (2007), also found that students in the experimental group showed positive attitudes towards their subjects.

Peer group is a term that’s been used to describe a wide array of group arrangements, but most of the research on its success refers to students working in pairs to help one another learn material or practice an academic task. Peer group is a learning support service offered by experienced learners to novice learners. This course will guide you through information and activities that will help you develop skills and knowledge on how to offer peer group services. Peer-group has been well documented in the educational research as a successful pedagogy to improve students’ academic achievement. It is a fundamental principle of peer group that group members are linked together in such a way that they cannot succeed unless everyone succeed, they will actively assist each other to make sure that the assignment is done and the purpose of the group achieved (Deutsch, 2009). They acquire this by providing help and cooperation to each other, sharing resources, and encouraging each other’s efforts. As a result, group members who work in cooperative groups outperform students who work by themselves or in competition with each other (as seen in competitive conventional classrooms) (Johnson & Johnson, 2004).

Peer group is one of the two ways of organizing the learning environment of a classroom, the other being competitive. In peer group environment, the goals of separate individuals become so linked that there is a positive correlation between them; on the contrary, in a competitive conventional environment, the goals of the students are so linked that there is a negative correlation between their goal attainments (Johnson & Johnson, 2004). Peer group establishes a community in which students can get help and support from other group members immediately in a non- peer group environment, just raising their hands and waiting for the right answers to be given.

In the recent years, peer group which attracts the attention of many educators represents an alternative to the traditional learning method. Peer-group is a process in which students learn by working in small groups and helping each others’ learning for a common goal. Since peer group is a group working, it is similar to the set working method. On the other hand, every group working is not peer group unless it provides a certain rules. A group working becomes peer group if every member of the group knows that he or she can’t be successful unless the other members are successful. According to Johnson and Johnson (2008), in order to construct a lesson with cooperative method, five Business studies principles must be provided: (1) positive interdependence, (2) face-to-face primitive interaction, (3) individual accountability, (4) appropriate use of social skills, and (4) processing group functioning.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

In recent times, teachers and students no longer have time for group study. Teachers on their own part developed non challant attitude towards the use of peer-group during and after class activities while students on their own parts are lazy to review whatever might have been taught in classroom in group. Success of peer relationships is linked to later psychological development and to academic achievement. Therefore if one does not have successful peer relationships it may lead to developmental delays and poor academic achievement — perhaps even incompletion of a high school degree. students with poor peer relationships may also experience job related and marital problems later in life.

Several studies have shown that peer groups are powerful agents of risk behaviors in adolescence. Adolescents typically replace family with peers regarding social and leisure activities, and many problematic behaviors occur in the context of these groups. Both peer group pressure and control were positively related to risky behaviors. However, adolescents who were more committed to a personal identity had lower rates of risk behaviors.

Another observation is that group study might be slow and time consuming while it gives a lot of time for each question to be answered by students. If the group study not properly arranged in the class, some students especially the introverts may not be involved in learning process. Hence, problems of poor study may create apartheid and confusion for students in the class as this may lead students away from what the lecturer/teacher intends to teach in the classroom.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to examine Impact of peer group influence on students’ academic performance in secondary school. Specifically, the objectives of the study are:

To find out if peer group method can influence academic performance of students
To examine if the use of peer group is appropriate for teaching and learning in secondary
To examine if availability of instructional resources influence peer group and academic performance of
To find out if the academic performance grades of students taught using peer group method differ from the academic performance grade of students taught the same lesson using conventional method.

1.4 Research Questions

What is the difference in the pre-test and post-test academic performance of students taught with the peer group method?
Is the use of peer group appropriate for teaching and learning of public secondary schools?
Is there a difference between the pre-test and post-test academic performance of students taught with the lecture method of teaching?
To what extent do the grades of students taught lesson using peer group method differ from that of students taught the same lesson using the lecture method of teaching?

1.5 Research Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study and would be tested at 0.05 level of significance.

