Academic Achievement Prediction: Role of Interest in Learning and Attitude Towards School

International Journal of Humanities Social Sciences and Education (IJHSSE)
Volume 1, Issue 11, November 2014, PP 73-100

ISSN 2349-0373 (Print) & ISSN 2349-0381 (Online)
www.arcjournals.org
Academic Achievement Prediction: Role of Interest in

Learning and Attitude towards School
Peter James KPOLOVIE
The Director, Academic Planning, Research & Control Unit,
Office of the Vice-Chancellor, University of Port Harcourt
kpolovie@gmail.com
Andy Igho JOE
The Deputy Vice Chancellor [Academic],
University of Port Harcourt
Tracy OKOTO
Department of Educational Psychology, Guidance and Counseling,
Faculty of Education, University of Port Harcourt
Abstract: Multiple prediction design was applied to ascertain the magnitude of relationship and
prediction that students‟ interest in learning and attitude to school individually and collectively have on
their academic achievement. A stratified random sample of 518 was drawn with the aid of table of random
numbers from the 14459 students who enrolled for the 2013 May/June Senior Secondary Certificate
Examination (SSCE) in Bayelsa State. Multiple regression statistical technique was used for analysis with
SPSS to test tenability of each postulated null hypothesis at 0.05 alpha. Results showed significant
correlation and multiple prediction of students‟ academic achievement with the predictor variables;
accounting for 21.60% of the variance in students‟ academic performance. Thus, improvement of students‟
interest in learning and attitude to school could contribute in boosting their performance academically.
Keywords: Academic achievement, Attitude towards school, Interest in learning, Multiple prediction
design; SSCE.
1. INTRODUCTION
It has become increasingly common to find youths who have written their Senior Secondary
Certificate Examination (SSCE), conducted by the West African Examination Council (WAEC)
but could neither fit into the tertiary institutions of learning nor the labor market in Nigeria
because their academic achievement (performance in the SSCE) was poor, not up to the minimum
required five credit passes that include English Language and Mathematics for admission. Such
unsatisfactory academic performance might have been occasioned by a combination of several
psychological and sociological cum environmental factors. As a way of seeking better
understanding of and combating the phenomenon of academic achievement, this investigation is
not only centered on ascertaining the actual magnitude of relationship between some
psychological factors (students‘ interest in learning and attitude towards school) and academic
achievement, but the extent to which the psychological factors individually and mutually predict
students‘ academic achievement. The researchers suspect that if these psychological correlates
happen to overwhelmingly predict students‘ academic performance, then exploring ways of
improving students‘ attitude to school and interest in learning might help in the amelioration of
their academic performance.
Academic achievement of student is the ability of the student to study and remember facts and
being able to communicate his knowledge orally or in written form even in an examination
condition. Secondary education plays a crucial role in laying the foundation for the further
education of students. If a good foundation is laid at the secondary school level, students can
©ARC Page 73
Peter James KPOLOVIE et al.
better cope with the challenges of life and profession with great ease. However, different people
have explained different factors responsible for the academic achievement of students.
Factors that influence students' academic achievement at the senior secondary school are not
conclusively known and could be multivariate in nature. They might include students‘ attitude
towards school, interest in learning, study habit, attribution, self-efficacy, intelligence, and
motivation. Udoh (2005) maintained that academic performance of students is phenomenon that
has educational, psychological and sociological connotation. Thus, students‘ academic
achievement cannot be completely accounted for by only one or two variables but a number of
them. Since students‘ academic performance depends on a number of variables, performance
could be enhanced through identifying and manipulating each of such variables.
Attitude towards schooling denotes a positive or negative predisposition towards schooling and
every activity in the school environment, which could be cognitive, emotional, or behavioral
(Bernstein, Penner, Clarke-Stewar & Roy, 2006). Fazio and Roskes (1994), said, ―attitudes are
important to educational psychology because they strongly influence social thought, the way an
individual thinks about and social information‖. It is evident that, when so defined, attitudes
cannot be directly observed but must be inferred from overt behavior, both verbal and nonverbal.
Most children come to school ready and willing to learn. How school can best foster and
strengthen their predisposition and ensure that they leave school with the motivation and capacity
to continue learning throughout life has remained a matter of great concern. Without development
of the right attitudes, students may not be well prepared to acquire the new knowledge and skills
necessary for successful adaptation to changing circumstances and the necessary situation to
achieve in their academic pursuit (Kuusinen & Leskinen, 1988). In school, teachers manage much
of students‘ learning. However, learning might be enhanced if students can manage it themselves;
moreover, once they leave school, individuals have to manage most of their own learning. To do
this, they need to be able to establish goals, to persevere, to monitor their learning progress, to
adjust their learning strategies as necessary and to overcome difficulties in learning. Students who
leave school with the autonomy to set their own learning goals and with a sense that they can
reach those goals tend to be better equipped to learn throughout their lives (Candeias, Rebelo,
Olivera & Mendes, 2012).
Beyond students‘ perception of how well school will prepare them for life, their overall attitude to
school and to all the school-related activities could be important. For some students, school is
central to their daily life. They view schooling as essential to their long term well-being, and this
attitude is reflected in their participation in academic and non-academic pursuits. The students
tend to have good relations with school staff and with other students when their attitude to school
is positive. However, many youths express negative attitude to school as they do not tend to
believe that the school and success in it will have a strong bearing on their future. Such negative
feelings and attitudes may result in their becoming disaffected with school (Williams, 2000).
They may withdraw from school activities, and in some cases, participate in disruptive behavior
and display negative attitudes towards teachers and other students.
Students‘ attitude to school can be seen as a disposition towards learning, working with others and
functioning in a social institution. It is partly for this reason that the Pearson Foundation (2014)
with the Quaglia Institute for Student Aspiration identified eight conditions for students to realize
academic, social, and personal success; and emphasized that attitude towards school, also referred
to as the sense of belonging is the first and most crucial. It emphasizes self worth, engaged
learning and sense of purpose. Attitude to school is an important condition for a student's feeling
of well-being, social engagement, and competence. Highly positive attitude towards school
increases intrinsic motivation, for it fosters self-confidence and investment in the community. It is
only with positive attitude towards school that a student can develop good sense of belonging and
engagement in school. The condition of belonging means that a student is a valued member of the
school community while still maintaining his or her uniqueness. It is a relationship between two
or more persons characterized by a sense of connection and support for individual achievement of
self-actualization and advancement.
Attitude to school can be, for some students, indicative of educational success and well-being. As
such, this perception deserves to be treated alongside academic performance, an important
outcome of schooling. The academic performance of students may partly depend on the kind of
International Journal of Humanities Social Sciences and Education (IJHSSE) Page 74
Academic Achievement Prediction: Role of Interest in Learning and Attitude towards School
attitude they put up towards school and the level of success they wish to attain. It is for this reason
that this investigation is necessarily embarked on to critically study the relationship and the extent
to which students‘ attitude towards school can predict their academic achievement.
―Interest in learning, could most probably be a very powerful affective psychological trait and a
very strong knowledge emotion as well as an overwhelming magnetic positive feeling, a sense of
being captivated, enthralled, invigorated and energized to cognitively process information much
faster and more accurately in addition to most effective application of psychomotor traits like self-
regulatory skills, self-discipline, working harder and smarter with optimum persistence‖
(Kpolovie, 2010a). He recommended the need for psychologists to execute research works for
ascertaining the actual role that interest in learning plays in students‘ academic attainment at all
levels of the educational system.
The nature and strength of one‘s interest in learning and in schooling may represent an important
aspect of personality (Anastasi & Urbina 2007). The characteristic, interest, may substantially
influence educational and occupational achievement, interpersonal relations, the enjoyment one
derives from leisure activities, and other major phases of daily living. Values are clearly related to
life choices and are often discussed in conjunction with interests and preference. From the view
point of the student and what he intends to achieve educationally, a consideration of his interest
might be of practical significance. The interest must be there for him to devote time for his study.
This investigation seeks to x-ray the relationship and the degree to which students‘ interest in
learning predicts their academic achievement.
A person‘s successful achievement in any activity is based upon the volume of requisite
information that he has on the activity, his interpretation of it and most importantly, the
application of his entire information on it. Acquisition of such information depends on reading
and learning in most cases. But the drive to learn could to an extent be a function of the person‘s
interest in the activity. It depends on the individual to decide why he wants to study materials on
an activity and engage in the activity. What one learns may depends on the degree to which he
succeeds in achieving that aim or purpose. Isangedighi (1997) reports strong correlation between
interest in learning, study habits and academic achievement of high school students. He equally
noted that the degree of learning depends on the amount of time a child is actively engaged in
learning. The time spent on studying helps students to retain the materials learnt, which may
eventually boost the students‘ performance outcomes during tests or examinations. A person does
not naturally spend very long time in studying materials that do not capture his interest and
attention.
One‘s pursuit of education and the actual magnitude of his academic achievement depend on
several factors, many of which are collectively referred to as correlates of academic achievement.
The current researchers are poised to investigating two of such correlates (interest in learning and
attitude towards school) with a view to identifying their relationship with and the degree of
contribution that they independently and collectively have in the prognosis of students‘ academic
achievement in secondary school as measured by their grade in the 2013 May/June SSCE,
conducted by the WAEC.
Statement of the problem
Nothing important happens without a cause or in total isolation of associated factors. The level of
academic achievement of students is dependent upon or associated with a number of
psychological, sociological and environmental factors. The psychological factors could include
attitude of students toward schooling, interest in learning, study habit, attribution or locus of
control, self-efficacy, personality, motivation, creativity, sociability, age, persistence, and
intelligence. In this investigation, traits that serve as predictor variables are attitude towards
school and interest in learning because the extent to which these constructs actually correlate with
and probably predict students‘ academic performance in the SSCE, conducted by WAEC, has not
been conclusively established empirically (Kpolovie, Ololube & Ekwebelem, 2011).
All senior secondary students desire success academically, but are driven by different motives and
different stimuli for attainment of the success. Students do different things to attain desired
academic performance. Some students lack self-confidence and may resort to examination
malpractice for their test scores, some are studious but still do not do very well in their
educational pursuit, some have examination phobia maybe due to some unpleasant situations
experienced at younger age in school that has resulted in apathy in schooling. While some
students attribute their successes and failures to outside factors like their luck, teachers and other
influential persons; some accept total responsibility for their successes and failures. Some
students‘ level of achievement is dependent upon the level of motivation they get from people
directly or indirectly. Though there may be other factors like social and environmental factors
that militate against students‘ achievement, the variables investigated in this study are centered on
the students‘ response to psychological stimuli of academic performance. The researchers are
interested in finding out the magnitude and nature (direction) of relationship between each of the
psychological constructs (attitude towards school and interest in learning) and students‘ academic
achievement; and the extent to which the criterion variable is predicted individually and
collectively by the predictor variables.
Research Questions
The following six research questions guided the study.
1. What is the relationship between students‘ attitude towards school and their academic
achievement?
2. What is the relationship between students‘ interest in learning and their academic
achievement?
3. What is the relationship between students‘ interest in learning and their attitude to school?
4. To what extent does attitude towards school predict students‘ academic achievement?
5. To what extent does interest in learning predicts students‘ academic achievement?
6. What is the extent to which students‘ interest in learning and attitude towards school
jointly predict their academic performance?
Hypotheses Postulation
The tenability of six null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance as specified by
Kpolovie (2011b).
1. Significant relationship does not exist between students‘ attitude to school and their
academic achievement.
2. Significant relationship does not exist between students‘ interest in learning and their
academic achievement.
3. Significant relationship does not exist between students‘ interest in learning and their
attitude towards school.
4. Interest in learning does not significantly predict students‘ academic achievement.
5. Students‘ attitude to school does not significantly predict their academic achievement.
6. Students‘ interest in learning and attitude towards school do not jointly predict students‘
academic achievement significantly.
Review of Literature
This section of the introduction is a brief review of related literature.
Academic Achievement
Academic achievement in this investigation is operationally defined as the aggregate of each
student‘s demonstrated learning, knowledge, skills, ability, and indeed cognitive, affective and
psychomotor domains in four subjects (Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Economics)
as measured by the student‘s grade in the 2013 May/June Senior Secondary Certificate
Examination (SSCE) that was reliably and validly conducted by the West African Examination
Council (WAEC) in Bayelsa State of Nigeria. These are the four subjects that all the respondents
wrote in the SSCE.
Academic achievement can be defined as excellence in all academic disciplines, in class as well
as extracurricular activities. Academic achievement is the outcome of education as it indicates the
extent to which the student, teacher, curricular and indeed the educational institution has achieved
the predetermined educational goals. Academic achievement is commonly measured with
examinations that assess important procedural knowledge such as skills, and declarative
knowledge such as facts which student have learnt (Engel, 2002; Bennett, 2003; Bishin, 1973).
Academic achievement, used interchangeably with academic performance, is indispensable in
every formal educational institution. It pertains to scholarly human activities conducted in a
formal educational environment. Academic achievement is a measurable index that depicts a
student‘s cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains in an educational setting. Students‘
academic achievement is ascertained by testing which ―has and will continue to play significant
role in any educational system world-over. In fact, it would be irrational to think of teaching
without test, measurement and evaluation. Evaluation of educational achievement is indispensable
for effective formal and even non-formal education‖ (Kpolovie, 2014a: 30). The Joint Committee
