ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF REINFORCEMENT ON STUDENT’S ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN OYIGBO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF RIVERS STATE.
BUSARI ATINUKE RASHIDAT
Department of Educational Psychology, Guidance and Counselling
Faculty of Education
University Of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt Rivers State
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the effects of reinforcement on student’s academic performance in Oyigbo LGA of Rivers State. A sample of 120 male and female students were randomly selected from public and private secondary schools in Oyigbo Local Government Area of Rivers State. An Economics and English achievement tests made up of 20 multiple choice items designed and validated by the researcher were used to obtain the pretest and post test scores of the students. The instrument was validated by two experts in the field of education. T- Test was used to analyze the result at 0.05 level of significance. Two research questions were posed and two hypotheses formulated in the null form. The results of the analyses obtained shows that there is no significant difference between academic performance of students exposed to reinforcement and those who were not. Also, there is no significant difference between academic performance of female and male students exposed to reinforcement. Based on the findings, the researcher recommended that reinforcement should be used most often in schools, at home and places of worship as means of correcting undesirable behavior. Also, techniques such as punishment in form of spanking and yelling should be discouraged as this is the commonest corrective measure known by teachers and students.
INTRODUCTION
Reinforcement is an important technique in education especially in promoting learning in the classroom situation. It has proven to be a powerful tool in the shaping and controlling of...