ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to determine the extent cognitive and non-cognitive skills serve as correlates of in-school adolescents’ academic achievement in South-East, Nigeria. The study was guided by twelve research questions and twelve null hypotheses formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a correlational research design. The sample for the study consisted of a total of 1,998 SS II students drawn through multistage sampling techniques from the entire population of 39,960 senior secondary class two students in government owned secondary schools in 2022/2023 academic session in South East, Nigeria. Three instruments titled “Cognitive Skills Questionnaire (CSQ), Non-Cognitive Skills Questionnaire (NCSQ) and Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT)” were developed by the researcher and were used for data collection. These instruments were subjected to face and content validation by three experts. The Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) was in addition validated by two specialists from Mathematics Education using the Table of Specification. The stability of the instruments was determined using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and reliability indices of 0.77 and 0.79 were obtained for CSQ and NCSQ respectively. The internal consistency of the items were determined using Cronbach’s Alpha method which yielded reliability estimates of 0.83 and 0.85 for CSQ and NCSQ respectively. The reliability of the MAT was determined using Kuder-Richardson (KR-21) formula and reliability coefficient calculated was 0.79. Data generated were analyzed using Pearson’s r, R2 (coefficient of determination) to answer the research questions while linear regressions and multiple regression analysis were used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 levels of significance. Results revealed as follows: Joint cognitive skills (memory, attention, perception, logical reasoning, and thinking speed) correlated with academic achievement of the in-school adolescents to a very highly positive and significant extent. However, perception had the highest percentage contribution of 66.7%; followed by memory with 63%, attention with 60.5%, logical reasoning with 42.7% respectively, and lastly thinking speed which predicted 40.3% of academic achievement of the in-school adolescents; Non-cognitive skills (motivation, perseverance, self-control, self-perception and resilience) jointly correlated with the academic achievement of the in-school adolescents to a very highly positive and significant extent. However, self-control had the highest percentage contribution of 71.7%; followed by resilience with 67.9%, perseverance with 59%, motivation with 58.5% respectively, and lastly self-perception which predicted 41.6% of academic achievement of the in-school adolescents. Among the educational implications was that the study could provide supportive frameworks from which one can assess the extent cognitive and non-cognitive skills could serve as correlates of in-school adolescents’ academic achievement; since in recent times, the education system has changed a lot due to changes in society, culture, demographics, family structure, domestic and world economic states. It was thus recommended among others that parents, guardians, teachers, psychologists and counsellors should educate students on the importance of cognitive and non-cognitive skills in academic achievement.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page i
Declaration ii
Dedication iii
Certification iv
Acknowledgements v
Table of Contents vi
List of Tables ix
Abstract xii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1
1.1 Background
to the Study 1
1.2 Statement
of the Problem 12
1.3 Purpose
of the Study 14
1.4 Significance
of the Study 16
1.5 Research
Questions 17
1.6 Hypotheses 18
1.7 Scope
of the Study 19
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW
OF RELATED LITERATURE 20
2.1 Conceptual Framework 20
2.1.1 Concept
of academic achievement 20
2.1.2 Concept
of cognitive skills 23
2.1.3 Concept
of non-cognitive skills 26
2.1.4 The impact of cognitive ability on academic
achievement 30
2.1.5 Importance of cognitive skills in education
32
2.1.6 Concept
of non-cognitive skills 34
2.1.7 Non-cognitive variables 35
2.1.8 The conceptual, empirical and practical dimensions
of non-cognitive skills 37
2.1.9 Importance of non-cognitive
constructs/skills 56
2.2 Theoretical
Framework 62
2.2.1 Bio
genetic theory by Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-1884) 62
2.2.2 Self-empowerment
theory by Tucker (2016) 64
2.2.3 Resilience
theory by Garmezy (2016) 65
2.2.4 Social
cognitive learning theory by Bandura (1986). 65
2.3 Empirical
Studies 66
2.4 Summary
of Review of Related
Empirical Studies 97
CHAPTER 3:
METHODOLOGY 99
3.1 Design
of the Study 99
3.2 Area of the Study 99
3.3 Population of the Study 101
3.4 Sample and Sampling Techniques 102
3.5 Instrument for Data Collection 102
3.6 Validation of the Instrument 104
