Perception of Psychosocial Factors of Classroom Environment and Academic Achievement in Mathematics among Students in Jalingo, Nigeria: Implications for Counselling

Abstract

The study examined the Relationship between Psychosocial Factors of Classroom Environment and Academic Achievement in Mathematics among Secondary School Students in Jalingo Education Zone of Taraba State Nigeria. To guide the study, the researchers formulated one research question and one hypothesis. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. The target population of 4,144 JSS II students from fifty (50) public secondary schools in the Jalingo Education Zone was used. A sample of 436 JSS II students was selected using a simple random sampling technique (hat and draw) without replacement. Two instruments were used to collect data: Mathematics classroom environment scale Questionnaire (MCESQ) and first-term Junior secondary class two (JSS II) Mathematics Internal Examination Results of 2019/2020 academic session. Cronbach Alpha coefficient of the split-half method was used to ascertain the reliability of the instrument. (r= 0.80 and 0.86, p<.001). A two-tailed test and ANOVA were used to answer the research question and hypothesis, respectively. The result indicated there was a relationship between students' perception of the psychosocial classroom environment and academic achievement in mathematics. Counselling implications is that psychosocial factors of the classroom environment of mathematics class should be implemented in terms of high-quality teachers, friendly interaction in class and meaningful grading of learning materials