Gender, Geographic Locations, Achievement Goals and Academic Performance of Secondary School Students from Borno State, Nigeria

Abstract

The paper examined gender, geography location, achievement goals and academic performance of senior secondary school students in Borno State, Nigeria. The sample consists of 827 students from 18 public boarding secondary schools across South and North of Borno State: 414 (50.1 per cent) males and 413 (49.9 per cent) are females; 414 (50.1 per cent) are from South of Borno State, 413 (49.9 per cent) from North of Borno State, respectively. An Achievement Goals Scale with a Cronbach alpha of 0.64 was used to measure achievement goals. Tests in English and Mathematics were used to measure academic performance in English and Mathematics and overall academic performance. The data was analysed using MANAVA statistics. The results reveal that male students are more learning goal oriented and also performed significantly better than females in English and overall academic performance but not in Mathematics. Students from Southern Borno State are more learning goal oriented and performed significantly better than those from Northern Borno State in English, Mathematics and overall academic performance. Geographic locations moderate the effects of gender on students' learning goal, Mathematics and overall academic performance.