3.7 Reliability of the Instrument 106
3.8 Method of Data Collection 106
3.9 Method of Data Analysis 107
CHAPTER
4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 109
4.1 Results 109
4.2 Major
Findings of the Study 135
4.3 Discussion
of Findings of the Study 137
CHAPTER
5: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 151
5.1 Summary 151
5.2 Conclusion 154
5.3 Educational
Implications of the Study 155
5.4 Recommendations 157
5.5 Limitations
of the Study 158
5.6 Suggestions
for Further Studies 158
REFERENCES
159
APPENDICES 177
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
4.1: Correlation
Matrix of Memory as a Cognitive Skill and Academic
Achievement
of In-School Adolescents 109
4.2: Simple
Linear Regression Analysis of Memory as a Cognitive Skill and
Academic
Achievement of In-School Adolescents 110
4.3: Correlation Matrix
of Attention as a Cognitive Skill and Academic
Achievement of In-School Adolescents 111
4.4: Linear Regression on Attention as a Cognitive Skill and Academic
Achievement
of In-School Adolescents 111
4.5: Correlation Matrix
of Perception
as a Cognitive Skill and Academic
Achievement
of In-School Adolescents 112
4.6: Linear Regression on Perception as a Cognitive Skill and Academic
Achievement of In-School
Adolescents 113
4.7: Correlation Matrix
of Logical
Reasoning as a Cognitive Skill and
Academic Achievement of In-School Adolescents 113
4.8: Linear Regression on Logical Reasoning as a Cognitive Skill and
Academic Achievement of
In-School Adolescents 114
4.9:
Correlation Matrix of Thinking
Speed as a Cognitive Skill and
Academic Achievement of In-School Adolescents 115
4.10: Linear Regression on Thinking Speed as a Cognitive Skill and
Academic Achievement of In-School
Adolescents 116
4.11: Correlation Matrix
of Joint
Cognitive Skills (Memory, Attention,
Perception, Logical Reasoning and Thinking
Speed) and
Academic Achievement of In-School
Adolescents 117
4.12: Multiple Regression Analysis of Joint
Cognitive Skills (Memory,
Attention,
Perception, Logical Reasoning and Thinking Speed) and
Academic
Achievement of In-School Adolescents 119
4.13: Schaffer Test on Relative
Contribution of Joint Cognitive Skills
(Memory,
Attention, Perception, Logical Reasoning and Thinking Speed) in
Academic
Achievement of In-School Adolescents 120
4.14: Correlation
Matrix of Motivation as a Non-Cognitive Skill and
Academic Achievement of In-School Adolescents 122
4.15: Simple
Linear Regression Analysis of Memory As A Cognitive
Skill
and Academic Achievement of In-School Adolescents 122
4.16: Correlation Matrix
of Perseverance as a Non-Cognitive Skill and
Academic Achievement of In-School Adolescents 123
4.17: Linear Regression on Perseverance as a Non-Cognitive Skill and
Academic
Achievement of In-School Adolescents 124
4.18: Correlation Matrix
of Self-Control
as a Non-Cognitive skill and
Academic Achievement of In-School
Adolescents 125
4.19: Linear Regression on Self-Control as a non-Cognitive Skill and
Academic Achievement of In-School
Adolescents 126
4.20: Correlation Matrix
of Self-Perception
as A Non-Cognitive Skill and
Academic Achievement of In-School
Adolescents 127
4.21: Linear Regression on Self-Perception as a Non-Cognitive Skill and
Academic Achievement of In-School
Adolescents 128
4.22:
Correlation Matrix of Resilience
as a non-Cognitive Skill and
Academic Achievement of In-School
Adolescents 129
4.23: Linear Regression on Resilience as a Non-Cognitive Skill and
Academic Achievement of In-School
Adolescents 130
4.24: Correlation
Matrix of Joint
Non-Cognitive Skills (Motivation,
Perseverance, Self-Control,
Self-Perception And Resilience)
and Academic Achievement of In-School
Adolescents 131
4.25: Multiple Regression Analysis of Joint
Non-Cognitive Skills
(Motivation,
Perseverance, Self-Control,
Self-Perception and
Resilience)
and Academic Achievement of In-School Adolescents 133
4.26: Schaffer Test on Relative
Contribution of Joint Non-Cognitive
Skills (Motivation,
Perseverance, Self-Control,
Self-Perception and
Resilience) in Academic Achievement of in-School
Adolescents 134
CHAPTER
1
INTRODUCTION
1.1
BACKGROUND
TO THE STUDY
Education
plays an indispensable role in shaping the destiny of a nation as it brings
about changes in every individual’s life; hence education in Nigeria is an instrument
for effecting national development. Education also remains a vital and
indispensable key to the development of the socio-economic sector of any
nation, as it is an instrument of economic, political and scientific
development of a nation. Education remains the bed rock for achieving meaningful
development and sustaining rapid socio-economic development, thus it therefore
requires that all stakeholders must ensure the smooth running of the education
system in Nigeria in line with global best practices. Hence, for meaningful
development and sustaining of rapid socio-economic development through education,
such education must be functional and productive. In a nut shell, education aims
at preparing individuals for usefulness to their society.
