ABSTRACT
The study examined the influence of Social Media on
Students’ Learning Ability among Secondary School Students in Alimosho Local
Government Area of Lagos State. Five research questions and five corresponding
hypotheses guided the study. The descriptive survey research design was adopted
for the study. Employing the method of stratified and simple random sampling
strategy, a total number of 250 students (125 boys and girls respectively))
were selected from ten secondary schools in the study population. A 25 item
Likert type questionnaire tagged ‘Social Media and Students’ Learning Ability
Questionnaire (ISMSLAQ) and Student Achievement Test in English Language’ were
used to gather the data used for the study. Hypothesis one, two and three were
tested using the Chi Square statistics while hypotheses four and five were
tested using t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) respectively. Findings of
the research shows significant influence of Social Media usage on students’
attitude towards learning in schools; and that there is a significant influence
of Social Media usage on students’ writing skills. Other findings of the study
reveal significant influence of Social Media usage on academic performances of
students in secondary schools; there is no significant gender difference in
social media usage among students in the area of study; and that social media usage
showed no significant influence on the age of adolescents. On the basis of the
research findings, recommendations were made which include among others the
need to incorporate social media with academic lesson content in secondary
schools, students should follow the formal way of writing in schools, students
should not be allowed to waste their time for their reading and personal study
on social media content generating sites. Counseling programmes should be put
in place for both male and female students in the use of social media. There is
also need to design appropriate behavioral change instructional materials to
educate students of different age group about social media usage in academic
learning.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGES
Title Page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract v
Table of Contents vi
List of Table viii
List of Figures ix
CHAPTER ONE:
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study 1
1.2
Statement of the Problem 4
1.3 Purpose of the
Study 5
1.4 Research Questions 6
1.5 Research
Hypotheses 6
1.6 Significance
of the Study 6
1.7 Scope
of the Study 7
1.8 Operational
Definition of Terms 8
CHAPTER
TWO: REVIEW OF / LITERATURE
2.1 Theoretical Framework 10
2.2 The Concept of Social Media 12
2.3 The Concept of Learning Ability 16
2.4 Social Media usage and Students’ Attitude
to Learning in School. 21
2.5 Social Media usage and Students’ writing
skills. 22
2.6 Social Media usage and Student’s Academic
Performance. 24
2.7 Gender and Social Media Usage in the
classroom learning. 26
2.8 Social media usage and Students’ Age. 27
2.9 Empirical Review of Related
Research Studies 29
2.10 Summary of Review 33
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH
METHODOLOOGY
3.1 Research Design 34
3.2 Area of Study 34
3.3 Population of the
Study 35
3.4 Sample
and Sampling Technique 35
3.5 Instrument for Data Collection 36
3.6 Scoring of the Instrument 36
3.7 Validity of the Instruments 37
3.8 Reliability of the Instruments 37
3.9 Procedure for Data Collection 37
3.10 Method of Data Analysis 38
CHAPTER
FOUR: RESULT AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Demographic
Data 39
4.2 Testing
of hypotheses 41
4.3 Summary
of findings 45
4.4 Discussion
of findings 45
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY,
CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATION AND IMPLICATION FOR COUNSELLING
5.1 Summary
of the Study 51
5.2 Conclusion
52
5.3 Implication
for Counselling 52
5.4 Recommendations 53
5.5 Suggestion
for further Research 54
REFERENCES 55
APPENDIX 58
LIST OF
TABLES
Table 1: Sex Distribution of Respondents 39
Table 2: Age Distribution of Respondents 40
Table 3: Testing Hypothesis 1 41
Table 4: Testing Hypothesis
2 42
Table 5: Testing Hypothesis 3 43
Table 6: Testing Hypothesis 4 43
Table 7: Testing Hypothesis 5 44
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Sex Distribution of Respondents 39
Figure 2: Age Distribution of Respondents 41
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background
to the Study
Many activities of education in the
formal school setting and non-formal setting require the ability to learn. This
is so because individual survival, adaptation and adjustment to ever-changing
circumstances in the environment will depend on individual’s capacity to learn. A number of leading authorities on learning
have declared that learning involves mental activity whether by an individual’s
conscious effort or not. It is a complex process by means of which knowledge,
skills, habits, facts, ideas and principles are acquired, retained and utilized
in order to adapt to one’s environment and also to modify the existing
behaviours when necessary. It is to be
noted, however, that the learning ability of any individual often depends on
the quality of potential an individual has inherited from his or her parents.
Although nature provides the raw materials in the form of human potential /
abilities, it is the environment that determines the extent to which the
potentials are developed (Nwadinigwe, 2004).
