Volume 19, No. 3, 2022
Self-Esteem As A Predictor Of Science Students’ Academic Achievement In Enugu State, Nigeria: Implication For Educational Foundations
Ifeyinwa Miriam Mamah , Ursla Ukamaka Nnadi , Ifesinachi Jude Ezugwu , Florence Obiageli Ezeudu , Jude Uchenna Eze & Christian Sunday Ugwuanyi
Abstract
Due to the growing rate of poor academic accomplishment among secondary school students and the inconsistent results of earlier studies on the influence of self-esteem on academic achievement warranted the study. The study assessed self-esteem as a predictor of students’ academic achievement in science. The research was conducted using a correlational survey design. A sample of 385 SS3 students drawn by using multi-stage sampling procedures (simple random and proportionate stratified sampling technique) participated in the study. Self-Esteem Questionnaire (SEQ) adapted from Rosenberg and Science Students’ Score Proforma (PSSP) were used for data collection. The instruments were face-validated and a reliability coefficient of 0.78 was obtained by using Cronbach Alpha reliability estimate. Data collected were analyzed using regression analysis and t-test for the significance of two samples correlation coefficients. The results showed that 50% of the variation in students’ academic achievement in science is attributed to or predicted by self-esteem. Self-esteem significantly predicted students’ academic achievement while gender and location do not moderate the predictive validity of self-esteem on students’ academic achievement in science. These findings have implications for educational foundations in the sense that students will have a solid educational foundation when they have high self-esteem for science learning. The study recommended, among others, that students must be made to understand that positive self-evaluation and hard work are the keys to academic success in school.
Pages: 3340-3353
Keywords: Educational foundations, Self-esteem, secondary school, and students’ academic achievement.