ABSTRACT

The study investigated the perceived relevance of reinforcement on students’ academic performance in Christian Religious Studies at the upper basic education level in Isialangwa North Local Government Area of Abia State.  Four research questions were raised for the study while four null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The sample for the study comprised 884 respondents made up of 778 upper basic education two (2) students offering Christian Religious Studies and 106 Christian Religious Studies teachers drawn through census sampling technique from the population of 884 respondents made up of 778 upper basic education two (2) students offering Christian Religious Studies and 106 Christian Religious Studies teachers in all the Government owned secondary schools in Isialangwa Local Government Area. The instrument for data collection is a questionnaire titled “Perceived Relevance of Reinforcement on Students Academic Performance Questionnaire (PRRSAPQ). The PRRSAPQ was developed by the researcher and face validated by three experts; two experts from psychology and counselling and one from Measurement and Evaluation all from Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. The establishment of the reliability coefficient of PRRSAPQ was carried out using test re-test method. The data obtained was analyzed using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient which yielded the coefficient index of 0.73 for the stability of the instrument. The internal consistency of the instrument was also determined using Cronbach Alpha method after single administration of the instrument and a reliability estimate of 0.86 was obtained. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while independent t-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The summary of the findings revealed that: The study revealed that there was high perception of the relevance of fixed interval schedule reinforcement on students’ academic performance in Christian Religious Studies at the upper basic education level. There was no significant difference between the mean opinions of students and teachers on the relevance of fixed interval schedule reinforcement on students’ academic performance in Christian Religious Studies at the upper basic education level; there were low level of perceived relevance of variable interval schedule reinforcement on students’ academic performance in Christian Religious Studies and there was no significant difference between the mean opinions of students and teachers on the relevance of variable interval schedule reinforcement on students’ academic performance in Christian Religious Studies; students and teachers perceived the relevance of fixed ratio schedule reinforcement on their academic performance in Christian Religious Studies to a low extent and students and teachers did not differ significantly on the relevance of fixed ratio schedule reinforcement on students’ academic performance in Christian Religious Studies; students and teachers perceived the relevance of variable ratio schedule reinforcement on their academic performance in Christian Religious Studies to a low extent and students and teachers did not differ significantly on the relevance of variable ratio schedule reinforcement on students’ academic performance in Christian Religious Studies.  It was thus recommended that teachers should vary their reinforcement schedules to enable the students to achieve better academically.