RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELF-REGULATION SKILLS AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN PHYSICS IN AWKA EDUCATION ZONE

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between self-regulation skills and academic achievement of
secondary school students in Physics in Awka Education Zone of Anambra State. The study was
guided by tworesearch questions and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance.
The study adopted a correlation research design. The population of the study consisted of 2532
secondary school two (SS 2) students offering Physics from all the public secondary schools in
the zone. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to draw 345 secondary school two (SS 2)
students from the population. The instruments used for data collection included; Physics Self
Regulation Questionnaire (PSRQ) and average scores of students for 2024/2025 academic session.
The instruments PSRQ was validated by three experts, two from the Department of Science
Education and one from Department of Educational Foundations (Measurement and Evaluation
unit), all in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The reliability of the instrument was established
using Cronbach's alpha method, with coefficient of 0.86 for PSRQ, indicating satisfactory internal
consistency. Data collection was done through direct administration of the questionnaire to
respondents by the researcher and research assistants who are secondary school Physics teachers.
Pearson product moment correlation was employed for the analysis of the data collected using
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, vs 27). The findings of the study revealed that there
is a moderate positive and significant relationship between self-regulation skills scores and
academic achievement scores of secondary school students in Physics. In addition, the study
showed that there is moderate positive and significant relationship between self-regulation skills
scores and academic achievement scores for both male and female secondary school students in
Physics in Awka Education Zone. Based on the findings, the study concluded that self-regulation
skills play a crucial role in enhancing students’ academic achievement in Physics. It was
recommended amongst others that Physics teachers should deliberately incorporate strategies
such as goal setting, self-planning, self-monitoring, and self-reflection into classroom activities to
strengthen students’ self-regulation skills, which have been shown to significantly enhance
academic achievement.