Self-Regulation and Academic Motivation as Correlates of Academic Performance of Secondary School Students in Orumba North L.G. A. of Anambra State

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the self-regulation and academic motivation as correlates of the academic performance of secondary school students in the Orumba North local government area of Anambra State. A correlation research design was employed in the study. The population of the study comprised 1,490 Senior Secondary two (SS 2) students in the 14 public secondary schools in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State. The sample comprised 500 Senior Secondary Two (SS 2) students obtained through a simple random sampling procedure. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. Three instruments used for data collection were the Academic Performance Questionnaire (APQ), the Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ), and the Academic Motivation Questionnaire (AMQ ) which were validated by three experts in Measurement and Evaluation and Educational Psychology from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The reliability of the instruments was determined using the Cronbach alpha method which yielded 0.70, 0.73 and 0.75 for APQ, SRQ and AMQ respectively. Pearson's Product Moment Correlation and simple linear regression were used to analyze the data. The study findings revealed a medium relationship between self-regulation and academic performance of secondary school students as well as a high relationship between academic motivation and the academic performance of secondary school students. Further findings revealed that there was no significant relationship between the self-regulation and academic performance of secondary school students and that there was a significant relationship between academic motivation and the academic performance of secondary school students. The discussion was based on the study findings, and it was recommended among other things that students should be exposed to regular diagnostic and counselling sessions with specialists attending to their academic needs. With this, those facing self-regulation and academic motivation challenges will be directed aright to positively influence their academic performance.