EFFECT OF STUDY SKILLS TRAINING ON POOR STUDY HABITS AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN FAGGE, KANO STATE, NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.4 Background to the Study

The achievement any society made is not the function of the building acquired but depends on the capacity of inhabitants who constitute such society. Every society needs a reasonable number of elites to make great achievement. The capacity of the inhabitants is in turn reflected through academic success which is a function of study habits and attitude to study. Any fundamental change in the intellectual and social outlook of any society has to be preceded by effective study habits and positive attitude to studying by its inhabitants.

For students in formal educational institutions to attain successful achievement in their academic pursuit, they need to have good study habits. Each individual needs to understand the pattern of studies to adopt in order to excel in the course of schooling. Most students perform below average due to lack of good study habits (Abdullahi, 2008). Some students usually have problem getting started. They start studying very late. At this time, the work becomes so cumbersome with so much available materials to read and a lot of assignments to be done (Akafa, 2011).

Most students are involved with so many activities aside their studies. They skip reading their note after lessons; they keep postponing their time of studies. All books are piled up to be read at once. Hence, it is pertinent to note that there is need to encourage good study habits among students so as to attain standard and qualitative education. Each individual needs to understand the suitable approaches to consider when studying. In most cases, students are often confused on how to start, what to do within a short limited time, the time required to study in order to comprehend. This shows clearly that there is urgent need to improve the study skills of students if the purpose of learning is to enable the

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learner attains good performance and academic success. It is important to note that there are students who are well focused in their studies and possessed good mental ability needed to attain good academic performance but may end up performing below expectation severally. In such instances, the issue confronting such persons is not low intelligent Quotients (I.Q) but failure to use the most effective methods of studying (Abdullahi, 2008).Lack of acquiring study skills may constitute a stumbling block to someone’s performance.

Study skills are learning strategies that help students organize process and use information effectively. (Kerka, 2007).They can be classified into two, namely broad and specific study skills. The Broad study skills include cognitive based strategies, repetitive strategies, meta-cognitive based strategies and procedural or organizational-based strategies. The specific study skills include reading strategies, time management skills, note taking methods, consultations/help seeking strategies, library use skills and concentration strategies.

It has been observed based on experience of the researcher in classroom teaching for years that a lot of students in Fagge local government area tend to study without knowing the guiding principles or the skills involved in the studying. This means they are lacking the proper study skills to achieve their academic success. The effect of this might result to malpractice during examination or failure. This has been an issue of concern to the educators: Counsellors, Teachers, Parents and government, therefore a lot need to be put in place to enhance study skills of students. To realize this goal, the school not only teaches the students to learn but exposes them to situation through which effective learning could be developed.

EFFECT OF STUDY SKILLS TRAINING ON POOR STUDY HABITS AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN FAGGE, KANO STATE, NIGERIA