D

US-China Education Review A, ISSN 2161-623X

December 2013, Vol. 3, No. 12, 905-913

DAVID PUBLISHING

Factors Affecting Students Academic Performance in

Mathematical Sciences Department in Tertiary
Institutions in Nigeria
Hassana Oseiwu Ali
Kogi State University, Anyigba, Nigeria

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors affecting performance of students in tertiary institutions, two
tertiary institutions were used: KSU (Kogi State University) (Anyigba) and COE (College of Education) (Ankpa).
A simple random sampling was employed to select 100 students from each institution. A structured questionnaire
comprising 50 items was used to collect data from the students and subjected to population t-test statistics. The
second semester results of 2011/2012 of the present 300 level students in three courses (mathematics, statistics, and
computers) from both institutions were collected and analyzed using mean and standard deviation, and independent
t-test, the results show a low level of mathematics performance in both institutions. The performance at KSU is
fairly better than the performance at COE, going by their means and standard deviations. Among the factors
identified as militating against students performance in the department of mathematics are: inadequacy of
mathematics lecturers, teaching methods, students attitudes and interests, lecturers qualifications, inadequacy of
textbooks, especially indigenous authors, inadequacy of evaluation, and rated high was inadequacy of human
resources, followed by lecturers-students interaction, lack of textbooks, and lecturers qualifications. On attitudes
and interests, the heads of departments and lecturers rated students interest very low, while students strongly
agreed that their lost of interests is due to their high rate of poor performances in their previous years. On the
interaction between lecturers and students, the responses of students from COE were better than those from KSU.
Keywords: factors, affecting, academic achievement, poor performance

Introduction
Mathematics is the subject that recognized as the mother of all learning with other subjects deriving their
concepts from it, in both arts and sciences. It is also an international language and is essential in almost every
fields, such as handling money, measurements in fashion and carpentry, technical economics, etc.. Mathematics
is also regarded as the queen of all sciences, such as chemistry, physics, biology, economics, etc.. Mathematics
is a way of thinking and organizing a logical proof. It can be used to determine whether or not an idea is true, or
at least, whether it is probably true as a way of thinking, as it gives insight into the power of human mind and
becomes a challenge to intellectual curiosity. No wonder, any individual who is competent in mathematical
sciences, can equally have the ability to do any other course. Consequently, a good performance in mathematics
is important.
Hassana Oseiwu Ali, Ph.D., lecturer, Science Education Department, Faculty of Education, Kogi State University.

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FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Furthermore, mathematics plays a fundamental role in the scientific and technology progress of any nation,
and as such, mathematics is taught at all levels of education. Greater demand for economic, scientific, and
technological knowledge in the Nigerian development programmed has brought about the securing of an
excellent mathematical knowledge at all levels of education. Thus, increasing knowledge in mathematics of the
future engineers, physicists, chemists, sociologists, industrial and medical personnel, as well as other sciences,
including historians cannot be over emphasized. Of sad reflection over the years, Nigerian tertiary students
achievement in mathematics at the graduation level of the first degree certificate examination has a relatively
low rate. Discussing factors affecting students academic performance will require us to look the concept of
poor performance. According to Aremu (2000), poor performance is a performance that adjudged by the
examinees/testees and some significant as falling below an expected standard. The interpretation of this
expected or desire standard is better appreciated from the perpetual cognitive ability of the evaluator of the
performance. The evaluator or assessor can therefore give different interpretations depending on some factors.
While, Bakare (1994, as cited in Abdullahi, 2013) described poor academic performance as any performance
that falls below a desired standard. The criteria of excellence can be from 40% to 100% depending on some
subjective criteria of the evaluator or assessor. Just as in universities in Nigeria, any grade below 40% is
considered as poor or failed.
Furthermore, Nigeria and the world all over are talking about sustainable development, for which STEM
(science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) cannot be set aside, nor separated from the plans to
achieve sustainable development. According to Nwafor (2012), development is a process, in which the people
or the beneficiaries are actively involved in deciding what they need and how to provide for them.
In order for the people to participate meaningfully, there is a need to equip them with necessary lifelong or process
skills, such as communication, collaboration or team skills, tolerance, decision-making skills, information-searching and
utilization skills, thinking skills, and leadership skills. (Nwafor, 2012, p. 7)