of the American Association of School Administrators (1962); the Joint Committee on Testing
Practices (2004) and the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation (2003) in the
United States (Alamieyeseigha and Kpolovie, 2013) have reiterated that to teach without testing
to ascertain the learners‘ academic achievement is unthinkable. This position is also held and
emphatically expressed by the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation (1988)
and (1994). Academic achievement which is usually measured with test refers to what is actually
done under existing circumstances that subsumes the process of accessing and utilizing the
structure of knowledge and abilities and a host of affective, motivational and stylistic factors that
influence the ultimate responses (Murphy and Moon, 1989; Kaplan and Saccuzzo, 2005).
Academic achievement is therefore a yard stick for ascertaining the capabilities of a student from
which his overt, covert and inherent or unrevealed abilities could be inferred. Academic
performance is generally used to determine how well an individual is able to assimilate, retain,
recall and communicate his knowledge of what has been learnt. Knowles (1978) asserts that
academic performance is the demonstrated achievement of learning as opposed to the potential for
learning. It is knowledge attained or skills developed in school subjects usually designated by
scores in formal tests or examinations. Academic achievement refers to the observed and
measured aspect of a student‘s mastery of skills and subject contents as measured with valid and
reliable tests (Joe, Kpolovie, Osonwa & Iderima (2014). It suggests that academic performance is
different from the academic potentials of an individual. It is the measured relatively permanent
changes in an individual‘s behaviour due to experiences acquired. A student‘s academic
performance is usually measured by teacher-made tests or standardized tests (Kpolovie, 2014a)
which in most cases are referred to as external examinations like the Senior School Certificate
Examination (SSCE) conducted in Nigeria by the West African Examination Council (WAEC)
and the National Examination Council (NECO) (Kpolovie, Ololube and Ekwebelem, 2011).
Academic achievement in this work is in the context of learning and being able to express what
has been learnt in a written or practical form without examination malpractice of any sort. It is on
this note that Ashton (1990: 569) stated that ―academic attainment as measured by the
examinations of the traditional kind involves most of the capacity to express oneself in a written
form. It requires the capacity to retain propositional knowledge, to select from such knowledge
appropriately in response to a specified request and to do so without reference to possible sources
of information. The capacity to memorize and organise materials is particularly important.‖
Lawton and Gordon (1993) posited that it is quite possible to have a high ability coupled with a
low attainment, achievement or performance. Hence, academic performance is the demonstrated
achievement of learning as opposed to the potential for learning and is measured validly with
SSCE by WAEC and NECO in Nigeria (Kpolovie, Ololube and Ekwebelem, 2011). In the same
vein, Lawton and Gordon further commented that academic achievement is the present attainment
or learning of a particular skill or knowledge demonstrated by evidence of some kind, including
performance in test. Academic performance is the achievement of a student in terms of aggregate
obtained in a test or examination in specific subjects that cover a given academic programme.
The academic achievement of students may also dependent to an extent on many environmental
factors which include education funding (Kpolovie and Obilor, 2013; Kpolovie, 2014), the
student, home, school administration (Ololube and Kpolovie, 2012), teacher, cultural and
educational policy (Kpolovie, 2013; Kpolovie, 2012a) that can easily be studied experimentally
and conclusive conclusions drawn. Since learning is an integral aspect and a major determinant of
academic achievement, it logically follows that the factors influencing learning in an individual
may have overt or covert effects on the individual‘s academic performance. The economic or
financial aspect of the school environment may largely determine academic performance. This is
true because it influences the acquisition of instructional or teaching/learning aids as well as the
provision of infrastructural facilities and basic amenities in the school environment. Though
education funding determines both the quality and quantity of both human and material resources
to enhance learning, ―the average percentage of total annual budgetary allocation to education in
Nigeria from 1960 to date is self-destructively low as 5.72‖ as revealed by Kpolovie (2014) in a
study that he ex-rayed quality assurance in the Nigerian Educational system.
A hungry or malnourished student may find it difficult to maximally concentrate in the class and
optimally learn (Siminialayi, 2014 and Kpolovie, 2011a). In fact Kpolovie (2012) demonstrated
the effect of brain boosting food and brain boosting food supplements on learning that individuals
cannot live well and function maximally, mentally or cognitively without eating food that is rich
in Omega-3 fatty essential acids (such as salmon, mackerel, soybeans, pumpkin seeds and
walnuts) and antioxidants (such as blueberries, mangoes, watermelon and dark green vegetables)
as they enhance acquisition and retention of knowledge. He further stated that the symptoms of
Omega-3 fatty acid deficiency include fatigue, poor memory, dry skin, heart problem, mood
swings, depression, poor circulation and attention deficit, cognitive decline, dementia and
Alzheimer‘s disease. All these go a long way to explain the effects of nutrition on an individual‘s
academic achievement. Academic performance is high when the right nutrition is adequately
taken and vice versa.
The school administration also plays a significant role in determining students‘ academic
achievement (Ololube and Kpolovie, 2012). The administrators decide the use of funds,
acquisition of instructional materials and teaching aids, employment of both the quantity and
quality of teachers, in truth, all materials and human resources that enter into the school premises.
Poor academic performance may also be manifestations of failed policies (Kpolovie, 2012a; 2014)
in Nigeria. Solutions lie in correcting such polices, in addition to initiating new ones in strict
accordance with needs analysis and regular utilitarian evaluation that would make the educational
system work more effectively and efficiently for the maximum benefit of all the stakeholders
(Kpolovie, 2010; Kpolovie and Ololube, 2013; Kpolovie, 2012a).
Unfortunate however, unlike the environmental factors that can easily be studied experimentally
to determine their effects on students‘ academic achievement; psychological factor that tend to
influence academic achievement could at best only be studied as correlates or predictor of
academic achievement. While negative behaviors have been associated with negative academic
outcomes, research has shown that positive and socially appropriate student behaviors such as
independence, appropriate classroom conduct, compliance with school rules, and socially
appropriate interactions with peers, contribute to positive academic outcomes (Lassen, Steele &
Sailor, 2006). These positive interactions can create a more pleasurable environment conducive to
positive student and teacher communications. Positive behaviors have been associated with an
increased ability and willingness to complete classroom works through motivation from students.
It is suggested that these positive behaviors contribute to positive academic outcomes because
they promote academically oriented behavior, such as intellectual curiosity, active listening and
an interest in schoolwork (Lassen, Steele & Sailor, 2006).
Interest in Learning
Interest is defined by Typhoon International Corp. (2004: 662) as the ―attention with a sense of
concern; lively sympathy or curiosity; and the power to excite or hold such attention (in
something).‖ Interest plays great role in the field of psychology as some recent research works
have found that it is closely related with personality, motivation, cognition, development,
emotion, vocations, aesthetics, behavior, hobbies, reasoning, and information processing (Silvia,
2006). A few works have found interest to be a factor that partly influences reading and text
processing as a text with the features of coherence, vividness, ease of comprehension, and
concreteness tends to arouse greater interest of the audience than a text without such features.
Though there is evidence that seductive details of interest has detrimental effect as it impairs
comprehension; ―interest promotes comprehension and memory for several reasons: interest
increases attention to a text; interest makes people process a text more deeply; and interest
promotes good meta-cognitive strategies‖ (Silvia, 2006).
In spite of psychologists‘ praxis that is mainly on determination of why people do what they do,
psychologists have characteristically disregarded close examination of interest as an
overwhelming construct in the determination of human learning, motivation and emotion (Silvia,
2006). This omission of interest in psychological praxis accounts for why the trait is not
mentioned in the Oxford Dictionary of Psychology by Colman (2003) and is not accorded due
attention in several major psychological books (Gleitman, Fridlund & Reisberg, 2004; Kassin,
2006; Matlin, 1999; Hetherington & Parke, 1999; Goldstein, 1994; Papalia, Old & Feldman,
2002; Baron, 1999; Santrock, 2000; Franzoi, 2000; Santrock, 2001; Feldman, 2000; Weiten,
2005; Durand & Barlow, 2000; Myers, 2002; Elliot, Kratochwill, Cook & Travers, 2002; Morgan,
King, Weiz & Schopler, 1986; Hayes, 1998; Resenzweig, Breedlove & Leiman, 2002; Wood &
Wood, 2002; Brannon & Feist, 1997; Zimbardo & Weber, 1994).
Other top psychological books that one will rightly expect to find a chapter or a section dedicated
to interest, but the trait is obviously absent as further evidence that interest has not been
considered and treated as a psychological construct in the past include Brannon and Feist (2007);
Vaughn and Bos (2009); Kirk, Gallagher, Anastasiow and Coleman (2006); Sternberg (2006);
Reisberg (2006); Cauley, Linder and McMillan (1999); Funder (2007); Littrell, Lorenz and Smith
(1996); Arnold (2005); Tepperman (2006); Kantowitz, Roediger III and Elmes (2005); and Paul
(2004). In fact, the list of excellent books on psychology in the past that did not accord attention
to interest as one of the several psychological attributes is endless.
It is only recently that some researchers in the field of psychology are trying to focus attention on
the possible roles that interest could play in learning, motivation, and in the overall development
of the human being in attainment of psychosocial body equilibrium. The present research is aimed
at filling the existing great knowledge gap by empirically establishing the extent to which interest
in learning predicts student‘s academic achievement, if at all it indeed does.
Silvia (2006) reviewed the research works that are recently emerging on the psychology of
interest and indicated what contemporary emotion research has revealed about the subject. He
answered these four research questions:
Is interest like other emotions?
What functions does interest serve?
What makes something interesting?
Is interest merely another label for happiness?
Based on his findings, recommendations were made that interest play central role in cultivating
knowledge and expertise, and therefore psychologists should apply research on interest to
practical problems of learning, education, and motivation.
It is only recently that psychologists started to investigate interest and the results are impressive as
stated by Paul (2014) that: ―in recent years researchers have begun to build a science of interest,
investigating what interest is, how interest develops, what makes things interesting, and how we
can cultivate interest in ourselves and in others. They are finding that interest can help us think
more clearly, understand more deeply, and remember more accurately. Interest has the power to
transform struggling performers, and lift high achievers to a new plane.‖ In an earlier study, Paul
(2013) found that interest cognitively engages students and statistically fosters learning.
Interest could be seen as ―a psychological state of engagement, experienced in the moment, and
also a predisposition to engage repeatedly in particular ideas, events, or objects over time‖ (Paul,
2014). Interest simultaneously diversifies one‘s experience and focuses his experience; leading
him to pay attention to only certain things and not to some other things that tend to stimulate the
person‘s attention. Interest serves as a drive towards the new, the edgy, and the exotic. Both the
urge to approach or engage in certain events and the urge to avoid some events lie in the realm of
interest.
Interest in an activity, such as learning, could most probably be a very powerful affective
psychological trait and a very strong knowledge emotion as well as an overwhelming magnetic
positive feeling, a sense of being captivated, enthralled, invigorated and energized to cognitively
process information much faster and more accurately in addition to most effective application of
psychomotor traits like self-regulatory skills, self-discipline, working harder and smarter with
optimum persistence (Kpolovie, 2010a; 2007; 2010). Persistence for instance, is defined by
Kpolovie (2012; 2010) as ―the indomitable willpower, unshakable determination, irrepressible
commitment, absolute dedication, relentless pursuit, continuous and ever-increasing confidence
and resolute action in the direction of one‘s goal until it is satisfactorily achieved.‖ Self-discipline
is defined as ―the ability to and the actual commitment to make oneself do what one should do,
exactly how and when he/she should do it, irrespective of whether he/she feels like it or not‖
(Kpolovie, 2010). It is little wonder then that when an individual is keenly interested in the
information that he is learning, he tends to pay closer attention; process the information more
effectively; employ the most effective learning strategies; engage in critical thinking; rehearse
deeply; and very frequently make connections between the new information and old knowledge
acquired (Kpolovie, 2010a; Kpolovie, 2007; Kpolovie, 2012).
Growing knowledge leads to growing interest as new information increases the likelihood of
conflict (i.e., conflict of coming across a fact or idea that does not fit into what the individual has
already learnt) (Silvia, 2006; Paul, 2014). The more a person knows or learns about a domain, the
more interesting the domain becomes to him. This is most probably because of the phenomenon
of more learning leading to more questions, which in turn increases learning. It is on this note that
Kpolovie (2012) emphatically posited that:
The most central phenomenon in human life can rightly be said to be learning.
The desire to express learning and to acquire more of it both consciously and
unconsciously is infinitely endless. No individual has learnt maximally and none
perhaps, could ever do so; yet to maximally learn in a perfectly unforgettable
manner is doubtlessly the ultimate goal of all human.
He defined leaning as:
the complex synergy of cognitive, affective, psychomotor and environmental
experiences and other influences for the acquisition, maintenance, organization,
reorganization and enhancement of changes in an individual‘s behavior,
knowledge, skills, values, personality and world views for better resolution of
problems. Each problem so resolved, is itself a relevant piece of leaning that adds
to the complex whole and better prepares the individual for further acquisition
and organization of knowledge to produce yet a more intelligent behavior in overt
or covert problem resolution.
The information that is novel, complex, and comprehensible tends to arouse learner‘s interest
because it increases curiosity (Kpolovie, 2007). Understandability of the learning material is
crucial in capturing of the learner‘s interest. New and complex things are interesting provided the
learner feels able to comprehend them and master the challenges that they pose (Silvia, 2006;
Paul, 2013; Paul, 2014). Curiosity is the ―totality of a person‘s organized active explorative and
manipulative behavior in response to the occurrence of a novel, unexpected and unpredicted
phenomenon by logically seeking conclusive observable and empirical evidence to resolve all the
questions of what, why, how, when and which about the phenomenon‖ (Kpolovie, 2010).
This is in consonance with the proposition of Loewenstein (1994) that there is a psychology of
curiosity which holds that ―curiosity arises when attention becomes focused on a gap in one‘s
knowledge. Such information gaps produce the feeling of deprivation labeled curiosity. The
curious individual is (intrinsically) motivated to obtain the missing information to reduce or
eliminate the feeling of deprivation.‖ Once this is done, the individual has learnt both the
information that led to the curiosity or knowledge gap as well as the information with which he
filled the knowledge gap or resolved the curiosity. So learning could be facilitated by creating or
arousing the learner‘s interest with catching and holding his attention via presentation of novel,
complex and comprehensible information that arouses his curiosity (Kpolovie, 2010a). While
catching the learner‘s interest is about seizing his attention by providing highly stimulating
information, holding his interest is about finding deeper meaning and purpose in the exercise of
interest. Sustaining of a person‘s interest in a piece of information could also be done by
promoting the development of his interests by supporting his feelings of competence and self-