Hence
if properly managed, education has the power to develop individuals as well as
any nation’s social, economic political, cultural and technological aspects. In
view of this, before an individual could be considered fit into the society through
education, three basic components of such individual should have been developed
and these included; the cognitive, the affective and the psychomotor domains. The
cognitive domain is concerned with students’ intellectual ability to think and reason
critically while the affective and psychomotor domains are the non-cognitive.
The affective deals with changes in values, character beliefs, attitudes, interests
and emotional adjustment of students and the psychomotor domains deals with the
changes in the ability of students, to manipulate,
and co-ordinate fine muscles. Consequently, to ascertain the individual’s
mastery of these skills, there is need for assessment.
This
assessment aims at measuring students’ achievement in terms of how much they
have learnt, what their weaknesses and strengths are, and how they can be helped
to improve their learning (Rehman, 2016). Hence achievement in one’s life can
be seen as the extent to which an individual can engage the use of effective
and appropriate skills to accomplish a given task. In a classroom setting, achievement is seen
as one of the key criteria that may help to ascertain one’s abilities and
potentials, as it can be exhibited as knowledge attained or skills developed in
a subject (Abdol & Cathy, 2018). Academic achievement on the other hand can
be defined as the level of proficiency attained in academic work or as formally
acquired knowledge in school subject which is often represented by percentage of
marks obtained by students in examinations (Kohli, 2015). Okeke (2018) defined
academic achievement as the relative change in the behaviour of students based
on marks scored in a standardized test which depicts the outcome of effective
teaching and learning in a subject. Test scores or marks which are assigned by
the teacher to the students seem to be possible indicator of academic
achievement. Stiggins (2018) defined academic achievement as something a
learner does or achieves at school, college or university, in class, in a
laboratory or field work. Zhou (2022) opined that academic achievement is a
direct manifestation of learning effectiveness and a valid indicator to evaluate
the effectiveness of teaching and education in a higher education as well as
the overall development of students. Academic achievement can operationally be
defined as the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has attained
their short or long-term educational goals; such goals as completion of
educational benchmarks such as secondary school, diplomas and bachelor’s
degrees may represent academic achievement.
Academic
achievement contains cognitive, behavioural and psychological connotations, and
can be divided into two aspects: namely, cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes,
and psychological and behavioural outcomes. Other scholars such as Pascarella (2022)
argued that in addition to cognitive ability, academic achievement also includes
psychological factors such as intelligence, psychological change and
perseverance. Academic achievement represents performance outcomes that
indicate the extent to which a person has accomplished specific goals that were
the focus of activities in instructional environments, specifically in school,
college and university. Consequently, Mautushi (2022) identified some of the importance
of academic achievement to include: having a sense of accomplishment, getting better
job opportunities, developing important life skills, getting higher earnings
later in life and improving the self-confidence of the individual.
Mautushi
(2022) maintained that a good academic achievement will give the in-school
adolescents a sense of accomplishment. It can also lead the in-school
adolescents to better job opportunities and develop important life skills. Academic
achievement can help adolescents develop important life skills; getting good
grades in school can help the adolescent develop important life skills, lead to
higher earnings later in life such as time management and organization as well
as enable them improve their self-confidence.
In recent time, there have been poor
academic achievement and high failure rate by our senior secondary school
students in core subjects such as English language and Mathematics. Akanni
(2021) in his study reported that the issue of poor academic achievement of
students in Nigeria has been of much concern to all and sundry. The problem is
so much that it has led to the widely acclaimed fallen standard of education in
Nigeria at large. Students have derailed in their academic pursuit as they are
easily carried away by social media, internets and luxury life, which resulted
in mass failures in examination. Aburime (2017) opined that English language
and Mathematics are very important subjects in Nigeria. Yet, for some time now,
education in Nigeria has been in a sorry state and achievement in these core subjects
has been very low and frustrating. So
far, every effort made to save Nigeria education from the devastating effect of
persistent poor achievement has not been too successful.
The
trend of poor, and unsteady academic achievements in external examination have
been confirmed by the recent analysis of West African Examination Council’s
(WAEC) results of Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) which was
obtained from the Chief Examiner’s report for the years 2018-2022. For example,
a close look at the updates of WAEC results tend to reveal that only 41.50%,
30.99%, 31.67%, 42.71% and 52.87% of the candidates who sat for the
examinations obtained five credits including Mathematics and English language
in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively; which are the basic
requirements for admission into Nigerian universities (WAEC Chief Examiners’
report, 2018 – 2022).
