Self-Perception and Academic Achievement of Junior Secondary School Students in Social Studies in Ogoja Education Zone of Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined self-perception and academic achievement of Junior Secondary School Students in Social Studies in Ogoja Education Zone of Cross River State, Nigeria. The descriptive research design was adopted. Subjects used for the study were made up of 500 social studies students randomly drawn from sampled schools with population of 5001 social studies students in the five Local Education Authorities in the Zone. A 20-item questionnaire with a modified four point Likert scale was designed and used for data collection. Data collected was subjected to statistical analysis using descriptive statistics to answer the research questions and Pearson product moment correlation analysis for the hypothesis. The mean values of all the items were above the cut off point of 2.50. Also, the research revealed that there is a significant relationship between self-perception and students’ academic achievement in Social Studies. It was upheld that a positive self-perception results in high academic achievement while a negative self-perception results in low academic performance. Based on this result, it was recommended that teachers on their own should develop positive attitude toward students and as such encourage effective participation in classroom instruction, and they should not discourage students who make attempts to involve in the class even when their answers are wrong. This would enhance their self-perception.