efficacy, self-direction and autonomy that makes him to sustain the attention and motivation even
in the midst of challenging or confusing material.
Interests powerfully influence academic and professional choices. In a longitudinal study using
858 subjects by Harackiewicz, Durik, Barron, Linnenbrink-Garcia, and Tauer (2008) that lasted
for seven years, the results chiefly showed that interest is a more powerful predictor of future
choices than prior achievement or demographic variables. Interest has also been found to have
marked effects on the way people read. An interesting text allows for better comprehension during
reading and recall of the information after reading. In this way, interest is not only able to, but
actually boosts or enhances memory, which invariably tends to boost learning. To this end,
teachers and librarians are ideally positioned to serve as cultivators of students‘ interests in
reading and learning.
However, Paul (2013) stated that:
Given the galvanizing effects of interest on learning, it is troubling that research shows
students‘ interest in academic subjects decline across their years in school. Interest
starts out strong in the elementary grades but bottoms out in early high school, just at
the moment when students are preparing to make choices about further education and
future careers. Interest in academics is lower among weak students than among
successful ones, meaning that those who are most in need of interest‘s boost are least
likely to feel it. Moreover, our nation‘s education policy, with its emphasis on
improving standardized test scores in a small number of subjects, may be eliminating
exactly those experiences that lead students to discover and develop their interests.
In a research on the employment outlook that sought to specify the occupational employment
opportunities over ten years in the United States, the U.S. Department of Labor (2005) and the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted that between 2004 and 2014, there will be a 22% growth
in jobs for fields related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The
nation was then required to ensure that her youths be provided with the requisite opportunities to
understand how they can best be prepared for the changes in the workforce by acquiring extra
skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Alamieyeseigha & Kpolovie, 2013).
To this end, a number of suitable programs were embarked upon throughout the United States
(U.S. Department of Education, 2010a; U.S. Department of Education, 2010b). Special programs
were also designed for acquisition of STEM skills by women and the minorities in proportion to
their population growth.
In line with the then current trend, an investigation designed for quality understanding and
engagement of Hispanic students and teachers, Hayden, Ouyang, Scinski, Olszewski and
Bielelfeldt (2011) sought ways of promoting student interest and attitudes toward careers in
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The study centered on two models,
student summer camp program, and professional development. The student summer camp
findings show that underserved populations of both female and male students experienced
increased interest and improved attitudes toward science and technology and performed better
academically. The professional development model was able to transform middle school science
teachers from digital immigrants to advocates of having technology as a critical part of student
learning through integration of innovative technology experiences in formal science settings.
Results further showed how teachers successfully implemented lessons that engage students in
hands-on investigations, leading to deeper understanding of science and, therefore improving the
potential of underrepresented students competing in STEM fields.
In STEM projects were mounted on the principle that the more interested students are in a subject,
the more involved they become in their assignments, putting effort into their studies and engaging
in deeper levels of thinking (U.S. Department of Education, 2010b). Efforts towards meeting the
demands of STEM sought to and successfully increased students‘ interest and engagement in
science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses at all educational levels that eventually
led to involvement in math- and science-related after-school activities and career aspirations in the
United States (Alamieyeseigha & Kpolovie, 2013).
The investigations for Quality Understanding and Engagement for Students and Teachers, funded
by the National Science Foundation captured and maintained students interest in STEM and
brought technology-enhanced learning experiences as early intervention for middle school

