Motivation as a Predictor of Students' Academic Achievement in Secondary School Chemistry in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Academic achievement of Nigerian secondary school students in Chemistry has not been satisfactory to many for nearly a decade now and this is becoming one of the most exigent puzzles facing teachers as well as students which require an urgent solution. Motivation has been recognized as one of the factors that have great impact on academic achievement. Therefore, this study examined the contribution of students' academic motivation in predicting students' academic achievement in Chemistry. The study was carried out in two schools of science (Ipade and Oladipo) in Oyo state. The descriptive survey design was employed for the study. A total number of 150 students which comprised 66 male students and 84 female students were randomly selected from the schools. Data were collected from the participants through the researchers designed questionnaire containing the Motivation Scale (AMS) which consists of 20 items and achievement test in chemistry. The achievement test comprised 20 questions in Chemistry. The data collected were analyzed by correlation and simple linear regression using R software version 3.6.2. The results of the analysis revealed a positive correlation between the motivation and the students' achievement in chemistry, and the students' academic achievement was observed to increase with increase in motivation.  It was concluded that high motivation is likely to promote higher academic achievement of the students in Chemistry, while low motivation is also likely to diminish it. Therefore, motivation can be seen as an index for determining the levels of students' achievement in chemistry. This finding should serve as a weapon for every potential chemistry teacher, parents/guardians and students in combating poor academic achievement in Chemistry.