Efforts
have been made in the past by many Nigeria researchers to solve the problem of poor
academic achievement of students in internal and external examinations. Oruwari
(2018) in his study recommended that teachers should be sensitive to the nature
of the English language and Mathematics subjects when planning instructional
activities in the classroom. Researchers such as Ezeahurukwe (2013), Oloyede
and Ojo (2016), Ayotola (2017) and Uroko (2019) also made several efforts to
diagnose the problems of English language and Mathematics and proffer a lasting
solution to the poor achievements in the subjects. Suggestions have been made
regarding the identification of teaching methods and learning strategies to
make the study of English language and Mathematics interesting and improve
students’ achievements in them. In spite of these efforts, the achievements of
students in English language and Mathematics are yet to improve to satisfactory
level. Parents, teachers, curriculum experts
and other stakeholders in education industry are worried about this poor interest
and achievements in English language
and Mathematics among students (Oloyede &
Ojo, 2016).
The
concerns of these stakeholders on the poor interest
and achievements among students may stem from
the fact that during adolescence, their academic achievement is important;
because in today’s society academic accomplishments as well as failures
determine an individual’s future, academic career and job opportunities. As adolescents
become more independent in managing their academic roles, they still may need parental
support to be successful in school. Adolescence comes from the Latin word
adolescere which means to grow into adulthood.
It is a glorified period, making some observers to refer to it as the
cult of the youth. Nnachi (2016) explained this period of life as a care-free
age of physical, attractive, love, fun, vitality and activity. It means the end of childhood and the
beginning of adulthood. Adolescence is a
developmental stage and those that occupy the stage are referred to as
adolescents and are mostly found in secondary schools. These individuals are youths that have
finished their childhood stage and are ready to move into their adulthood
stage. The World Health Organization (WHO, 2016) defined adolescence as an
important stage in the total life span of human species. It is the spring of life of a human
being. It is a transitional period
between childhood and adulthood, from dependence on family to autonomy, a
period during which several developmental experiences occur in the individual
(WHO, 2016). Uzoka (2018), defined adolescence as a link between two large
worlds in human existence; which are the world of the childhood stage and that
of adulthood stage. The in-school adolescents are adolescents who are currently
in college or schools. In-school adolescents undergo profound changes during
their adolescent years in their physiological, social, intellectual and moral development.
Due to their youthful exuberance profound changes that place during this
period, some adolescents may not be able to achieve much academically. This may
be as result of not possessing cognitive and non-cognitive skills that could
enhance their academic achievement.
Literature reports from within and outside Nigeria tend to
suggest that cognitive and non-cognitive skills have
the potentials for correlating with students’ academic achievement. According
to Liu (2013), cognitive skills are skills that require the working of human
mind. They are mental skills and are broadly
ranged from memory skills to procedural skills, from language skills to
thinking skills. Cognitive skills were defined by Rychen and Salganik (2013) as
the abilities that help promote well-being, positive health outcomes, and
productive development. Thus, the
concept of cognitive skills transcends previous concept such as coping and
adaptation to circumstances; it presupposes an active, autonomous and responsible
stance towards the self in the social world. The World Health Organization (2016)
defined cognitive skills as, the abilities for adaptive and positive behaviours
that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of
everyday life, UNICEF (2014) defined cognitive skills as a behaviour change or behaviour
development approach, designed to address a balance of three areas: knowledge,
attitude and skills. One can operationally define cognitive skills as skills
that require the working of human mind. The core set of cognitive skills areas
identified by WHO (2016) for promotion of health and well-being of adolescents
are: Problem solving, decision making (including goal setting), critical
thinking, creative thinking (including value clarification), communication
skills, interpersonal relationship skills (including assertiveness),
self-awareness, empathy, coping with stress and coping with emotions.
Cognitive skills are important in
helping adolescents shape their world in order to cope with it. The core cognitive skills are: sustained
attention, response inhibition, speeds of information processing, cognitive
flexibility and pattern recognition. According to Akani (2021) the main
cognitive skills commonly being utilized by students in the Nigeria secondary
schools may include: memory, attention, perception, logical reasoning and
thinking speed or processing speed.
Memory plays a role in all cognitive
processes. Akani (2021) maintained that
memory makes it possible for learners to remember all kinds of information such
as memories, common knowledge among others. Working memory helps adolescence
hold on to information long enough to use it. Working memory plays an important
role in concentration and in following instructions. Weak working memory skills
can affect learning in many different subject areas including reading. Attention is the ability to choose and focus
on relevant stimuli. It is a selection
process for both external stimuli such as sound, smell, feeling among others
and internal stimuli such as your thoughts focusing helps you to ignore
irrelevant stimuli when performing everyday tasks. Attention represents a core
of cognitive activity. It is an essential element of meaningful information
processing and a key factor in self-regulation which is necessary for academic
success.