students in classrooms having high percentages of traditionally underserved populations in STEM
fields, specifically focusing on Hispanic populations and girls with five guiding principles
(Hayden, Ouyang, Scinski, Olszewski, & Bielelfeldt, 2011):
1. Students‘ best chance to experience information and communication technology (ICT)
enhanced learning comes from ICT-savvy teachers.
2. Students and teachers increase 21st -century workforce skills through ICT-enhanced
learning experiences.
3. Students‘ and teachers‘ individual needs are addressed in learning communities.
4. Students who are engaged in hands-on investigations have deeper understanding of
science concepts.
5. Students who see themselves as scientists pursue STEM careers.
The project teachers were provided professional development and mentoring to support them in
becoming cyber-ready workforce members who feel comfortable incorporating innovative
technology resources in classroom lessons to enhance students‘ understanding of scientific
concepts and investigations. ICT resources such as visualization tools, interactive games, online
collaboration, videoconferencing, and open source applications promoted students‘ interest in
technology and science and prepared the students as cyber-ready, 21st century workers who are
prepared to pursue STEM careers.
Emerick (2007) investigated the factors which influenced the reversal of underachievement
pattern in 10 gifted students (aged 14 to 20 with IQ not less than 125) who progressed from
chronic underachievement to academic excellence from northern New England, the Northeast,
and the Southeast regions of the United States. Results showed evidence that some gifted
underachievers may respond well to interventions which incorporate educational modifications
that focus on individual strengths and interests. Personal interests can motivate the student to
learn and provide an avenue for learning various skills related to school success. Of greatest
importance, the study provided empirical support for relating the individual's perception of his
inadequacy in school learning to the development of related interests, attitudes, and academic self-
concept. Emerick (2007) asserted that:
Today, there is no problem more perplexing or frustrating than the situation in
which a bright child cannot or will not perform at an academic level
commensurate with his or her intellectual ability. The gifted child who is an
academic underachiever may suffer from more than poor grades and the
disapproval of parents and teachers. Unfortunately, if performance in school is
deemed inadequate, the child may also perceive himself or herself as inadequate
in other kinds of learning experiences. As these unpleasant experiences continue,
a negative attitude toward school, self, and learning in general may result, and
poor motivation habits may develop.
The explanation and prediction of academic achievement is an important area of research in
education. The prevalence of research efforts in this area reflects the fact that many decisions
reached in the modern educational system are based upon predictions of school success. The
estimation of a candidate's probability of future academic success is a central aspect of the
decision-making process in every educational setting, irrespective of whether the process involves
personal decisions or institutional decisions (Ololube and Kpolovie, 2012).
There are three major distinct groups of factors that have been found by psychologists to influence
achievement (a) student characteristics (e.g., intelligence), (b) home environment (e.g.,
socioeconomic class), and (c) school context (e.g., quality of instruction). Academic career
decisions rely mainly on student characteristics that are broadly classified into three factors of
academic success prognosis: (a) general cognitive factors such as verbal and quantitative ability;
(b) general motivational factors like achievement motivation; and (c) specific preferences for
particular subject areas. The last two of these factors can commonly be referred to as "interests"
(Krapp, Schiefele & Winteler, 2009; Krapp, 1999).

The Cognitive factors have been found to overwhelmingly exhibit the greatest predictive power,
accounting for as large as 50% of the variance in academic performance (Krapp, 1999; Krapp,
Schiefele & Winteler, 2009; Bloom, 1976; Kuusinen & Leskinen, 1988). There is general
agreement, based on empirical evidence that motivational or emotional factors are of less
importance in prognosis of academic achievement (Kuusinen & Leskinen, 1988). However
interest, level of effort put in reading and learning style adopted might still hold some influence
on academic performance (Hidi, 2001; Renninger, Hidi & Krapp, 2014).
Goulart and Bedi (2011) examined whether a child‘s interest in school has any bearing on his
educational success after controlling for the kinds of variables typically used in educational
economics analyses in Portugal. They collected two data sets in 1998 and 2001 and examined the
link between interest in schooling or in learning and educational success, using cross-section and
panel data in each set. Results indicated that after controlling for other traits, there is little or
nothing in support of the hypothesis that prior interest in school has a bearing on future
educational success. Simply put, they found that interest in school does not meaningfully predict
the variance in students‘ academic performance. Thus, manipulation of interest in school or in
learning might not be a veritable means or solution to the educational attainment in Portugal that
considerably lags behind most European countries.
Unlike Goulart and Bedi‘ (2011), Hussin, Maarof and D‘Cruz (2001) successfully employed
enriched teaching/learning procedures in which both teachers and students‘ motivation and
interest in English Language were elicited to improve the learning of English Language in
Malaysian schools beyond the customary preparation of students for standardized examinations.
In this case, manipulation of students‘ and teachers‘ motivation and interest could possibly be
adopted to improve academic performance in English Language.
Eberly Center (2014) stressed the probable association between interest in the learning material
and the actual effort expended in learning it; noting that irrespective of the objective value of an
activity or topic, if students do not recognize its value, they may not be motivated to expend
effort. When the students clearly see how coursework connects to their life-long goals, and
concerns, they will be more likely to value it, be more interested in it learning it, and thus more
motivated to invest time and effort for possible excellent performance. For purposes of emphasis,
Eberly Center (2014) advanced seven guiding principles as follows:
1. Students‘ prior knowledge can help or hinder learning.
2. How students organize knowledge influences how they learn and apply what they know.
3. Students‘ motivation determines, directs, and sustains what they do to learn.
4. To develop mastery, students must acquire component skills, practice integrating them,
and know when to apply what they have learned.
5. Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted feedback enhances the quality of students‘
learning.
6. Students‘ current level of development interacts with the social, emotional, and
intellectual climate of the course to impact learning.
7. To become self-directed learners, students must learn to monitor and adjust their
approaches to learning.
Eberly Center (2014) advanced seven corresponding strategies that could possibly be adopted by
the teacher to capture and sustain the learner‘s interest in the learning of any given subject matter.
1. Clearly articulate learning goals.
Students will be more motivated to work if they know what goals they are working towards. Thus,
it is a good idea not only to articulate goals for the course, but also for specific lectures,
discussions, and assignments. For example, before beginning a lecture, an instructor might write
on the board the skills, knowledge, and perspectives students will gain that day (with appropriate
effort), using concrete, student-centered language—for example, ―When you leave today, you
should be able to debate the pros and cons of a single-payer health plan; apply a particular
economic framework to make predictions about interest rates; identify, illustrate and compare
three theoretical approaches in child development.‖ Articulating learning goals is important for a

