Abstract:
High-ability students are expected to perform consistently at a high level of academic achievement. However, literature established that some high-ability students fail to perform at a level commensurate with their ability level. Previous studies largely focused on interventions aimed at improving academic achievement of underachieving high-ability students with little emphasis on student-related factors such as self-esteem, locus of control and self-efficacy influencing academic achievement of underachieving high-ability students. This study was, therefore, carried out to examine motivation types (extrinsic, intrinsic motivation and amotivation), academic self-concept and learning styles (visual, auditory and kinaesthetic) as predictors of academic achievement among underachieving high-ability students in Oyo State, Nigeria.
Self-Determination Theory served as the framework, while the descriptive design of the correlational type was adopted. Multi-stage sampling procedure was employed. Proportionate stratified sampling technique was used to select nine senior secondary schools (three from each senatorial districts). One hundred and eighty Senior secondary II students with high-ability who were screened for underachievement through school academic records and achievement tests in English language and mathematics were purposively selected. Instruments employed were Slosson Intelligence Test (r=0.81) Academic motivation (r=0.87), and Academic Self-concept (r=0.75) scales, Learning Styles Questionnaire (r=0.75), English Language Achievement (r=0.75), and Mathematics Achievement (r=0.65) tests. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s product moment correlation and Multiple regression at 0.05 level of significance.
Participants’ age was 16.20 ±13.2 years and 55.0% were females. There were significant positive relationships between extrinsic motivation (r=0.78), intrinsic motivation (r = 0.07), amotivation (r = 0.26), academic self-concept (r=0.35), auditory learning style (r=0.27), visual learning style (r=0.38), kinaesthetic learning style (r=0.42) and academic achievement. There was a significant joint contribution of the seven independent variables to academic achievement (F(7;179) =47.57; Adjusted R2 = 0.65), accounting for 65.9% of its variance. Extrinsic motivation (β =0.72), kinaesthetic learning style (β=0.19), intrinsic motivation (β=0.06), amotivation (β=0.06), academic self-concept (β=0.06), visual learning style (β =-0.06) and auditory learning style (β =0.01) contributed to academic achievement.
Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, amotivation, academic self-concept and learning styles enhanced academic achievement among underachieving high-ability students in Oyo State, Nigeria. Special education teachers should take cognisance of these for improving academic achievement of underachieving high-ability students.