Perception was explained by Rychen
and Salganik (2013) as the process of capturing, processing and making sense of
the stimuli the sensory organs received.
This includes seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling and tasting. How you
perceive this information depends on how you interpret the different stimuli. Logical
thinking is the process of consistent reasoning to come to a conclusion. During this process, you use a rational and
systematic series of steps to come to a conclusion. For student self- esteem is
the subjective evaluation of their worth or the positive or negative attitude
they have towards themselves. This perception can contribute to how much
students believe in own academic ability. Thinking speed or processing speed
indicates that one can absorb new information, assess the information and
formulate a response to that information at this rate. It is the time between receiving and responding
to a stimuli. Thinking speed is the speed at which one receive information
through one’s senses, process this information received. Thinking speed was
also referred to as the processing speed of the brain by Shavelson (2015). Logical
reasoning is the act of setting on a view point and then expressing to others
why you selected that opinion over all other available conclusions. Apply
logical reasoning in your academic writing and you will be on your way to
creating a strong conclusion with supporting evidence Editrix (2021). Logical
reasoning enables students to not only outline their papers coherently with a
logical structure; but also help them reason and present their thoughts in an
organized and persuasive manner. Napier (2014) for instance reported a positive
relation between the working memory scores and academic achievement, with
higher working memory scores predicting higher academic achievement. Akanni (2021) also
reported that students’ abstract
thinking, logical reasoning and memory cognitive skills significantly impacted
on academic achievement of students in senior secondary school certificate
examination (SSCE) in Lagos state. Even
when a student possesses the cognitive skills, he or she may still have to
acquire non-cognitive skills to be able to attain high academic achievement.
The concept of non-cognitive skills
can be traced back to Bowles and Gints (1976).
Non-cognitive skills could be defined as a set of attitudes, behaviours
and strategies that are thought to underpin success in school and at work places
such as motivation, perseverance, self-control, and self-perception. Non-cognitive skills are related to integrity
and interpersonal interaction. They may
involve intellect but more indirectly and less consciously than cognitive
skills. Duncan and Dunifon (2014) defined non-cognitive skills as clusters of
productive personality traits that characterize one’s relationship in a milieu
such as resilience, self-control, self-perceptions, perseverance, motivation,
social competences and creativity. Akanni (2021) defined non-cognitive
skills as personality traits that characterize one’s relationship in a milieu
such as resilience, self-control, self-perceptions, perseverance, motivation,
social competences and creativity. One can operationally define non-cognitive
skills as clusters of productive personality traits that characterize students’
relationship in a milieu such as resilience, self-control, self-perceptions,
perseverance, motivation, social competences and creativity. Some examples of
non-cognitive skills include motivation, perseverance, self-control and
self-perception. The term motivation is derived from the Latin word “movere”,
meaning to move. Motivation then is connected with movement. Nnachi (2016)
viewed motivation as a process of producing movement. The movement is produced
and regulated through the release of energy in the body. Uzoka (2018) defined motivation as the
energizer that propels behaviour. Aggarwal (2014) defined motivation as the
stimulating of actions towards a particular objective where previously there
was little or no attention to that goal.
Also, it could equally be said that motivation is an internal state that
arouses, directs and maintains behaviour.
Motivation can operationally be defined as a process of arousing
movement in an organism towards a goal even if there has been previously little
or no movement towards such a goal. Motivation is an indispensable factor in a
student’s academic preparedness and desire to learn. Motivation enables students
to have the desire and curiosity to grasp the importance of education.
Achievement motivation energizes and directs behaviour toward achievement and
therefore is known to be an important determinant of academic success (Robbins
et al, 2018). When a student is not adequately motivated, he or she is likely
not to achieve much academically. Motivation enables students to persevere in
his or her studies.
