A study on the relationship between achievement, motivation, locus of control and academic perfmance of class eight pupils in Bondo district

Abstract

The objective of the study was to investigate the influence of achievement motivation and locus of control on the academic performance of pupils. The study also examined the relationship between students' locus of control and their achievement motivation. The study sought to find out whether the variation in pupils achievement motivation and locus of control could be attributed to their gender.

Subjects in the study consisted of class eight pupils from twenty seven (27) primary schools in Bondo district. Four schools were randomly selected from each of the seven educational zones in the district. One out of the twenty-eight schools selected did not participate in the study. Thus, only twenty seven (27) schools took part in the study.

The Thematic Apperception Test (T.A.T) was used to measure achievement motivation. The Internal-External (I-E) scale administered in order to place subjects along the Internal-External locus of control continuum. Standardized scores of end year examinations for 1997 were used as a measure of students' academic performance.

The results of the I-E scale indicated that most of the subjects (60 percent) were of external locus of control while the rest (40 percent) were averaged on the scale. In view of this, and based on the results of prior studies in this general area, it was also hypothesized that since these subjects had low achievement motivation, the academic performance would be poor. Finally, it was hypothesized that there would be no gender differences in achievement motivation where boys would show higher score in achievement motivation than girls. It was hypothesized that there would be no gender differences in locus of control.

Findings supported the advanced hypotheses on the relationship between achievement motivation, locus of control and academic performance. Hypotheses stating gender differences in achievement motivation scores and locus of control scores were, however, not supported.

It was concluded that low achievement motivation and external locus of control are negatively related to students' academic performance. This is in line with previous findings in this general area.