EFFECT OF STUDY SKILLS TRAINING ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND RETENTION OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS GEOGRAPHY STUDENTS IN JALINGO METROPOLIS
This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of study skills training on academic achievement and retention of geography students in Jalingo metropolis of Taraba State. A pre-test, post-test control group, quasi experimental design was adopted for this study. Geography students were purposively selected from two private schools in Jalingo metropolis of Taraba State. Three validated and standardized instrument were used for data collection. These instruments were pre-test geography achievement, post-test geography achievement and retention geography test. Four research questions were stated for the lesson and four hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. Test- retest method of reliability estimate was determined by using Pearson product moment correlation coefficient. The reliability coefficient of 0.86 was obtained. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, t-test and analysis of covariance. The result of the study revealed that the experimentalgroup thatwas given study skills training performed higher (mean=52.87, SD=12.5) than that of the control group (mean=41.0, SD=8.1). Also the retention score of the experimental group is higher (mean=49.60, SD=14.38) than the control group (mean= 36.20, SD=8.01). There was also a significant difference in the academic achievement and retention scores of experimental group and control group. Based on these findings, school teachers, curriculum planners are encouraged to include study skills training in the instructional processes in classrooms to enhance retention and achievement of students.