MOTIVATION AND SELF-ESTEEM AS PREDICTORS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN BIOLOGY IN AWKA EDUCATIONAL ZONE OF ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study investigated motivation and self-esteem as predictors of secondary school students’ achievement in Biology in Awka Education Zone of Anambra State. A correlational design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 3,407 senior secondary two (SS2) Biology students in 62 government secondary schools in Awka Education Zone of Anambra State. The sample size for the study was 345 SS2 Biology students. Multistage sampling procedure was used to draw the sample for the study. Three instruments were used for data collection. The instruments include: Biology Motivation Questionnaire (BMQ), Self-Esteem Scale (SES) and Biology Achievement Test (BAT). The face and content validation of these instruments were done by three experts. The reliability of BMQ and SES items were determined using Cronbach alpha formula which gave reliability coefficients of 0.89 and 0.85 respectively, while that of BAT was done using Kuder Richardson 20 (K-R-20) to obtain a reliability index of 0.95. The Research questions were answered using Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (r), coefficient of determination (r²) and Hayes Process while the hypotheses were tested using regression ANOVA and Hayes Process at 0.05 level significance. The findings of the study revealed that motivation has a positive and significant prediction on students’ achievement in Biology. Also, Self-esteem is a significant predictor of students’ achievement in Biology. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that Biology teachers should create an appropriate classroom environment for students and adopt good teaching strategies that would nurture and enhance high motivation among them, drive to achieve and the ability to improve their self-esteem.