However, the work of new media literacy
researchers also provides one avenue to better specify behaviours that might
lead to learning. Most studies of social media and youth education define
learning from literacy perceptive (Greenhow and Ahn, 2011). The literacy
perspective focuses on learning practices, such as creating media rather than
traditional measures of learning such as grades or standardized
assessments. It is important that one
understands the concept of literacy practices from this view point. According
to these experts, children’s activities in school that is, listening to a
teacher’s lesson, practicing problems on worksheets, taking tests to assess
learning can be seen as specialized literacy practices; those of creating media
serve very disparate functions than expected in the classroom. In any case,
learning in the school has measurable goal than that of the social media.
Meanwhile,
social media usage is an intriguing platform to study because technology is
such an integral part of adolescent students’ life. This is so because students
of today are born into a world where computer technology is already well
established and thus, it is a common tool student’s use in their everyday life.
This includes the way they receive information, communicate and learn. There is
no denying the fact that today’s students are hyper-test based generation
compared to the chalk and talk based environment that most adults learnt. .One
would have expected that the advent of computer, internet and cell phones will
enhance students’ capability to learn and improve their knowledge, skill and
attitude. It is quite disturbing that students rather than reading and studying
to increase their knowledge, skill and attitude are pre-occupied with social
media content generating that have nothing to do with their school learning. As
a result students are now gradually becoming lazy to carry out normal book
reading and study habits to prepare adequately for their examinations. Social
media usage among students is alarming and has now become source of concern all
over the world that has attracted several researches.
Although
research examining the influence of social media usage on students’ learning in
Nigeria abound, there is a gap in the research regarding this topic as it
pertains to students in the university.
A few studies referenced the fact that social media use among students continues
to increase which may or not be related to mental, knowledge, experiential,
skill and attitude learning. There appears to be little or no reference to the influence
of social media on students learning ability in public secondary schools in Alimosho
Local Government Lagos State. This study tends to fill the gap in literature.
Most
undeniably, social media usage may also be impacting the way in which learners
engage with technology in general. Adeogun (2004) noted that information
received by students on the computer; television and telephone can modify the
behavior of individual student either negatively or positively. The information
can generate new responses or change old ones, depending on the degree of
observation permitted the socializing individual, and on the type of imitation
he or she can have of the behaviours and attitudes exhibited by the models.
Granted that the forces of development are primarily within the individual, the
environment as mentioned earlier plays a secondary role in the process of
natural enfoldment of that which nature has enfolded within the individual in a
natural environment free from corruption. In essence, if information is
positive and conducive, individual will develop positively and behave
rationally but if otherwise negative the development may be detrimental.
Undeniably,
social media usage creates students modes to procrastinate while trying to
complete homework and assignment which affect their learning ability. The
knowledge of Economics on opportunity cost is such that a student who is
chooses social media twill trade-off learning in conventional way. It has been
documented in the academic literature that social media usage makes students
passive during classroom teaching and learning. It also makes students to be
lazy and procrastinate doing their assignment or home works. We cannot throw the baby with the dirty water,
the good sides of social media are that they create opportunity for students to
learn more since the platform allows and encourages students to post their
school work thereby increasing their attitude to learn. For lack of space,
literature is replete with countless educational opportunities provided by
social media.
Furthermore,
the rate at which students use social media raises questions about the
potential effect social media have on students’ mental learning in schools. Several
researchers referenced above have reported that social media usage is frivolous,
time wasting and distracts from school work. Rather than using social media for
academic purpose, students appear to use it for social interaction. Hence,
social media appear not to be contributing to students mental or knowledge
learning in schools. This is reflected by the way students write and spell
words that are not proper way of spelling the English words. Where this texting
and short messages used in social media are exported by students during
internal and external examinations, it might lead to students’ failure in such examinations.
It is against this background information that the research examines the
influences of social media on students learning ability in secondary school
students in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos state.
1.2 Statement
of the Problem
The problem that necessitated the
research is the rate at which students’ trade-off academic learning for social
media content generating sites such as face book, 2go among others. The use of
social media has become so rampant nowadays that leaves so many questions to be
desired. The situation is not just disturbing to every stakeholder of education
but quite alarming. This calls for the need to address social media challenges
to students’ cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains. If nothing practical
is done to stem the tide at the present, a lasting damage will be done. This
will not be good for our country’s education system as the right manpower that
will proffer solution to the challenges of our socio-economic development will
be far from been achieved.
Presently, it appears that majority of
students that come to school with internet connected pay more attention to
social media interactions than they do for their academic learning. The time
for reading and studying may seem to be devoted to social media interactions that
may not have any bearing on their cognitive, affective and psychomotor development.
The effect this may have on students’ capability to learn may be devastating. This
has tendency to increase poor students’ outcomes among students in schools. This
is not good four our country education that is searching a way to redeem itself
from its present murky waters.
With the current rate of social media
usage among students, one may predict that at a short time, the neglect of
textbooks and learned journals is not addressed, more of our library textbooks
and journals will be totally forgotten.