variety of reasons, but it plays a key role in motivation by showing students the specific value
they will derive from a particular course, unit, or activity.
2. Show relevance to students’ academic lives.
Students will be more motivated to work hard if they see the value of what they are learning to
their overall course of study. Consequently, it is important to explain to students how your course
will help prepare them for subsequent courses (e.g., a mathematics professor might help to
motivate psychology students by explaining how the math skills they learn will help them in
quantitative courses for their major). This gives students a better appreciation of the combined
value of the courses they take and lets them see how each contributes to their overall education. It
is also helpful to point out when students are learning skills that will help them later in the same
course—especially when the material is difficult and potentially frustrating (e.g., an instructor
might help encourage students who are struggling with a concept by saying, ―This is a difficult
idea, but a crucial one, and you‘re going to be very glad you learned it when we begin analyzing
negotiation cases in Unit 3‖). Seeing the value of the material within a broader academic
framework can help students sustain motivation and persist through challenges and setbacks.
3. Demonstrate relevance to students’ professional lives.
Students are more likely to exert effort in a course if they anticipate an eventual payoff in terms of
their future professional lives. Consequently, instructors can enhance motivation by linking their
course content to students‘ intended professions, pointing out how the skills and knowledge
students are gaining in class will help them after they graduate. An information systems
instructor, for example, can motivate students to learn information systems principles by pointing
to real-life database failures that resulted when these principles were not applied. A theater
instructor might motivate acting students to study dramaturgy by explaining how a rich
understanding of a play‘s context will contribute to their understanding of character. It is
especially important to highlight the professional relevance of higher-level skills such as
quantitative reasoning, public speaking, persuasive writing, and teamwork, because students do
not always recognize their importance in the work world.
4. Highlight real-world applications of knowledge and skills.
One effective way to harness student motivation is to have students apply what they are learning
to real-world contexts. For example, a marketing professor might use a real-world industry case
study to give students practice applying marketing principles to complex, contextualized
problems. Similarly, in an information systems course, the instructor might assign a service-
learning project in which students must build a database for a non-profit community organization.
This kind of task allows students to work within authentic constraints, interact with real clients,
and explore possible professions. Such assignments may also create possibilities for future
internships or jobs. All of these factors are likely to increase student motivation. Even in courses
that are more theoretical than applied, instructors can convey the relevance of course content
simply by pointing out its significance in the real world. For example, a mathematics professor
teaching optimization might point out that financial institutions use optimization techniques to
maximize trade efficiency.
5. Connect to students’ personal interests.
Motivation is often enhanced when instructors connect course material to students‘ personal
interests. For example, a chemistry professor might link a lesson on chemical transformations of
carbohydrates to students‘ interest in cooking. A history instructor might motivate interest in
colonial history by showing how it helps to explain contemporary geopolitical conflicts or
environmental problems. Similarly, well-constructed courses that tap into issues that are
important to students (e.g., The History of Rock ‗n‘ Roll, Philosophy and the Matrix [a popular
film], The Statistics of Sexual Orientation) can capitalize on students‘ motivation without
sacrificing intellectual or disciplinary rigor.
6. Allow students some degree of choice.
One possible way to enhance student motivation is to allow students to choose topics for papers
and projects that connect the course content to their outside interests and passions. For example, a

physics instructor might allow a student who plays different sports to do a project comparing the
spin, rotation, and acceleration of differently shaped balls. A history instructor teaching about
immigration might allow students to write about their own family‘s immigration experience in
relation to the course content. However, while flexibility and choice can be motivating, it is also
important to recognize that weighing and choosing among alternatives requires cognitive effort
and can create an extra burden for students. Thus, instructors might want to provide a restricted
set of options and sufficient time to choose among them. This can enhance motivation without
overwhelming students with too many choices.
7. Show your own passion and enthusiasm.
Your own enthusiasm about the course content can be powerful and contagious. Even if students
are not initially attracted to or interested in the material, by clearly demonstrating your own
enthusiasm, you can often raise students‘ curiosity and motivate them to find out what excites you
about the subject. This can lead them to engage more deeply than they had initially planned and to
discover value they had overlooked.
Shirey and Reynolds (2012) demonstrated in an investigation that interest in a learning material
might lead to the attention given to learn it, and this in turn might culminate in the actual learning.
While the extent to which a given material is learnt may depend partly on the quality of attention
accorded it by the learner; the attention given to the material may be a function of the magnitude
of interest that the leaner has in the material. The effects of interest on the allocation of attention
to, and the learning of, written material were investigated in the study. With 23 college students
who read 72 sentences that had been previously rated for interest. The sentences were presented
on a microcomputer that recorded two measures of attention: sentence reading time and reaction
time to a secondary task. Later, the students were given a cued recall test of the material. Results
showed that although interesting sentences were learned much better, less attention was allocated
to them; indicating that attention did not serve as a causal mediator between interest and learning.
The findings further showed that the subjects engaged in some strategy independent of attention
to learn the interesting material; meaning that interest was not a definitive predictor of the
learning. That is, interest in learning does not have deterministic covariation with the learning
outcomes or academic achievement (Kpolovie, 2010: 23). ―Deterministic covariation is when
manipulation of only one variable produces observable effect of similar magnitude in another
variable.‖ That is, interest in learning is not ―a necessary and sufficient condition‖ for students‘
academic performance.
Contrary to Shirey and Reynolds‘s (2012) findings, Steinkuehler (2014) in her research on online
video games and literacy; found that whenever students are highly passionate about a subject
matter, ―learning it skyrockets.‖ In like manner, Horowitz (2013) sought to find out whether with
interest-based personalized lesson such that it resides within a domain of the learners‘ interest, the
students can and actually make better sense of the abstract concepts. He concluded on the basis of
data analyzed that adaptation of lesson to the students‘ interest makes for easier problem solving
and better learning by the students. Also, Peprah (2009) explored the importance of engaging
students' interests in their learning and incorporated their interests into the lessons. He
successfully achieved this with the use of Teaching and Learning Initiative (TLI) and the
Mentoring and Student Teaching program (MAST) computer-based instructional techniques.
Results showed improvement in students‘ learning.
When students do not seem interested in the lesson that the teacher teaches and it is becoming
almost impossible for the teacher to get them to focus on the tasks in class; the strategy that the
teacher should immediately adopt to solve the problem, according to Rotgans and Schmidt
(2013), is ―problem-based learning.‖ This is because problem-based learning approach represents
a puzzle or controversial issue describing something unexpected or novel, startles students‘
curiosity and interest; in addition to engaging students to work with their peers in teams to come
up with tentative alternative explanations for the problem. Also, problem-based learning
encourages students to choose what they want to study or identify their own learning goals that
make them to develop feelings of autonomy and empowerment that motivate them intrinsically.
Thus, interest in learning could be improved with problem-based learning for possible boosting of
academic performance.
Hidi (2001) worked extensively on the probable effect of interest on readers‘ comprehension and
learning, specifying some of the variables that tend to determine readers‘ interests, as well as the
process of attention, motivation and reading that may potentially umpire the effect of interest on
learning. Hidi adopted dynamic measures of interest in addition to the customary traditional self-
reports and questionnaires. Findings stressed the importance of optimal utilization of students‘
interest in the classrooms for possible improvement of reading, learning and academic
performance.
Subramaniam (2009) examined the motivational effects of interest on student engagement and
learning in physical education. The power of situational interest as key motivator in the
enhancement of student engagement in meaningful learning process was emphasized. He posited
that situational interest has the potential of influencing interest in learning and predicting future
skills intention. ―Situational interest is the affective reaction triggered by specific or appealing
stimuli in the environment… It can be enhanced through the manipulation or the modification of
certain aspects of the learning environment and contextual factors such as teaching strategies, task
presentation, and structuring of learning experiences.‖ Therefore, situational interest is a potent
medium that can be harnessed by teachers to motivate students‘ interest in learning even by the
disengaged and unmotivated students to more effectively learn for probable better performance.
Wade (2007) reviewed works done on text-based interest which covers the elements within texts
that create interest for the majority of readers to include three major aspects:
i) What kinds of information are considered interesting, both theoretically and empirically
ii) What effects popular strategies for creating interest have on learning outcomes
iii) How interest influences where students focus their attention in a text.
Key finding of the review is that the practice of adding personalized anecdotes and highly
interesting but nonessential information to texts has a detrimental effect on the learning of
important information; and recommended alternative strategies for creating interest in texts, for
educational practice, and for future research.
Lee, Chao and Chen (2011) used Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation
Modeling (SEM) to ascertain the extent to which teacher‘s instructional attitude affects student
learning outcomes through interaction with either students‘ interest in learning or the number
of their learning hours in Taiwanese vocational colleges. Results revealed that when Taiwanese
vocational college students have a satisfied attitude towards their teachers, both interest in
learning and learning hours produce positive and significant interactive influence on the learning
and their academic achievement. Lee, Chao and Chen (2011) collected enough relevant data and
tested the null hypotheses of no positively significant influence of:
1. students‘ interest in learning on their learning outcomes (academic achievement)
2. students‘ learning hours on their learning outcomes
3. a teacher‘s instructional attitude on students‘ learning outcomes
4. interaction of students‘ interest in learning and a teacher‘s instructional attitude on
students‘ learning outcomes
5. interaction of students‘ learning hours and teacher‘s instructional attitude on students‘
learning outcomes.
In a study on interest and self-sustained learning as catalysts of development, Barron (2006)
sought to establish the facilitative learning ecology perspective of adolescent students in relation
to their academic performance. Learning opportunities are created and utilized both in school and
at home when the learner is interested in the topic to be learnt. The learning ecology framework
that most suitably compels better or more engaged reading, comprehension and learning both
within and outside the school; and how the learning in school can lead to the learning activities
outside school were specified. Three portraits of adolescent learners were shared to illustrate
different pathways to the development of interest. Also employed in the study were five types of
self-initiated learning processes identified across the portraits. These include the seeking out of
text-based informational sources, the creation of new interactive activity contexts such as projects,