Perseverance is a human quality
associated with exceptional leaders in a variety of domains. In psychology, perseverance is described as a
continuous drive to reach our goal and improve our skills and performance
through persistent effort. Peterson and Seligman (2014) defined perseverance
within the field of positive psychology as the voluntary continuation of a goal
– directed action in spite of obstacles, difficulties, discouragement, boredom,
tedium or frustration. Robbins et al, 2018) defined perseverance as the
voluntary continuation of a goal – directed action in spite of obstacles,
difficulties, discouragement, boredom, tedium or frustration. One can
operationally define perseverance as the voluntary continuation of a goal –
directed action in spite of obstacles, discouragement, boredom or frustration. The
term is used interchangeably with persistence and industriousness. Perseverance
is the non-cognitive trait that is associated with grit scale as well as
demonstrated to be necessary for success in reaching goals. Students who
persevere at tasks tend to perform better academically than those who do not
persevere. Perseverance is unrelated to intelligent quotient (1Q). Perseverance
promotes and enhances academic achievement. Academic perseverance therefore is
the extent to which a student continues engaging in academic activities in
spite of difficulties or obstacles. A student that shows perseverance may have
self-control. The study by Obilor and
Onyeaghala (2020) was carried out on the Influence of non-cognitive
skills on students’ academic achievement
in senior secondary schools in Imo State reported resilience,
self-control, perseverance and self-perception influenced academic achievement
of Senior Secondary School 2 students in Imo State. For a student to persevere
in his or her studies, he or she must have self-control.
Self-control could be seen as
restraint exercised over one’s own impulses, emotions or desires. De Riddler and Gilbert (2017) indicated that
self-control could equally be seen as the ability to manage one’s actions,
feelings and emotions. Self-control is also called self-discipline, self-restraint,
will-power and level headedness (Robbins et al, 2018). Self-control may involve physical movement,
emotion, concentration and impulse.
Self-control is also seen as the ability to restrain or inhibit a
dominant response. Self-control is indicated by measures of inhibitory control
or everyday-regulation such as healthier eating behaviour, decreased impulse
spending and reduced inclination for intimate partner violence. Peterson and
Seligman (2014) maintained that people with strong self-control have better
health, relationship, finances and careers.
They are also less likely to have problems with overeating,
overspending, smoking alcohol or drug abuse, procrastination and unethical behaviour. Peterson and Seligman (2014) however, reported
that a person who lacks self-control responds in a variety of ways including
with anger, physical violence or by turning to unhealthy coping mechanisms. In
view of this, De Ridder and Gilbert (2017) opined that self-control represents
the capacity to override tempting desires for the sake of long term goals. If one
lacks self-control, the consequences will be severe. To prevent this Hagger
(2013) opined that strong self-control is likely to promote goal progress and
has the potential to bring more order, structure and coherence into an
individual life. Peterson and Seligman (2014) reported that self-control could predict
standardized achievement test score, even when controlling for measured
intelligence and family socio economic status students with better
non-cognitive self-regulation can have better educational performance by
managing their emotions and emotional influences. They also have a great
motivation to study and make targeted planning (Educ 2018). Consequently, a
student that has self-control may have better perception of self.
Self-perception is the idea that one
has knowledge about the kind of person he/she is. Shavelson (2015) argued that
peoples’ self-perceptions are often very different from the way other people
perceive them. It is the image a person
has in his mind about who he/she is. Also, it is a person’s view of himself/herself
or of any of the mental or physical attributes that constitute the self. Such a view may involve genuine
self-knowledge or varying degrees of distortion. Self-perception could equally could be seen
as the conclusions that people create about their attitudes and feelings based
on their behaviours. For example, a person can conclude that he/she really likes
rice because it is the main starch food he always orders at dinner. Based on his behaviour, he made a conclusion
about his feelings towards that food.
According to Shavelson (2015), academic self-perception is the awareness
and perception about oneself in achievement situation. Positive self-perception about one’s own
academic capabilities forms a significant part in adolescent students’ and
their academic achievement in school. Self-perception may negatively or
positively affect a student’s resilience.
Resilience refers to the capacity of
an individual to cope with, adapt and respond to challenge, difficulty and
adversity. It is not the absence or avoidance of distress or hardship, rather,
resilience is the ability to confidently face challenges, adapt and even grow
as a result of these (Lee, 2021). Shavelson (2015), defined resilience as the
capacity to cope with, adapt and respond to challenge, difficulty and
adversity. One may operationally define resilience as the capacity of secondary
school students to cope with, adapt and respond to academic challenges,
difficulties and adversity. In his study Fitri (2020) reported that the result
of linear analyses showed that academic resilience affected academic
achievement. The finding indicated that students with high academic resilience
had a 1.73 times higher odds of maintaining and improving academic achievement
compared to the other students. Consequently, resilience is likely to affect
the academic achievement of secondary school students.