The whole body of knowledge in mathematics is a process which involves some of the enumerated skills.
So, we must find a way to teach mathematics, not just for beneficiaries, but also as partakers in deciding the
course of development, and this cannot be achieved until we identified factors militating against academic
achievement in mathematics, and to tackle them. When we turn out graduates with mass failure or poor pass in
mathematics, those graduates cannot successfully partake in sustainable development.
Essentially, several factors have been discussed as responsible for students academic performance,
including tertiary education. Many research studies have indicated that the students from monogamous (small
size) families perform better than the students from polygamous (large size) families (Ali, 2012). The
following reasons are responsible for this:
(1) The students in monogamous homes have more time to read their books and study in most cases,
because there are fewer people to send on errand. But in polygamous families, the reverse is the case;
(2) The students from polygamous homes have more tendencies to be social deviants due to lack of care
and adequate supervision;
(3) Since there are more people in a polygamous family, they exert a lot of pressure or influences that are
negative, this will adversely affect the students.
A study conducted by Abdullahi (2013) on students mathematics academic achievement in Ebira
secondary school showed that subjects personal factors predicted objective measure of their academic

FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

907

achievement in mathematics. According to the result obtained from this study, students low or high
performance is due to their personality factors, the more the students improved on their self-concepts,
determinations, and high interest, the better their performance in mathematics. A longitudinal study done by
Benbow, Camila, and Arjmond (2012) on predictors of high academic achievement in mathematics and science
by mathematical talented students revealed that almost all students had achieved highly by conventional
standards (e.g., 85% had received bachelor degrees) and using a quantitative definition of academic
achievements in college, they also found that 22% were high academic achievers and 8% were low academic
achievers in mathematics and sciences.
In a study conducted in Nairobi at the secondary schools (Team of Mathematics Teachers, 2013), the
major findings indicated that variation in mathematics performance was found to be significantly influenced by
the type of teaching method. The interactive teaching method was found to be superior to the traditional
approach, especially with respect to achieving higher order cognitive skills. The study also found that there was
no significant difference in performance when the availability of textbooks was at the student/textbook ratio
level 1:1 and 1:2. However, ratio levels beyond 1:3 were found to have a negative effect on performance.
Although, students gender was found not to directly affect the performance of mathematics, the performance
in mathematics in this study favoured girls, albeit not significantly. Class size was found not to have a
significant and direct influence on achievement in assignments. However, the amount of time that students
spent on mathematics tasks was found to be minimum. The study indicated that a students attitude was a major
predictor of his/her performance.
Other factors which are of particular interest to poor performance of students in mathematical sciences
department are described next.

Some Factors Affecting Students Academic Performance in Mathematical Sciences

Low Self-concept
Some university students from their primary schools misconceive mathematics as a difficult subject. You
hear students and lecturers saying mathematics is a difficult subject. The explanation of who said it? To
whom and on what occasion cannot be given by these students, nor the lecturers, but this statement are bound
to scare students from making attempt to learn mathematics. With these misconceptions, they are already
defeated, subsequently, causing them to fail. Fears arise from previous failures, discouragements from parents
who did not perform well in mathematics, harsh attitudes of lecturers, or comparison of low performing
students to the top performing students. All these can cause students to despair and give up studies in
mathematical sciences. Since mindsets have been discovered to improve students academic achievement in
mathematics (Good, Aronson, & Inzlicht, 2007). Lecturers/teachers in mathematics departments should help
the students develop positive mindsets toward mathematics rather impact the fear of mathematics on our
students.
Lack of Appreciation
The beauty of mathematical sciences courses are not easily appreciated by students. Students pay little
attention to mathematics when they do not appreciate its importance. Students should learn from a tender age
(primary school), the importance and application of mathematics in their lifecalculating expenses, budgeting,
and sharing out items in fraction.
After all, the more parents talk about fashion and politics with their children, the more these children

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FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