the pursuit of structured learning opportunities such as courses, the exploration of media, and the
development of mentoring or knowledge-sharing relationships.
Results showed that there is a complementary interest in how individuals contribute to their own
development through appropriating and adapting the resources provided to them. Self-initiated
activities mediate learning in the short term within and across contexts. Interest development is
triggered by ideational resources that are available in diverse facets of the learning ecology. Once
interest is sparked, adolescents utilize a variety of strategies to further their knowledge
development. Learning activities based on interests are particularly likely to be boundary crossing
and that consequently a learning ecology can best be conceptualized as a dynamic entity that can
be characterized by the diversity and depth of learning resources and activities. A few years
earlier, Hussin, Maarof and D‘Cruz (2001) had made similar findings in sustaining interest in the
learning of English Language and systematically increasing the motivation to learn the subject.
Attitude of Students Toward Schooling
Attitude could be defined as a consistent tendency to react in a particular way often positively or
negatively toward a given matter or social object as measured by the first section of the
instrument for data collection in this investigation. Everyone has an attitude towards learning, but
not everyone has the same attitude towards it. Some individuals‘ attitudes propel them along,
helping them to deal with challenges, overcoming obstacles, and accomplishing their learning
objectives. Others have attitudes that are anchors, slowing them down or stopping them altogether
from learning (Harrell, 2005).
Loftus (1982) viewed attitude as a relatively, enduring organization of feelings, beliefs, behaviors
and tendencies towards persons, groups, ideas or objects. It implies that individuals are not born
with attitudes but learn them. From early childhood, the individual begins forming his attitudes
through direct experience and indirect observation. Through social contacts, a person could
acquire an attitude by watching and imitating one‘s parents, siblings, friends and teachers or
peers. A person could also develop attitudes through operant conditioning, that is, adult rewarding
an individual for expressing the correct views with appropriate responses. It is on the basis of
such operant conditioning that the relationship between students‘ attitude to school and academic
achievement could be explained (Lassen, Steele and Sailor, 2006). If students with positive
attitude towards school make significantly better academic achievement than their counterparts
with negative attitude towards school, then good attitude towards school is reinforced in line with
specifications in operant conditioning theory of learning (Shah, 2009).
According to Candeias, Rebelo and Oliveira (2013), attitude towards schooling is a psychological
construct that depicts an individual‘s behaviors, feelings, expression of favorable or unfavorable
affection and judgments for school and school experiences. Attitude towards school, like other
constructs, is intrinsically related to a number other psychological traits such as students‘
perceptions of and interest in learning, their competence (often seen as a result of previous
academic achievement) and motivation. For instance, attitude towards school has been found to
have gender influence among Portuguese students. While girls tend to have more positive school
attitudes, boys are less motivated and have more negative attitudes toward school (Houtte, 2004;
Candeias and Rebelo, 2010). Results of their investigations further showed that girls do not
require more time to study, engage less in cases of misconduct and disruptive behavior, have
less absenteeism, and also have more expectations about future and are more enthusiastic
about further studies. On the contrary, boys are less committed to studies, less commitment to
school, and give up more easily, particularly when their popular teen or peer role model does
not necessarily require to have good grades and total dedication to school as automatic
preconditions for success. In relation to parental socio-economic level for only male students,
those from families with high socio-economic status are more satisfied with school and accord
better attitude to schooling that tends to guarantee them significantly better academic achievement
than their counterparts from families with low socio-economic status that is closely associated
with less access to school resources, computers and demonstrate negative attitude towards school,
and consequently perform poorly academically (Linnehan, 2008).
There is also empirical evidence that cognitive variables such as ability-related and expectancy
beliefs, motivation, competency beliefs, goal structures, and social relationships (Urda and

Schoenfelder, 2006), general attitudes toward school, and attitudes toward specific academic
subjects are related to academic performance and that these can equally differ across
gender, racial groups, and socio-economic backgrounds (Akey, 2006). The extent to which
families actively take part in their children‘s academic life also tends to influence students‘
attitude to school as well as the students‘ academic achievement. A study by Kuperminc, Daniel
and Alvarezlimenez (2008) showed that family contexts that are less exciting and less
involved in their children's education are manifested in less positive attitudes toward school,
less resilience levels and have higher probability of dropping out of school (Rumberger,
2001). Students from families with inactive participation in their school have statistically greater
probability of believing that having rigorous studies and completing school courses with good
grade are not important to have a job or maintaining a career in life.
When schools are able to provide interesting activities for their students and the way those
activities are engaged, and even the participation of students and their families in school
decisions have influence on how students feel at school, how they react to school life, and
their overall attitude toward schooling that later tends to reflect their academic performance
(Urdan and Schoenfelder, 2006; Candeias, 1997; Lewy, 1986; Alamieyeseigha and Kpolovie,
2013). The more a school is in engaging the major stakeholders (students, teachers, parents and
the community), the greater the extent to which students‘ positive attitude to school and to
learning is aroused (Rumberger, 2001; Candeias, Rebelo, Olieira and Mendes, 2012).
Racial groups and parental educational level have also been found to influence or correlate
meaningfully with students‘ attitude towards schooling as well as competence beliefs and
academic achievement (Linnehan, 2008; Candeias, Rebelo and Oliveira, 2013). The study by
Linnehan (2008) divulged that with the exception of Asian group, parental educational level is
significantly related with more favorable attitudes toward college. Other results showed that
students‘ attitude towards school is influenced by three broad factors; attitudinal contents,
attitudinal context and personal components. Learning, competence beliefs and motivation
constitute attitudinal contents. The kind of environment (urban or rural), socio-economic
background (occupational status), parental educational level, and the school circumstance
constitute the attitudinal context. The personal component of attitude towards school is made up
of the individual‘s intellectual (cognitive), emotional (affective) skillful (psychomotor)
developmental state as well as the person‘s gender and age.
In their investigation, Candeias, Rebelo and Oliverra (2013) adopted exploratory models of
factors that tend to affect students‘ attitude towards school and learning in Portugal with a sample
of 778 adolescent students, using regression trees algorithm; and found that students‘ gender,
contextual background, age, school failures and students‘ perception of their learning competence
are potent factors that interfere with students‘ attitude towards learning and school. They
concluded that certain socio-demographics factors, personal attributes and some specific school
characteristics are significant correlates of students‘ attitude towards school and learning. They
provided data-based recommendation that the improvement of students‘ attitudes and motivation
toward school should involve the students, parents, teachers, the school, and the community. In
another investigation done earlier by Candeias, Rebelo, Oliveira and Mendes (2012) that
examined primary school pupils‘ attitudes to school, similar findings and conclusions were also
made.
2. METHODOLOGY
Multiple prediction design was applied to ascertain the magnitude of relationship and prediction
that students‘ interest in learning and attitude to school individually and collectively have on their
academic achievement. According to Kpolovie (2010), multiple prediction design is a higher
order correlational research design that extends the least-squares association principle to the study
of relationship between one dependent variable and two or more independent variables. It is the
bivariate product-moment correlation between a criterion variable (academic achievement) and
some combination of a set of predictor variables (interest in learning and attitude towards school)
in a most meaningful, reliable and valid manner that allows for establishment of coefficient of
determination of the variance in the criterion variable from the combined variance of the predictor
variables. A stratified random sample of 518 was drawn with the aid of table of random numbers
from the 14459 students who enrolled for the 2012/2013 Senior Secondary Certificate
Examination (SSCE) in Bayelsa State. T he sa mp le s ize of 518 sub jects is far above t h e
r ecommended sa mp le s ize of 37 0 which is gr aphically det er min ed us ing Kr ejci e
and Mor gan‘s (1970 ) gr aph f or det er minat ion of su itable mini mu m sa mp le s iz e
as docu ment ed in Kp olovie (2011 : 34).
Fi g ur e 1. Determination of minimum sample size from population