One wonders the extent cognitive and
non-cognitive skills could serve as correlates of in-school adolescents’
academic achievement; especially when observation has shown that there have
been poor academic achievement and high failure rate by our senior secondary
school students especially in core subjects such as English language and
Mathematics (Akanni, 2021). The need for the study becomes more compelling when
one considers the fact that academic achievement is not only important in its
own right as a marker of positive adjustment during adolescence but also
because academic achievement sets the stage for future educational and
occupational opportunities.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Education remains an instrument for
national development and rapid development of the individual. It is expected that education which will
serve as instrument for national development and the development of the
individual must be that education which is very productive and functional. Hence, a functional and productive education
is reflected on high academic achievement and desired behaviour of the
students. High academic achievement in
both internal and external examinations and desired behaviour among students
determine the quality of any nation’s education sector.
However, in recent times, there have
been an increasing poor academic achievement among in-school adolescents in
South - East Nigeria in the Senior School Certificate Examinations Parents, teachers, curriculum experts and other
stakeholders in education industry are worried especially when it is believed
that if the poor achievements continue to persist, it will affect the economic
and technological development of the nation. Thus, there is a downward trend of
academic achievement of the students in both the external and internal
examinations. This has denied many school leavers the opportunity of gaining
admission into institutions of higher learning. To this extent, both researchers
and authors have speculated on possible reasons for this poor academic
achievement, as some have attributed it to poor teaching methods, school organizational
factors, environmental factors, institutional factors amongst others.
Literature
reports from within and outside Nigeria tend to suggest that cognitive
and non-cognitive skills have the potentials for correlating the academic
achievement of in school adolescents’ academic achievement. Nonetheless, not
much empirical studies have been conducted on cognitive and non-cognitive
skills as correlates of students’ academic achievement in the study area. It is
this gap that the present study intended to fill.
Therefore, the problem of this study put in question form is: what is the
extent cognitive and non-cognitive skills correlate in-school adolescents’
academic achievement in South-East Nigeria?
1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study was to
determine the extent to which cognitive and non-cognitive skills correlate with
in-school adolescents’ academic achievement in South - East Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to:
1.
Find out the extent
memory as a cognitive skill correlates with academic achievement of in-school
adolescents in South-East Nigeria.
2.
Ascertain the extent
attention as a cognitive skill correlates with academic achievement of
in-school adolescents.
3.
Examine the extent
perception as a cognitive skill correlates with academic achievement of
in-school adolescents.
4.
Determine the extent
logical reasoning as a cognitive skill serves as correlates of academic
achievement of in-school adolescents.
5.
Examine the extent
thinking speed as a cognitive skill correlates with academic achievement of
in-school adolescents.
6.
Find out the extent joint
cognitive skills (memory, attention, perception and logical reasoning) correlate
with in-school adolescents’ academic achievement in South - East Nigeria
7.
Find out the extent
motivation as a non-cognitive skill correlates with academic achievement of the
in-school adolescents.
8.
Find out the extent
perseverance as a non-cognitive skill correlates with academic achievement of the
in-school adolescents.
9.
Determine the extent to
which self-control as a non-cognitive skill correlates with academic
achievement of the in-school adolescents.
10.
Find out the extent self-perception
as a non-cognitive skill correlates with academic achievement of the in-school
adolescents.
11.
Determine the extent to
which resilience as a non-cognitive skill correlates with academic achievement
of in-school adolescents
12.
Find out the extent joint
non-cognitive skills (motivation, perseverance, self-control, self-perception
and resilience) correlate with in-school adolescents’ academic achievement in
South - East Nigeria
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The importance of the study is based on the
theoretical and practical significance of the
extent cognitive and non-cognitive skills correlate
with in-school adolescents’ academic achievement. This study may support the genetic
theory by Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-1884) which emphasized that parents
transmit their genetic predisposition for academic achievement to their
children. This transmission may be manifested in terms of offspring’s
temperament, central nervous system responses and vulnerability to adverse
consequences. The genetic theory may
help to explain how the basic principles of heredity could affect the
relationship between cognitive and non-cognitive skills and academic
achievement of in-school adolescents. Practically, the findings from this study
may be of immense benefits, to the students, teachers, counsellors, curriculum
planners, psychologists, parents, government, the society or general public and
researchers, when published.
The findings of the study may be
beneficial to students, as it may impact students’ ability to think critically
about information, manage their time, get along with their peers and
instructors and persist through difficulties and navigate the different
requirements and challenges that they may face throughout their college
experience.
Teaching cognitive and non-cognitive
skills can spur better long-term student outcomes. Hence teachers can use
cognitive and non-cognitive learning strategies to create learning environment.
To Curriculum planners, in the
current context of debates about how to shape education reforms, a renewed
focus on cognitive and non-cognitive skills could provide an opportunity to
enact a more effective education strategy.