believe that those are the important things to focus on, and when they grow up with this believe and enter
university, they will not appreciate any course that has to do with mathematics, even applied mathematics in
other departments. The author has some personal experiences with some parents, in an open markets
environment in the city of Port Harcourt, precisely about October 2010, where a trader was advertising CDs
(Compact Discs) containing how to learn some basic subjects, like mathematics, chemistry, biology, physics,
economics, integrated sciences, social studies and government, etc.. The author observed with keen interest,
and found that parents rushing to buy some subjects but rejecting mathematics, the author forced himself into
the crowd, appealed to the seller and collected the microphone, and began to announce the importance of
mathematics to the audience and why they must buy mathematics CD along side with other subjects, as if the
author was a co-trader with the marketer and few of the parents responded and ordered for mathematics CDs.
Poor Examination Condition
Mathematics tests/examinations place with a set time for the examination, it has duration. In some
mathematical courses that are ascribed as faculty course(s), because of the large number of students involved,
approved lecture halls for such examinations are under-size, movement from one vacant place to another causes
anxiety, and it could lead to the possibility of failure. Mathematics should be shifted from hot afternoons to late
evenings to reduce tension and anxiety among the examinees. According to Groundlund (1985), the guiding
principle in administering any classroom test was that all pupils must be given a fair chance to demonstrate
their achievement of the learning outcomes being measured. This implies that the test maker and administrator
should provide the physical and psychological environments that are conducive to the testees/examinees, and
also control factors that might otherwise interfere with valid measurement include adequate space (room or hall)
with comfortable seats and proper lighting and ventilation. The temperature should be comfortable and the
entire environment should be quite to foster concentration. The psychological environment is equally very
important, students may not be at their best if they are under severe tension, anxiety, or threat during
examination. Groundlund (1985) further advised that examiners and test administrators should not
over-emphasize or dramatise the importance of test and the consequences of good/poor performance while the
examination is going on, as these may add to tension or anxiety in testees/examinees. As mentioned earlier, too
much tension or anxiety in students during examination leads to poor academic performance.
Teachers/Lecturers Factor
Another factor is student-teacher relationship, it appears that most lecturers in mathematical science
department are not friendly, in other words, mentoring of students is not a common practice among
mathematical science lecturers. Some act as terrorists, since some were found to always make some threatening
statements while teaching, statements, such as if you are not careful you will failed, mathematics is a
difficult course, do not expect an A score, and you cannot pass my course just like that, just to mention a
few. They lack the patience to attend to students questions in the class, perhaps, because most of them are
untrained teachers, they only know mathematics, but they lack methods of teaching and psychological
willpower to mentor their students through guidance and counselling for better academic achievements. You
hardly hear mathematics lecturers being proud of their students who are brilliant. Only few of us are happy,
proud, and ready to mentor such students. Some are inaccessiblestudents that we are teaching are afraid to
knock at our doors to seek for clearance of teachings done in the class which they cannot understand, while
reading and asking questions for clearance in the class during class seem to be an abomination with some

FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

909

mathematics teachers/lecturers. Let us know that teachers/lecturers are the primary contact that students interact
with when learning, their involvement in the learning process is crucial. A lecturers bad attitudes, poor
teaching skills, and lack of involvement with students when teaching result in poor performance.
It is high time that mathematical sciences lecturers shift from theory to practical application of those
theories. Instead of just teaching the theoretical aspect of mathematical sciences (mathematics, statistics, and
computers), showing its applicability in real life and everyday life situation and enhancing interest and better
performance. In support of the recent drive for sustainable development and entrepreneurships, the generic skills
in mathematic can be explored to solve daily problems. Time has come, lecturers in mathematical sciences
department should enhance their teaching with practical applicability of the proofs and computations to real life
situation. For every theory we teach, we should try to critically tie it to a particular application in reality, and like
in statistics, having proved the theories and done all the computation in courses, such as time series, statistical
quality control process, inference (testing of hypotheses with any statistical tools), and descriptive statistics, we
should help students develop interest by answering this question computation for what?. Encouragement from
lecturers can boost students confidence in learning and passing of mathematics examinations.
Lack of Human Resources
Lack of human resources in mathematical sciences department, especially in pure mathematics and
statistics is another problem standing against students achievements in mathematical sciences. Most time,
some unspecialized lecturers are incorporate and they are assigned the courses that they cannot adequately
teach just to cover the gap, especially the first year (because they needed to be founded very well in all basics
mathematical science courses) and final year students that need to fulfilled some course requirement before
graduating. Someone, who specialized in mathematics, are asked to teach statistics if there is no adequate
statistician within the department, likewise, using statistics experts to teach some core courses in pure
mathematics, and sometimes, using specialists in computers to teach statistics or mathematics course. This
problem is the worst one with graduate assistants that are yet to specialize in any of the options in mathematical
sciences, i.e., mathematics, statistics, or computers, yet, they are allocated courses without looking into the area,
in which they were strong in their undergraduate days via their result. The situation of secondary schools is
more sympathetic, graduates of some courses acclaimed to be related to mathematical science courses or
graduates without adequate background in mathematics, are recruited to teach mathematics in secondary
schools, no matter whether they know it or not. The end result is that, we have secondary school graduates
entering into university to do courses in mathematical sciences without strong background in mathematics.
Worst if they were admitted based on their WAEC (West Africa Examination Council) or NECO (National
Examination Council) result having the required grade, which they have not actually worked. For further
confirmation of the impact of these factors and others, a little research is conducted using two higher
institutions in Kogi State.