The instrument for data collection in this research was the Interest in Learning and Attitude to
School Scale (ILASS). The instrument had two parts. Part A composed of 30 items, measures
students‘ interest in learning with 0.79 Cronback coefficient alpha reliability and 0.89 internal
consistency evidence of construct validity. Part B measures students‘ attitude to school with 27
items and it has 0.82 reliability and 0.87 construct validity via internal consistency source. Each
item in the instrument was structured in the modified Likert scale format of Strongly Agree,
Agree, Disagree and Strongly Disagree. The ILASS was administered to the students at the
expiration of registration period for the 2013 May/June SSCE (Senior Secondary Certificate
Examination). The academic achievement data were collected from the results of the 2013
May/June SSCE, conducted by the West African Examination Council (WAEC). The SSCE
results for each of the four subjects Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Economics)
were scored from 9 points for the best possible grade (A1) to 1 point for the least possible grade
(F9) such that the a student who made A1 in all the four subjects had total points of 36, while a
student who got F9 in all the four subjects had 4 points as his total score. Multiple regression
statistical technique was used for data analysis with the aid of IBM SPSS Version 22 to answer
the research questions and test tenability of each postulated null hypothesis at 0.05 alpha.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Findings of the investigation are presented in Tab. 1a-e and briefly discussed in this section. The
part a (descriptive statistics) shows that the students‘ academic achievement has a mean and
standard deviation of 15.46 and 4.938, respectively. While interest in learning has a mean of
69.44 and standard deviation of 31.487, their attitude to school has mean of 60.16 and 26.076
standard deviation.
The b part of Tab. 1 shows pairwise correlation coefficients, indicating the actual significance
level for each that:
i) academic achievement and interest in learning has r of .329 which is significant (p < .o5)
ii) academic achievement and attitude to school has r of .374 that is significant (p < .05)
iii) interest in learning and attitude to school has r of .149 which is significant (p < .05).

These correlation coefficients serve as answers to the first three research questions that were
posed in the study. They have also indicated that each of the first three null hypotheses is rejected
as the correlation coefficient is statistically significant at 0.05 alpha.
Part c of Tab. 1 portrays multiple regression (R) of .465, regression square (R 2) of .216, adjusted
R2 of .213 and standard error of the estimate of 4.380. It equally shows the change statistics that
R2 change is .216 which means that the predictors (interest in learning and attitude towards
school) jointly accounts for 21.6% of the variance in the criterion (students‘ academic
achievement) and this prediction is statistically significant (p < .05) at 2 and 515 degrees of
freedom (df). With the information here, the sixth research question has been answered and the
sixth null hypothesis rejected as there is overwhelming preponderance of evidence that students‘
attitude to school and interest in learning significantly predict their academic achievement,
accounting for as much as 21.6% of the variance in the criterion.
Part d of the Tab 1 indicates that when converted to ANOVA, the prediction of students‘
academic achievement with their attitude to school and interest in learning has regression sum of
squares of 2727.114, df of 2 and mean square of 1363.557. The residual sum of squares is
9881.452 with 515 df and 19.187 mean square. The total sum of squares is 12608.566 with 517
df. The resultant F of 71.066 is statistically significant. This further rationalizes the rejection of
the sixth null hypothesis.
Lastly, part e of Tab.1 (coefficients) illustrates the unstandardized multiple regression of .044 for
interest in learning, and .063 for attitude towards school. Of greatest practical importance are the
standardized regression coefficients (Beta) as they are actually tested for significance of the
contribution of each of the predictor variables in predicting the criterion variable (Kpolovie, 2011)
as required to answer the fourth and fifth research questions and test the corresponding null
hypotheses. The Beta for students‘ interest in learning is .279 with t of 7.080 that is statistically
significant (p < .05); and for students‘ attitude to school, the Beta is .332 with t of 8.427 that is
also significant statistically (p < .05). Thus, the fourth and fifth null hypotheses are rejected as
interest in learning and attitude to school independently contributes significantly in the prediction
of students‘ academic achievement.
Table 1a-e. Multiple regression output
a) Descriptive Statistics
Mean Std. Deviation N
ACADEMICACHIEVE
15.46 4.938 518
MENT
INTERESTINLEARNIN
69.44 31.487 518
G
ATTITUDETOSCHOOL 60.16 26.076 518
b) Correlations
ACADEMICACHIEVE INTERESTINLEARN ATTITUDETOSCH
MENT ING OOL
Pearson ACADEMICACHIEVEM
1.000 .329 .374
Correlation ENT
INTERESTINLEARNIN
.329 1.000 .149
G
ATTITUDETOSCHOOL .374 .149 1.000
Sig. (1- ACADEMICACHIEVEM
. .000 .000
tailed) ENT
INTERESTINLEARNIN
.000 . .000
G
ATTITUDETOSCHOOL .000 .000 .
N ACADEMICACHIEVEM
518 518 518
ENT
INTERESTINLEARNIN
518 518 518
G
ATTITUDETOSCHOOL 518 518 518

c) Model summary
Change Statistics
Adjusted R Std. Error of R Square F Sig. F
R R Square Square the Estimate Change Change df1 df2 Change
.465a .216 .213 4.380 .216 71.066 2 515 .000
d) ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 2727.114 2 1363.557 71.066 .000b
Residual 9881.452 515 19.187
Total 12608.566 517
a. Dependent Variable: ACADEMICACHIEVEMENT
b. Predictors: (Constant), ATTITUDETOSCHOOL, INTERESTINLEARNING
e) Coefficientsa
Unstandardized Standardized 95.0% Confidence
Coefficients Coefficients Interval for B
Std. Lower Upper
Model B Error Beta t Sig. Bound Bound
1 (Constant) 8.628 .605 14.261 .000 7.439 9.816
INTERESTIN
.044 .006 .279 7.080 .000 .032 .056
LEARNING
ATTITUDET
.063 .007 .332 8.427 .000 .048 .078
OSCHOOL
a. Dependent Variable: ACADEMICACHIEVEMENT
In summary, the findings of this investigation are that:
1. Students‘ interest in learning and their academic achievement are significantly correlated
positively.
2. Students‘ attitude towards school positively correlates significantly with their academic
achievement.
3. Students‘ interest in learning correlate positively significant with their attitude towards
school.
4. Students‘ interest in learning significantly predicts their academic achievement.
5. Students‘ attitude to school predicts their academic achievement significantly.
6. Interest in learning and attitude to school jointly predict students‘ academic performance
significantly.
Correlation and prediction of students’ academic achievement with interest in learning
The first and fourth findings of this investigation that in addition to being significantly related to
students‘ academic performance, interest in learning significantly predicts academic achievement,
are in support of Silvia (2006); Paul (2013); and Paul, 2013. Silvia on the basis of his findings,
recommended that interest play central role in cultivating knowledge and expertise, and therefore
psychologists should apply research on interest to practical problems of learning, education, and
motivation. Paul (2013) found that interest cognitively engages students and fosters learning
significantly. Thus, the first and fourth results of the current study tend to disagree with the
seemingly endless list of works on psychology that do not even view interest as a crucial
psychological trait that is highly related with and could influence learning and some other
associated constructs like attitude (Brannon & Feist, 2007; Vaughn & Bos, 2009; Kirk, Gallagher,
Anastasiow & Coleman, 2006; Sternberg, 2006; Reisberg, 2006; Cauley, Linder & McMillan,
1999; Funder, 2007; Littrell, Lorenz & Smith, 1996; Arnold, 2005; Tepperman, 2006; Kantowitz,
Roediger III & Elmes, 2005; Paul, 2004).
Paul (2014) found that of recent psychologists have started to investigate interest and the results
are impressive, asserting that: ―in recent years researchers have begun to build a science of
interest, investigating what interest is, how interest develops, what makes things interesting, and
how we can cultivate interest in ourselves and in others. They are finding that interest can help us
think more clearly, understand more deeply, and remember more accurately. Interest has the
power to transform struggling performers, and lift high achievers to a new plane.‖ Also, that
interest is both a psychological state of engagement that is experienced at the moment, and a
predisposition to engage repeatedly in particular ideas, events, or objects such as learning over
time for improvement of academic performance.
The findings of the current work also corroborates those of previous works by Kpolovie (2007;
2010a; 2010; 2012), Hidi (2001), Barron (2006), Subramaniam (2009), Hussin, Maarof and
D‘Cruz (2001), and Eberly Center (2014) that interest in an activity, such as learning, could most
probably be a very powerful affective psychological trait and a very strong knowledge emotion as
well as an overwhelming magnetic positive feeling, a sense of being captivated, enthralled,
invigorated and energized to cognitively process information much faster and more accurately in
addition to most effective application of psychomotor traits like self-regulatory skills, self-
discipline, working harder and smarter with optimum persistence to ensure good academic
performance.
The current findings equally tend to agree with the works of Harackiewicz, Durik, Barron,
Linnenbrink-Garcia and Tauer (2008) on influence of interest on academic and professional
performance; Loewensein (1994) on interest and curiosity in learning; Alamieyeseigha and
Kpolovie (2013), U.S. Department of Education (2010a; 2010b) as well as Hayden, Ouyang,
Scinski, and Bielelfeldt (2011) on interest and better preparation of the U.S. workforce to acquire
extra skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Emerick (2007) had also
provided empirical support for relating the individual's perception of his inadequacy in school
learning to the development of related interests, attitudes, and academic self-concept. The results
of Krapp, Schiefele and Winteler (2009) and Krapp (1999) on the group of factors that influence
achievement which is largely dominated by interest are also supported by the findings in the
current work. Part of the conclusions of Hidi (2001) and Renninger, Hidi and Krapp (2014) that
interest, level of effort put in reading and learning style adopted might hold some influence on
academic performance is confirmed by the present work which has shown that students‘ interest
in learning overwhelmingly predicts their academic performance. On the contrary, the conclusion
reached by Goulart and Bedi (2011) that interest in school or learning has no bearing on students‘
academic achievement is not supported by results of the current work.
Correlation and prediction of students’ academic achievement with attitude to school
The second and fifth of these findings that attitude towards school does not only correlate
significantly with academic achievement, but actually predicts students‘ academic achievement
significantly is in support of all the reviewed works that indicated close association between the
two variables (attitude to school and academic achievement) in institutions of learning. For
instance, the findings are in line with results of the study carried out by Fakaye (2010) who
investigated the relationship between students‘ personal variables such as attitude and academic
ability and their achievement in English Language. Fakaye‘s study showed that there was a
positive relationship between students‘ attitude and their academic achievement in English
Language. Findings of the present study are also in line with the results of Akey (2006) when she
studied school context, students‘ attitudes and behavior, and academic achievement. The findings
were that both variables are significant predictors of school performance.
Yara (2009) while studying students‘ attitude towards mathematics and academic achievement in
some selected secondary schools in Southwestern Nigeria also found that students‘ attitudes
towards school subjects like mathematics were positive correlated with academic performance in
the subjects; and that many of the students believed that mathematics is a worthwhile and
necessary subject which can help them in their future career. In all it is obvious that a good

