Motivation and Early Adolescent Academic Participation in Some Selected Secondary Schools in Buea Municipality
Department: Educational
Psychology
No of Pages:
68
Project Code:
EPY5
References:
Yes
Cost:
5,000XAF Cameroonian
: $15 for International students
ABSTRACT
Adolescence is the time to find
and establish an identity. It is a time when adolescents must strive for
emotional, if not physical independence from parents and family. They are
involved in forming their identity, deciding on who they are and focused on
making plans about what they wish their future to be like.
This study set out to investigate the
influence of motivation on adolescent academic participation of some selected
secondary school in the Buea municipality, to find out the effect of punishment
on adolescent academic participation, to investigate
how award of prize and praises affect adolescent participation, to find out
effect of provision of needs on adolescent participation.
From these objectives four research questions
were formulated and hypothesis stated in both null and alternative form. The
study adopted the survey research design with a sample of 50 form students from three government secondary schools
under operation in the Buea municipality to participate in this study through
a Purposive and convenient sampling procedure. The study used questionnaire for
data collection.
Result of the study revealed that suspension
from class discourage students from attending class, each crime has it corresponding or specified
sanction in the school roles and regulations. Base
on the findings of the study, the following conclusions was drawn that they attend classes to avoid sanction from the disciplinary
council of their school, and school fee is always paid on time, their parents
provide them with transport allowance.
It was therefore, recommended that the government and the Ministry of secondary education are encouraged to provide the needed facilities for schools to enhance a good and adequate environment of learning which will therefore enhance early adolescent academic participation.
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Introduction
This chapter focuses on the
background of the study, conceptual background, theoretical background, contextual background, empirical background, statement
of the problem, research objective, research questions, justification, the scope
of the study, the significance of the study, and the definition of terms.
Motivation is a widely researched topic in both the fields of psychology and education. Achievement motivation can best be understood by examining the meanings of “achievement” and “motivation” separately. Achievement typically stresses the importance of accomplishment and attainment with the effort involved (Okotie& Adeyemi,2019)
The
concept of motivation is considered as a crucial factor that affects human behavior
and performance especially educational researchers and practitioners express
that motivation is one of the most important factors in student achievement and
in ensuring continuous achievement (Özen, 2017).
Background of the Study
The evolution of motivation can be traced from
the ancient Greeks, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle ages.
Plato believed in a hierarchy organized such as dietary component, the
emotional and the rational. Aristotle, for more than twenty years continued to
affirm the hierarchy spiritual.
However, he used different reforms
which were different from his original belief. He believed in those dietary and
emotional components are relevant to body and part of concept of motivation.
They can prepare some sensors like growth, physical comfort (food) and some
sensory experiences such as pain and pleasure (emotional).
These two parts together were
basis of irrational motivation force. The logic section was including all
rational aspect of soul such as intellectual concept and some voluntary
features. The ancient Greeks presumed three component, the body's desires, pleasures
and pains (senses and efforts of will and spirit) in a hierarchical arrangement
for the first theoretical justification of the motivational activities.
In the modern era after the
Renaissance, René Descartes distinguished between inactive and active aspects
of motivation. Descartes believed in that body is inactive factor of
motivation, while will is active factor of motivation. Body has a physical and
mechanical nature with nutrition desires that answer to those desires by senses
and physiological reflects to external environment. (If you wanted to
understand physical motivations, physiological analysis must be used).
The mind has mental, moral and
intellectual nature which has purposefulness will. (If you wanted to understand
targeted motivations, will analysis must be used). Therefore, will always is
force of motivation, Descartes devoted motivation exclusively to the will of
man for a first time. He provided the first great theory of motivation for
philosophers.
Being a former French and British
colony, Cameroon runs a bicultural Francophone and Anglo-Saxon educational and
administrative systems. Cameroon represents one of the giants in primary,
secondary and higher education in the CEMAC sub-region and Sub-Sahara Africa.
It has one of the highest school
attendance and literacy rates in the region. In 2007 the school attendance rate
stood at 83.1 percent; adult literacy rate was 67.9 percent and a higher
education participation rate of 7.2 percent (which is also one of the highest
in Sub-Sahara Africa (Republic of Cameroon, 2010). Cameroon in the past years
has continuously constituted an interesting case of a comparatively better educational
system in Africa.
The concept of motivation is
closely related to other constructs in education and psychology. They include
attention, needs, goals and interests which all focuses on stimulating
individual learners and rising their interest and attention towards engaging in
an action or behaviors and the accomplishment of such actions or goals.
The concept of motivation is
functional when an individual is thrilled to satisfy some need or desire. The
individual will involve in, or be attracted toward actions that are perceived
as having the possibility to meet this need or desire (Auwalu, et al.,2021).
Adolescence
is the time to find and establish an identity. It is a time when adolescents
must strive for emotional, if not physical independence from parents and
family. They are involved in forming their identity, deciding on who they are
and focused on making plans about what they wish their future to be like.
The adolescent years are often
full of self-doubt: their bodies change quickly and they become very
self-conscious about such changes. Every change or event brings with it a new trauma
and appearance is very important as it attracts the approval of peers. To be
different is a problem and belonging to a group is important. The teenager must
therefore, achieve a sense of identity in occupation, sex role, politics and religion.
(Busi, 2019).
Busi(2019) went further to add that adolescence seems to be a period of particularly deep change with respect to time perspective. Yet many questions about the developmental pathways of African children and adolescents especially their pathways to adulthood have remained unanswered or worse still unasked.
Secondary education plays a
crucial role in laying the foundation for the further education of students. If a good foundation is laid at the secondary school level, students
can better cope with the challenges of life with less stress and greater ease.
Adolescence is a developmental
phase between childhood and adulthood during which, adolescents go through a
series of developmental challenges before attaining adulthood In the Cameroonian context with a huge diversity of
cultural heritage growing up and passing through adolescence seem even more
challenging. Knoll, say that adolescents experience a variety of biological,
psychological and social changes.
Motivation
can be described as the energy of individual’s behaviour, while they define
participation as the link between the individual and the activity. participation in
the school environment represents the degree of active involvement of a student
in classroom learning activities. On the other hand, motivation in the school
environment is a process for the students to initiate and execute the class
activity. (Adnan & Yunus, 2018)
The
motivating processes that strengthen and sustain the classroom activities of
the students are multi-dimensional and include the needs, expectations or
beliefs and goals of the students one of the most important components
affecting the quality of the teaching process is effective academic
participation.
Motivation
has a separate place and importance among the factors of effective academic
participation. The higher the motivation of the students for the learning
process, the higher the level of effective participation in the lessons. The literature
has various explanations about effective participation and motivation,
Three theories will be used to inform the objective of
the study, these theories include: theory of self-determination, Carl
Rogers self-actualization theory, The
Constructivist theory, Maslow’s Hierarchy of need theory.
The Constructivist theory seeks to inform the main objective of the study. Constructivism is a view that emphasizes the active role of students in building understanding and making sense of the information.
The constructivist teaching is learner centered where students are actively
involved in knowledge construction rather than mere passive listeners.
Constructivists’ views can be organized in two forms: psychological and social.
In Psychological constructivists’ view such as
Piaget, students construct knowledge by transforming, organizing, reorganizing
previous knowledge whereas in social constructivists’ view such as Vygotsky,
opportunities are provided to students to learn through social
interaction in construction of knowledge and understanding.
Carl
Rogers self-actualization theory seeks to inform objective number one of the studies,
in Roger’s view, the self is the central ingredient in human personality and
personal adjustment. Rogers described the self as a social product, developing
out of interpersonal relationship and striving for consistency.
Self-determination
theory seeks to inform objectives two
of the study. Self-determination
theory assumed that humans have an innate desire from birth for stimulation and
learning. Innate desire to learn is supported by environment, those intrinsic
attractions and natural are inner motivations that depend on satisfaction of
three psychological parameters
Maslow’s Hierarchy of
need theory (1943) strives to
explain research objective number three of the study. This theory focusses on
the physical, safe, love, and esteem needs, the genius of hierarchy is its
concept of prepotency. A prep tent need is the one that the greatest power or
influence over our action.
Statement of Problem
The low rate of adolescent academic participation
in secondary schools in the Buea municipality has been a called for attention, with
the growing rate of scamming and occultism in Buea municipality, majority of boys
are being attracted to these activities and most of them have sendup abandoning school to take advantage these easy means of making fast money,
nevertheless, a good number of this girls
have abandoned school and, gotten attracted to the money these young
boys make from those activities.
Added to this, adolescents here
are exposed to substance abuse, violence, risky sexual activities, unwanted pregnancies,
discrimination, corruption, criminality, poverty, low parental support, accidental
injuries and others, which help to bring hopelessness and depression. With
these hardships, they drop out of school and their educational advancement
becomes stagnated.
The ongoing crisis since 2016 in the Northwest
and Southwest region of Cameroon and has affected the level of adolescent
academic participation, The use of schools for
military purposes poses a threat to the safety of teachers and students,
creates an environment of fear and poses a serious psychological impact which
interferes with pupils/students’ ability to learn.
This has been seen as an interference with the right to education.in addition, most of these children are either forced to be recruited as fighters. On October 24, 2020, at least 7 children were killed and 13 injured while they attended school at Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy in Kumba in the Southwest region; they were between 9 and 12 years.
Not only does the violence show little sign of abatement but, the recent attacks
perpetrated in late 2020 also suggest that the nature and the severity of these
acts are becoming increasingly heinous.
Despite, the effort put forth by the various stakeholder to mitigate the situation seem to have failed and the level poor adolescent academic participation in Cameroon and Buea has continued to increase, also little or sufficient works has been carried to investigate motivation and adolescent participation in secondary schools in the Buea and has cut the attention of the researcher conduct a study on these variables.
Objectives of the study
General objective of the study
To investigate the influence of motivation on adolescent academic participation of some selected secondary school in the Buea municipality.
Specific Objective of the Study
- To find out the effect of punishment on adolescent academic participation
- To investigate how award of prize and praises affect adolescent participation
- To find out effect of provision of needs on adolescent participation
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