EXAMINATION OF THE EFFECT OF STUDY HABITS ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Chapter ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

Education is an instrument that not only fills the missing links and gaps created due to a fast paced life, but also creates general awareness about changing scenario. Education is the axis around which revolves the fullness of human being and education forms an effective means to improve the status of character of living patterns of the pupil, helps in intellectual, social and emotional development and enables them to meet their basic needs. Thus education is an indispensable instrument for stability and progress of individual as well as society. In education, effective learning not only depends upon good teaching but also on satisfactory learning procedure i.e. good study habits. Over the years, the issue of poor academic performance of students in Nigeria has been of much concern to all stakeholders involved. The problem is so much that it has led to the widely acclaimed fallen standard of education in Nigeria at large. Employers of labour no longer believe in the capacity of various educational institutions to provide graduates who are worth their salt or termed “employable”. Various issues have been pointed out as causative factors for this and one germane factor out of all is the issue of study habit. According to Aristotle, habit is what we repeatedly do. Habits generate other habits. Inspiration is what gets us started, motivation is what keeps us on track, and habit is what makes us automatic. Anything we practice long enough becomes ingrained into our system and becomes a habit. Students are basically having their own individual dierences. It all depends upon their ability and capacity. We do observe that some students have the habit of studying daily lessons regularly. Academic performance is defined as excellence in all academic discipline rather than fatalistically accepting it and competing against some standard of excellence (Chamundeswari 2014). Study habits are defined as those techniques, such as summarizing, note taking, outlining or locating material which learners employ to assist themselves in the efficient learning of the material at hand.

The term “Study Habit” implies a sort of more or less permanent method of studying. According to Good’s dictionary of education, “Study habit is the tendency of pupil to study when the opportunities are given, the pupil’s way of studying whether systematic or unsystematic, efficient or inefficient.”Study-habits are the essence of a dynamic personality. A proper study habits enables an individual to reap a good harvest in future. Study habit is a process from which an individual gets proper input to feed his hunger and to quench his thrust for knowledge. The study habits thus are of great assistance to actualize the potentialities of the individual (suresh 2013). Study habits and skills are particularly important for undergraduate students, whose needs include time management, note taking, Internet skill, the elimination of distractions, and assigning a high priority to study.

Fielden (2004) states that good study habits help the student in critical reflection in skills outcomes such as selecting, analyzing, critiquing, and synthesizing. Nneji (2002) states that study habits are learning tendencies that enable students work privately. Azikiwe (1998) describes study habits as the way and manner a student plans his or her private reading outside lecture hours in order to master a particular subject or topic. Study habits help students master their areas of specialization. Bakare (1977) in his study habit inventory pointed out eight key sources of poor academic achievement. Study habit problems associated with student’s response to home work and assignments; reading and note taking and study period procedure; student’s concentration; towards examination and teachers’ consultation. The inability to utilize eectively and positively these sources of study problems may stand in the way of eective study and good performance among the students. The relationship between study habit and students’ academic performance has for long has received attention from scholars and educational agencies. Nuthane & Yenage (2009) has examined the causes of poor academic performance among university undergraduates. Some of these factors identified are intellectual ability, poor study habits, achievement motivation, lack of vocational goals, self concept, low socio- economic status of the family, poor family structure and so on. The concept of study habit comprises the concept of study attitude, study method and study skill. Attitude towards study has great contribution in academic achievement and good study pattern. Successful students adopt positive attitude towards study and do not waste time or energy. However, there are still myriads of cases of failure recorded, and then the question is what are the successful students doing differently from those who fail? Owing to this, there is the need to study the effect of study habits on academic performance.

1.2 Statement of the problem

A great deal of research provides evidence that study habits and study attitudes are both significant variables, which determine the academic performance of students. Yet, in spite of the perceived importance of study habits and study attitudes to academic achievement, it seems that education institution still pay little attention to understanding these factors (Baquiran, 2011).Classroom observations show that under the same conditions, namely same professor, same subject, same teaching system, same administration, same enrollment criteria, same time of the day for an specific course and same education level, some students perform well while others do not. The question arises as to what are the aspects that influence this difference in performance, and what is the best way to arrange the study process of multicultural groups of college students, so that all learn and perform accordingly with schools’ expectations. Conditions, namely same lecturers, same course, same teaching system, same administration, same enrollment criteria, same time of the day for an specific course and same education level, some students perform well while others do not.

The question arises as to what are the aspects that influence this difference in performance, and what is the best way to arrange the study process of university undergraduates, so that all learn and perform accordingly with schools’ expectations. Hence, it is considered important to know what habits university undergraduates have and, in case of low-performing students, which of those habits need to be changed in order to improve performance. The importance of improving habits lays in their relationship with attitudes, which are deemed important for achieving high academic performance.