Benue State University, Makurdi

PEER PRESSURE, SELF-CONCEPT AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AS PREDICTORS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE ACHIEVEMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN NORTH CENTRAL ZONE OF NIGERIA

Gbadura A. Otuoze & Victor-Akinyemi Bidemi

Abstract

The research design for this study is descriptive survey using correlational study type. The study covered all secondary schools in the North central geo-political zone of Nigeria. The sample size for the study composed of 1,500 SS2 students, drawn from an intact class of a randomly selected 50 secondary schools in North-Central Education Zone. Peer Pressure Inventory (PPI); Adolescent Personal Data Inventory; International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) and English Language Achievement Test were used in data collection. Percentage were used to answer the research questions, while Multiple Regression statistics methods were used to test the stated hypothesis for predicting the variables. Findings show that peer pressure, self-concept and emotional intelligence all positively and significantly predicted English language performance among SS2 students of North Central geo-political zone. It was also found that the majority of the secondary school students sampled pass the academic achievement test. From the findings of the study, the researcher concluded that in the Nigerian schools' environment, the issue of peer pressure, emotional intelligence and academic achievement is still controversial amongst scholars in educational research. It is recommended that educational psychologists as main stakeholders in the education industry, be alive to the interwoven relationship among self-concept, peer-pressure, emotional intelligence and academic achievement. Also, a similar study should be carried out in other geo-political zone to see if similar results will be obtained.

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