Truancy and Secondary School Students' Academic Performance in English Language

Abstract

The research investigated the influence of truancy on the academic performance in English language of secondary school students in Calabar Municipality of Cross River State, Nigeria. To achieve this, a null hypothesis was formulated to direct the study. The descriptive research design was adopted for the study. The study sample size was two hundred (200) respondents who were randomly selected for the study. The selection was done through the simple random sampling technique. An English Language achievement test and a questionnaire were the instruments used for data collection. These instruments were subjected to face and content validation by experts in measurement and evaluation. The reliability estimate of the instrument was established through test re-test reliability method. Pearson moment product correlation analysis was the test statistical technique adopted to test the hypothesis under study at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the finding showed that truancy significantly influences the academic performance of secondary school students in English language. Based on the finding, it was recommended that well behaved students should be given special recognition/award by the school and other well-meaning individuals, as recommended by the school authority.