Ho1 There is no significant difference between the pre-test academic performance of students and the post-test academic performance of students taught with the peer group method.

Ho2: The use of peer group is not appropriate for teaching and learning in secondary schools.

Ho3: There is no significant difference between the pre-test academic performance and post- test academic performance of students taught with the lecture method of teaching..

Ho4: There is no significant influence in the academic performance grades of students taught lesson using peer group method and those taught same lesson using lecture method.

1.6 Significance of the study

The significance of this study would be of importance towards improving the peer-group through teaching and learning in public secondary school level. This study is significant in that its findings are useful for these categories of people:-

Students: The outcome will help students to create interest in their study that will improve academic performance in exam. The outcome of this research will enhance students’ preference for peer-group and traditional teaching-learning strategies in any subjects. The study is expected to help students identified those problems area affecting students adoption of peer-group in an environment. The study will identify major problems affecting students’ approach towards peer-group and traditional method of group studying. The study will aid peer-group in solving difficult subject in the classroom. The study will enhance cooperative learning strategy in any subjects.

Teachers: The outcome of research study will enhance teachers usage of peer-group and traditional method as appropriate teaching methods that will enhance students understandings in any peer-group learning. The study will enhance teachers to use appropriate instructional resources that will enhance students understandings in any education concept.

The research work will enhance teachers to prepare very well in the area of subject scheme of work while impacting on students understandings in education class. Teachers will be willing to teach and assist the students in any areas of difficulties in education.

Curriculum Planners: The outcome of study will be an eye opener to curriculum planner to review as at when due as this will enhance students academic performance in the subject.

Also, there is need to consider adequacy of relevant text books for students usage in the classroom and school library as this help cultivate constructivist and collaborative learning strategies in learning.

The study will help schools to guide the curriculum and ethics of good curriculum planner, also the policy makers in the provision of effective Business studies curriculum as well as recommended materials as necessary for proper implementation of the school curriculum at the secondary school level.

The study would help various government agencies to understand the benefit of effective classroom management at various levels of education. It would enable school administrators to know the best management strategies to adopt in order to have sound classroom effectiveness.

Ministry of Education: The research study will hasten government policies towards supporting adequate provision of instructional materials in Technology.

The Ministry of Education will also benefit from this study through proper planning and implementation of good policies to various classrooms to have relevant Business studies textbooks. Lastly, it would be useful to future researchers in the related line of study.

Parents: Parents will benefit if they can do a lot in providing needs that will influence their children interest in major subject like Business studies. Also, the outcome of study will be an eye opener to parents as this will influence parents to monitor their children academic performance in major subject like Business studies

1.7 Scope of Study

This study examines Impact of peer group influence on students’ academic performance in secondary school.

1.8 Operational Definition of Terms

The following terms have been defined as they will be used during the course of this study:

Peer Group: This a group of people of approximately the same age, status, and interests.

Academic Performance: This is the level of academic education attainable by an individual at a particular point in time as depicted by the subjects’ performance. It is how well a student is accomplishing his or her tasks and studies and the ability of the student to attain success in his or her studies.

Conventional Methods of Teaching: is concerned with the teacher being the controller of the learning environment. This is the lecture method or teacher centered method.

Public Secondary School Performance: This is the total educational performance of a child in subject of school curriculum at the public secondary school.

Learning Difficulties: This refers to students area of deficiencies in Business studies topics which could be poor business study skills, poor accounting skills and so on.

Method of Teaching: comprises of the methods and principles used for instruction to be implemented by teachers to achieve the desired learning by students.

Performance: This refers to the extent to which students have achieved their educational goals as represented by their examination scores.

Public school: A public school refers to any school funded and managed by the government; be it local, state or federal as well as their agencies.

Get the Complete Project

This is a premium project material and the complete research project plus questionnaires and references can be gotten at an affordable rate of N3,000 for Nigerian clients and $8 for international clients.

Click here to Get this Complete Project Chapter 1-5

You can also check other Research Project here: