EFFECTS OF CLASS ATTENDANCE ON STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
IN BIOLOGY IN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COLLEGE YOLA
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
to the study
Attendance in school is important because students are more
likely to succeed in academics when they attend school consistently. It is
difficult for teachers and students to build skills and progress if large
numbers of students are frequently absent. In addition to falling behind in
academics, students who are not in school on a regular basis are more likely to
get into trouble with the law and cause problems in their communities. What
factors lead to student absenteeism and would the implementation of an incentive
program motivate students to come to Campus regularly
In Nigeria, it is commonly assumed that College of education
students benefit from attending lectures. This assumption, however, needs to be
tested, as developments in information technology are increasingly calling for
a reassessment of the traditional approach to university education, largely
based on physical attendance of lectures and classes, and a number of
alternative weightless educational models, based on distance learning, are being
introduced (Stanca, 2004).
In the past decade, a number of studies have examined the
relationship between students' attendance (or absenteeism) and academic
performance, generally finding that attendance does matter for academic
achievement (e.g. Durden and Ellis (2002), Devadoss and Foltz (2006), Chan et
al. (2007),). This kind of evidence has led some authors to call for measures
to increase student attendance and even to consider the possibility of making
attendance mandatory in some undergraduate courses. The main problem in
assessing the effects of attendance on academic performance is that attendance
levels are not exogenous, given that Internal controls is the whole system of
controls financial and otherwise established by management in order to carry on
business of an organization in an orderly manner to ensure adherence to
management policies, safeguard the assets and secure as possible the
completeness and accuracy of records (Ramaswany, 2004).
The study of determinants of a college students’
academic performance is an important issue in higher education, among all
factors, whether or not attending lectures and classroom discussions affects a
students’ exam performance has received considerable attention (Chen and Lin,
2006). It is commonly assumed that university students benefit from attending
lectures (Stanca, 2004). Lectures and other class meetings are a primary means
of instructions in almost all undergraduate courses (Romer, 2003).
Class attendance is likely to be
substantially influenced by contextual factors (Credé, Roch, & Kieszczynka,
2010), such as attendance norms at the university, perceived difficulty of the
class, characteristics of the instructor, and whether students can obtain lecture
material online. It is also true that individual difference factors such as motivation,
conscientiousness, and intelligence increase the likelihood of a student attending
class (Devadoss & Foltz, 1996; Arulampalam, Naylor, & Smith, 2012). As stressed
by Barlow and Fleischer (2011: 234), “[s]hortcomings of teaching are acknowledged
as a potential factor [for class absenteeism], but poorly motivated students
may not even give themselves the opportunity to find out how inspiring their teachers
may be.”
Moreover, one can argue
that students do not attend class because they are missing the least productive
classes (Stephenson, 1994), effective analytical abilities are not being properly
developed in undergraduate classrooms (Hartman, 1979), and students would learn
relatively little if they attend it (Romer, 1993; Hunter & Tetley, 1999).
The reasons may have to do factors such as the instruction is of low quality,
students have already mastered the material, or they can learn the material
better by spending the same time studying in other ways.
Regardless of the
reason for student absenteeism, a key issue in why it matters is that class
attendance is likely to be beneficial for learning, irrespective of the
specific teaching mode or modes used by the instructor (Credé et al., 2010).
In an earlier, quite
revealing study, published in the American Economic Review, Schmidt (1983)
measured the impact of time commitments by students to various course
activities on the students' performance in a given class. The author found
that, by far, the most valuable and important time commitment in a course was
the time actually spent in the classroom.2 Time spent studying for any or all
exams was not a statistically significant determinant affecting student
performance in that class, which reinforced the idea that the most important
learning in a course takes place in the classroom and that students who do a
conscientious job on a daily basis preparing for and participating in class
outperform those students who skip class and try to cram for exams.
Although acknowledging that attendance
per se does not ensure that learning will take place, a reasonable number of
studies analyzing the impact of students’ attendance on their academic
performance (e.g., Romer, 1993; Park & Kerr, 1990; Chen & Lin, 2008) found
a positive and significant relation between attendance and academic
performance, with the effect being larger in high absenteeism contexts.
Recently, Schmulian and Coetzee (2011) contended that such a positive relation
will most likely not be as meaningful in distinct cultural and economic
environments, other than the US, and for large classes. Moreover, Triadó-Ivern,
Aparicio-Chueca, Guà rdia-Olmos, Peró- Cebollero and JarÃa-Chacón (2013: 2282)
recognized that despite student absenteeism being “a current feature of all
university classrooms”,
Statement of the problem
Research has revealed significant relationships
between attendance and grades which concluded that initial attendance is a lair
predictor of future academic performance (Gunn, 2015). The total amount of time
that students report studying has often been examined as a potential predictor
of success in school. It might seem that the more time that students spend
studying, the better grades they should receive (Plant, Ericsson, Hill and
Asberg, 2005). In the context the students’ attendance and academic performance
seem to be more important points in educational institutions for students’
evaluation.
In this research, Attendance is the amount of time that
students participate in class activities, and is measured hours per day, days
per week, sessions per month and percentage of time. Academic performance is
measured as student’s exam performance, student’s GPA and class discussions of
the student. In tertiary institution most
expecially, college of education, most students find it difficult to
attend classes as a result of one form of social activities, this has affect
their academic performance in one way or the other, as a result of this, the
research intend to find out the effect of class attendance on studnts academic
performance in federal college of education
Yola.
Objective
of the study
The major objective of this study is to find out the effect of
class attendance on students academic performance of NCE II students in
Biology, in federal college of education yola
The specific objective is
1. To investigate
the relationship between class attendance and students academic performance in
biology
2. To
determine the factors that affects the attendance of students in biollgy
department in College of education yola
3. To find out the effect of class absenteeism
on undergraduate academic performance in biology
Research
question
The following research question will guide
the study
1. What are the relationship between class
attendance and students academic performance in biology
2.
What are the
factors affecting the attendance of students in biology department in
College of education yola
3. What
are the effect of class absenteeism on undergraduate academic performance in
biology
Significance
of the study
A major concern in schools is to increase student achievement. One
way to do this is to focus on how students attend class daily with the teacher
at the centre which will
influence student achievement and
create the best environment in which to facilitate learning and engage students.
The study is therefore significant for the following reasons:
This study will be useful to both teachers and students who may
want to know the factors that could make or mar student's academic performance.
Understanding how class attendance can influence their performance
Lastly, understanding the
importance of class attendance and their impact on student performance will
help school administrators at higher institution to know the effect of class
attendance on students performance. Therefore, the study may improve attendance so that a student can
expand the social experiences, lessons, and acceptable behavior that help with
fitting in and succeeding in school and life.
Scope/Delimitations of the Study
This study centers on the effects
of class attendance on students academic performance in Biology in federal
government college Yola, one hundred and twenty NCE II students will be
selected for the study In Biology Department, federal college of education
Yola.
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