This is another challenge to the academic survival of our nation.
More so, the popularity of social media
and the speed at which information is published seems to create a lax attitude
towards proper spelling and grammar. This may be exported to conventional
writing that may reduce students’ ability to effectively write without relying
on a computer’s spell check feature. Worse still, the poor performance of
students in external examination which has been on the increase every year may be
connected to students reading and studying time spent on social media
interactions among students. This will bring to the fore the need to
investigate the influence of social media on secondary school adolescents
learning ability in Alimosho Local Government Area.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The main purpose
of this study is to examine the influence of social media on adolescents
learning ability in secondary schools in Alimosho Local Government of Lagos
State. The specific objectives of the study are to;
1.
Examine the influence of social media usage
on students’ attitude to learning in schools.
2.
Ascertain the influence of social media usage
on secondary school students writing skills. in secondary schools
3.
Determine the influence of social media usage
on students’ academic performance in secondary school.
4.
Ascertain whether gender differences in
social media usage exist among students in secondary schools.
5.
Determine the influence of social media
usage based on age
1.4 Research
Questions
The following
questions guided this research study
1.
What influence does social media usage
have on students’ attitude to learning in school?
2.
How do social media influence students’
writing skills in secondary schools?
3.
What influence does social media usage have
on students’ academic performance in secondary schools?
4.
What gender differences in social media usage
exist among students secondary schools?
5.
How does age influence students’ social
media usage in secondary schools?
1.5 Research
Hypotheses
The following
null hypotheses guided this research study.
1.
There is no significant influence of
Social Media usage on students’ attitude to learning in schools.
2.
There is no significant influence of
Social Media usage on students’ writing skills in secondary schools.
3.
There is no significant influence of
Social Media usage on students’ academic performance.
4.
There is no significant gender difference
in social media usage among students in secondary schools.
5.
There is no significant influence of age
on students’ use of Social Media for learning in secondary school.
1.6 Significance
of the study
The study will be significant to
students, teachers, parents, educational psychologist’s and policy makers on
the current trends in social media world, in the following ways: The study will
help the students to know that social media can help them improve their
learning ability and school work performance if used judiciously. The study
will help the teachers to gain additional knowledge on the current issues in
social media usage by the students and find the appropriate measures in helping
students to maximize gain on these media for academic attainment. It will also
open the eyes of the parents to the challenges encountered by their students in
social media usage in relation to their physical and cognitive development and
the levels of their performance in education. This study will be useful to the
guidance and counselors on how to make adolescent cope with the challenges of
social media and social networking that suit education of these adolescent
students for educational purpose and control the access to bad social media
sites that affect students’ educational attainment. This study will also create
a platform for further research in this field. There the research is useful in
the following ways:
1.
Students will benefit from the study as
it will expose them to understand the educational benefits as well as draw
backs of using social media.
2.
Teachers will gain knowledge in the
issues regarding social media and incorporate it in the educational endeavor.
3.
Parents will benefit from the research
as the will know how to guide their wards in using social media.
4.
Guidance and counselors will find the
research useful as it will help them plan behavioural change education programme
for users of social media in secondary schools
1.7 Scope of the Study
The scope of
this study is on the influence of social media on learning ability of secondary
school adolescents in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos state. It focuses
on determining the extent to which adolescent (male and female) students make
use of social network, the influence such social media platforms have on
adolescents learning in the area of shaping their knowledge, skill and
attitudes. It also looks at the influence social media have on adolescent
school work performance in secondary schools at the study area.
1.8 Operational Definition of Terms
The following terms are
operationally defined in the research study
1. Social Media: These are forms of electronic
communication which facilitate interactive base on certain interests. Social
media include web and mobile technology. It is a group of internet based
application that allows the creation and exchange of user generated content. In
this study, emphasis is on facebook, whatsapp and 2go commonly used by
adolescents.
2. Learning Ability: The learning ability of any
individual referred in the study is mental ability of individuals to cope with
things around him. This is often associated with the quality of potential an
individual has inherited from his or her parents.
3. Learning: The activity or process of
gaining knowledge or skill by studying, practicing, being taught or
experiencing something.
4. Attitude: This is individual behavior or reaction to certain action or stimuli
which may be positive or negative.
5. Writing Skill: This
refers student ability to compose meaningful text of
sentence length or longer, communicating ideas, messages and information this
is a medium of human Writing is communication that represents language and
emotion through the inscription or recording of signs and symbols
6. Academic
Performance: this refers to the ability of
student to do well, fairly or poorly in an examination.
7. Gender: This is biologically determined
and in the context of this research means boys and girl. In general it refers
to culturally and socially constructed difference between men and women.
8. Age:
As used in the
study, it refers a period of human
life measured by years from birth, usually marked by a certain stage or degree
of mental or physical development and involving legal responsibility and
capacity.
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