ASSESSMENT OF DETERMINANTS INFLUENCING STUDENTS POOR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SHORTHAND COURSE IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN DELTA STATE
Abstract
The study assessed the determinants influencing students’ poor academic performance of shorthand course in colleges of education in Delta State. Two research questions were raised to guide the study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance for the study. The population of the study was 109 year III students from the four government owned colleges of education in Delta State. There was no sampling as the entire population was used. The descriptive survey research design was used for this study. The instrument used was validated by three experts. Chronbach Alpha method was used to compute reliability of the instrument which yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.81. Questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation. The t-test was used to test the hypotheses. From the results of the analysis, it was discovered that the determinants that influence students’ poor academic performance of shorthand course in colleges of education in Delta State are students’ interest and parental factors. The students did not differ significantly in their rating on the determinants influencing students’ poor academic performance of shorthand course in colleges of education based on gender. Consequently, it was recommended that Ministry of Education harmonizes the entry point for the shorthand courses and also ensures that institutions offering shorthand have adequate facilities. Furthermore, schools should re-orientate parents on the importance of creating favourable socio-psychological atmosphere at home for the children by providing them with educative materials.