ACADEMIC MOTIVATIONAL PATTERNS AS CORRELATES OF SELF-ESTEEM, TASK PERSISTENCE AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF IN-SCHOOL ADOLESCENTS IN THE SOUTH-EAST OF NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

The study determined the relationship among academic motivational patterns, self-esteem, task persistence and academic achievement of in-school adolescent in South-East Nigeria. Six research questions and six null hypotheses guided the study. A correlation survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of 452,179 in-school adolescents in public schools in South-East Nigeria. A total of 1640 in-school adolescents drawn through purposive, simple and proportionate sampling technique from public secondary schools were used for the study. Four instruments namely: Academic Motivational Scale (AMS), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE), Task Persistence Scale (TPS) and Students Academic Achievement Test, were validated and used for the study. The reliability co-efficient of the instruments were 0.85, 0.82 and 0.87 for AMS, RSE and TPS respectively. The data collected were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment correlation statistical method, whereas regression statistics was used to test the hypothesis. Findings indicated that there was a statistically significant positive relationship between intrinsic motivational pattern and self-esteem of in-school adolescent students. It was further revealed that extrinsic motivational pattern is significantly related to self-esteem of in-school adolescent students. Further analysis showed that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between intrinsic motivational pattern of in-school adolescents and task persistence. It was further revealed that extrinsic motivational pattern of in-school adolescents is significantly related to their task persistence. It was equally revealed that there was significant positive relationship between intrinsic motivational pattern of in-school adolescents and their academic achievement. There is also statistically significant positive relationship between extrinsic motivational pattern and academic achievement of in-school adolescents. Based on the findings, it was concluded that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation relates to self-esteem, task persistence and academic achievement. Thus academic motivational patterns, self-esteem and task persistence mutually interact to enhance achievement. It was recommended that educators need to be promoting patterns of motivation. Professional bodies like Educational Psychologists, Educational Psychologists Council of Nigeria and Counselling Association of Nigeria should hold national conferences with particular emphasis on teachers employing Motivational patterns in instructional design and delivery.