attitude towards any endeavor, most of all academic pursuit, will certainly bring about positive
result. According to Harrell (2005), attitude is everything. Positive attitude to school is
indispensable for success, particularly general academic performance; and negative attitude to
school is linked to poor performance academically.
Some available research have revealed that students with lower performance and higher rate
of school failure have more negative attitudes as previous school performance experienced by
the students have great influence on the attitudes they shown toward school, learning and
commitment to school (Candeias, Rebelo and Oliveira, 2013; Kpolovie, 2007; Kpolovie, 2012a).
Linnehan (2008), Kuperminc, Daniel and Alvarezlimenez (2008) asserted further on the basis of
data gathered and analyzed that students who receive more support from adults and colleagues
who live with them at school and at home have more positive attitudes and academic values
and feel more satisfied with school. Consequently, they make better grades than their
counterparts with negative attitude to schooling.
All the efforts made in successful development of standardized scales for the measurement of
students‘ attitudes toward school or school related subjects are based on the supposition that to an
extent, academic performance depends on the nature (positive or negative) and magnitude
(strength) of such attitudes (Gokhale, Brauchle & Machina, 2013). If students‘ attitude has no
bearing on their academic performance, it will be needless undergoing all the hassles of test
development to measure it.
Kpolovie (2014a) had also posited that attitude to school is essentially relatively stable
evaluations of school-related situations such as schooling, aspects of school, school subjects,
persons in school, teaching-learning transactions, and testing along a continuum that range from
highly positive to very negative. Poor attitude to all these could hamper academic performance.
For excellent performance in the various tests, good attitude to school is necessary. Attitude has
three components (Wood & Wood, 2002): 1) a cognitive component – thoughts and beliefs about
the attitudinal object; 2) an emotional component – feelings toward the attitudinal object; and 3) a
behavior component – predispositions concerning actions toward the object. With highly positive
attitude to school, a student‘s satisfactory academic achievement tends to be guaranteed as such
performance depends on the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains.
Correlation between interest in learning and attitude to school and their joint prediction of
students’ academic achievement
Students‘ attitude to school and their interest in learning are significantly related. This is not
surprising as the students with much better attitude to school are bound to be more interested in
learning and more frequently be engaged in studying, using better information processing stiles in
learning as revealed by the findings of Kpolovie (2010b) that information processing stiles and
types of learning have significant effects on students‘ learning. In consonance with statistical
logic (Kpolovie, 2012), the result that students‘ academic performance is significantly predicted
jointly by their attitude to school and interest in learning is rightly anticipated because students‘
academic achievement is significantly predicted independently by their interest in school and
attitude to learning, coupled with the fact that the two predictors and the criterion have
significantly high multiple. The predictor jointly account for as high as 21.6% of the variance in
students‘ academic achievement.
4. CONCLUSION
Based on the foregoing findings and discussion, apt conclusions can be drawn that this
investigation has indeed revealed overwhelming preponderance of data-based evidence that
students‘ interest in learning and attitude towards school jointly and separately predict academic
performance in the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination conducted by the West African
Examination Council, particularly in English Language, Mathematics, Biology and Economics
(the subjects that operationally constituted academic performance in this study). Of course, to
significantly predict academic performance, the predictors must have first of all correlated
significantly with themselves and with academic achievement jointly and independently as shown
in Tab. 1b. The prediction of academic performance implies the great need for both teachers and
parents to be actively involved in the improvement of students‘ interest in learning and attitude to
school for possible amelioration of the students‘ academic performance in the SSCE.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. It is recommended that teachers should device modern methods of teaching to arouse
students‘ interest in learning each of the various subjects. Inadequacy and
inappropriateness of the instructional methods and materials used for teaching-learning
interactions may only handicap academic performance by blocking students‘ interest in
learning and worsening their attitude to school.
2. Teachers and parents should try and build self-confidence in their wards/students as it
could boost students‘ interest in learning and improve their attitude towards school.
3. Igniting a spark of energy and fervour in children to learn and succeed in academic and
life pursuits is a fundamental role of teachers and parents alike. It is recommended that
students should be adequately motivated in their studied do well not only in examinations
but in the setting and attainment of excellent life-long goals.
4. Since interest in learning plays irresistible role in significantly predicting academic
performance, psychologists need not delay in unanimously accepting and adding interest
as an indisputable psychological construct; and in according the trait the desired attention
by investigating the relative influence that it whales over several other psychological
attributes. Such inclusion and attention could help greatly in psychological praxis that
essentially deals with ascertainment of why people act the way they do and the imminent
consequences.
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AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY
KPOLOVIE, Peter James, former Head of the Department of Educational
Psychology, Guidance and Counselling, is the current Director of Academic
Planning, Research and Control Unit, University of Port Harcourt. He is an
accomplished product of University of Port Harcourt, and an expert in
Psychological Testing, Educational Measurement and Evaluation. His PhD
dissertation on validation and standardization of Culture Fair Intelligence Test
for use in Nigeria won NUC‘s Best Doctoral Thesis Award in 2002. He also
won the prestigious University of Port Harcourt School of Graduate Studies‘
Silver Jubilee Award of Excellence in 2007, in addition to winning the
Common Wealth Scholarship in 1994. From 2003 to 2006, he successfully served in the Bayelsa
State Executive Council. Peter James Kpolovie has over 35 national and more than 40
international publications in professional journals. He is a member of the Board of Editors or
Team of Reviewers of a number of international journals. Some of his other publications include
six groundbreaking books: Test, Measurement and Evaluation in Education; Advanced Research
Methods; Statistical Techniques for Advanced Research; Educational Reforms without Evaluation
Designs: Nigeria at Risk; The Making of the United States of America: Lessons for Nigeria; and
Educational Management in Developing Economies. His research interests include use of
Information and Communication Technology in education and in data analyses; educational
evaluation; improvement of human learning; educational management; and test development,
validation and standardization.

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International Journal of Humanities Social Sciences and Education (IJHSSE)

Volume 1, Issue 11, November 2014, PP 73-100

Academic Achievement Prediction: Role of Interest in

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brought technology-enhanced learning experiences as early intervention for middle school

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Fi g ur e 1. Determination of minimum sample size from population

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105-122. Retrieved October 4, 2014 from http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=

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Kpolovie, P. J. & Ololube, N. P. (2013). The indispensability of utilitarian evaluation design in

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instructional attitude as moderator. http://www.wiete.com.au/journals/GJEE/Publish/

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