To the Counsellors, it is hoped that
the result of the study could equip them with relevant skills to develop in
students’ positive self-concept. Positive self-concept includes
self-confidence, self-esteem, independence and determination. Cognitive therapy
may help counsellors to learn to replace thought patterns with more realistic
and less harmful thoughts.
The study may help the Educational psychologists
to have a genuine interest on how the brain works including memory, attention,
problem-solving and reasoning. The study may equally help the psychologists in
critical thinking and analysis of skills.
The study may help parents to assist
their children to understand the relationship between ideas, to grasp the
process of cause and effect and to improve their analytic skills. Understanding
the relationship between cause and effect can prevent adolescents from giving
in to peer pressure and making poor choices.
The government, through the
information of this study may be spurred to provide a rich environment for
cognitive and non-cognitive skills development of the students, and
also provide trained guidance counsellors to all public schools who would be
available to identify students with special psycho-social needs.
The findings may also be of immense
significance to intending researchers who may carry out studies similar to this
study, as it may provide them with adequate reference materials for their
study. It may also avail them adequate opportunity to appraise and
constructively criticize the study with a view to finding gaps which their own study
could fill up. The suggestions of the study could also add to the pool of
available data in the field which future researcher could fall on as a basis
for further research.
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following research questions
guided the study:
1.
What is the extent to
which memory as a cognitive skill correlates with academic achievement of
in-school adolescents in South-East Nigeria?
2.
What is the extent to
which attention as a cognitive skill correlates with academic achievement of
in-school adolescents?
3.
To what extent does
perception as a cognitive skill correlate with academic achievement of
in-school adolescents?
4.
To what extent does
logical reasoning as a cognitive skill serves as correlate of academic achievement
of in-school adolescents?
5.
What is the extent to
which thinking speed as a cognitive skill correlates with academic achievement
of in-school adolescents?
6.
What is the extent joint cognitive
skills (memory, attention, perception, logical reasoning, and thinking speed) correlate
with in-school adolescents’ academic achievement?
7.
To what extent does
motivation as a non-cognitive skill correlates with academic achievement of the
in-school adolescents?
8.
To what extent does
perseverance as a non-cognitive skill correlates with academic achievement of
the in-school adolescents?
9.
What is the extent to
which self-control as a non-cognitive skill correlates with academic
achievement of the in-school adolescents?
10.
To what extent does
self-perception as a non-cognitive skill correlates with academic achievement
of the in-school adolescents?
11.
To what extent does
resilience as a non-cognitive skill correlates with academic achievement of the
in-school adolescents?
12.
What is the extent joint non-cognitive
skills (motivation, perseverance, self-control, self-perception and resilience)
correlate with in-school adolescents’ academic achievement?
1.6 HYPOTHESES
The following hypotheses were
formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance.
H01: Memory as a cognitive skill does not serve
as a significant predictor of academic achievement of the in-school
adolescents.
H02: Attention as a cognitive skill does not serve
as a significant correlate of academic achievement
of the in- school adolescents.
H03: Perception as a cognitive skill does not
serve as a significant correlate of academic achievement of the in-school
adolescents.
H04: Logical reasoning as a cognitive skill does
not significantly correlate with
academic achievement
of the in-school adolescents.
H05: Thinking speed as a cognitive skill does not
significantly correlate with academic
achievement of the in-school adolescents.
H06:
Joint cognitive skills (memory,
attention, perception, logical reasoning, and #
thinking speed) do not significantly correlate with
in-school adolescents’
academic achievement.
H07: Motivation as a non-cognitive skill is not a
significant correlate of academic achievement of the in-school adolescents.
H08: Perseverance as a non-cognitive skill is not
a significant correlate of academic achievement of the in-school adolescents.
H09: Self-control as a non-cognitive skill is not
a significant correlate of academic achievement of the in-school adolescents.
H010: Self-perception as a non-cognitive skill is
not a significant correlate of academic achievement of the in-school
adolescents.
H011: Resilience as a non-cognitive skill is not a
significant predictor of academic achievement of the in-school adolescents.
H012:
Joint Non-cognitive skills (motivation, perseverance, self-control, self-perception
and resilience) do not significantly correlate with in-school adolescents’
academic achievement.
1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study was delimited to senior
secondary class two students in 2022/2023 academic session in South East,
Nigeria. The study focused on
determining the extent to which cognitive and non-cognitive skills correlate with
in-school adolescents’ academic achievement in South-East Nigeria. Specifically, the study focused on cognitive
skills such as memory, attention, perception, logical reasoning, thinking speed
and non-cognitive skills such as motivation, perseverance, self-control and
self-perception as independent variables while the dependable variable was
academic achievement of the in-school adolescents.
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