Research Questions and Hypotheses

Statement of the Problem
The study examined the factors affecting academic performance of students in mathematical sciences
department in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Over the years, students graduate with low grade level from
mathematical sciences, some students who were admitted do not have the patience to stay to the end of four or

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FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

five years programme, they change courses to other departments or they drop out of the programme by
embarking on another JAMB (Joint Admission and Matriculation Board) examination. The question is that
what are the factors contributing to these negative phenomena (mass failure) in mathematical sciences? The
central thesis of this study is that some factors have a significant effect on academic performance of students in
mathematical science department. Therefore, the statement of the problems is that what are the prevailing
factors contributing to low students academic performance in mathematical sciences?
Research Questions
The following research questions were formulated to guide the study:
(1) What is the level of academic performance of students in mathematical sciences department in Nigeria
tertiary institutions?
(2) Is there any significant difference in academic performance of students in KSU (Kogi State University)
(Anyigba) and COE (College of Education) (Anpka)?
(3) Is there any significant influence of availability of textbooks, teaching methods, class size, students
attitudes, and student-teacher interaction on academic performance of students?
(4) Is there any significant difference between the influence of the identified factors on academic
performance of students in KSU and COE?
Hypotheses
The study was guided with four hypotheses. The hypotheses tested the academic performance of students
and the significant of the availability of textbooks, teaching methods, inadequacy of mathematics lecturers and
their qualifications, class size, students attitudes and interests, and class room resources on academic
performance in mathematics.
Hypothesis 1: The academic performance of students in mathematical sciences department in Nigeria
institutions is not significantly high;
Hypothesis 2: There is no significant difference between the academic performances of students in both
institutions;
Hypothesis 3: There is no significant influence of availability of textbooks, teaching methods, class size,
students attitudes, and student-teacher interaction on academic performance of students;
Hypothesis 4: There is no significant difference between the influence of the factors on academic
performance of students in KSU and COE.

Methodology
Research Area
The setting of the study was in Kogi State. Kogi State is one of the states in central geographical region of
Nigeria. It has five tertiary institutions: Federal College of Education (Okene), KSU (Anyigba), Federal
Polytechnics (Idah), COE (Ankpa), and Federal University (Lokoja).
Research Design
The design for this study is survey research design. Survey research design is probably the best method
available to social scientists who are interested in collecting original data, for population is too large to observe
directly (Babbie, 1986, p. 204). The use of survey in the present study is justified since the study is descriptive
and explanatory, and has individuals as the unit of analysis for assessment.

FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

911

Research Instrument
The questionnaire dealt mainly with students profile based on his/her attitude towards study, strictness,
attendance, previous academic achievements, etc.. The instrument consists of 50 items. All 200 questionnaires
were filled with the response rate 100%, out of which 80 were females and 120 were males. The author used a
sample of 200 students using stratified random sampling. A purposive sample of 10 lecturers who taught the
class level at the time participated in the study and the two heads of department also participated. Using
questionnaires, checklists, and achievement score, the study collected information on achievement test scores,
teaching methods, student textbook ratios, student gender, class size, and other auxiliary factors. An
unstructured interview schedule was also used to confirm details. The second semester result of 2011/2012 of
both institutions formed the dependent variables. The information on textbook availability, class size, teaching
method, lecturer-student interaction, adequacy of human resource, and students attitudes formed the
independent variables of the study.
Data Analysis
The data were coded and computer analyzed using the SPSS (Statistic Package for Social Science).
Population t-test was used to test hypothesis 1, while, equality of means was tested using the independent t-test.
Hypothesis 1: The academic performance of students in mathematical sciences department in Nigeria
institutions is not significantly high. To test this hypothesis, the results of the students CGPA (cumulative
grade point average) were collected and analyzed with mean and standard deviation. The maximum point of the
CGPA is 5.00, and the results are shown in Table 1.
Table 1
Mean and Standard Deviation of the Academic Performance of Students
Institution
KSU
COE

N
100
100

2.4068
2.3025

SD
0.8526
0.7828

From Table 1, using the mean and standard deviation of the CGPA of the two institutions, we could
conclude that the academic performances of the students in both institutions are significant low. This is because
based on the CGPA of 5.00 point, the cut-off mean score for above average performance is 2.50, but the mean
scores of the two institutions were all below the cut-off mean. In other words, the academic performance of the
students in mathematical sciences department is low.
Hypothesis 2: There is no significant difference between the academic performances of students in both
institutions. To confirm further, if there existed a significant difference between the institutions, the scores were
subjected to t-test of two means, and the results are indicated in Table 2.
Hypothesis 3: There is no significant influence of availability of textbooks, teaching methods, class size,
students attitudes, and student-teacher interaction on academic performance of students. To test this hypothesis,
population t-test was used and the results are presented in Table 3.
As indicated in Table 3, the calculated t-value of each factor militating against academic performance of
students in mathematical sciences was all found to be greater than the critical t-value of 1.96. This shows that
these factors are negatively influence the academic performance of students in the two institutions. Therefore,
the null hypothesis of no significant influence of each of the factor is to be rejected. Going by their mean, the
influences were in this order of magnitude: students attitudes, inadequate human resources, lecturer-student

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FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

interactions, and low qualifications of lecturers. While, factors with least influences were teaching methods,
inadequacy of evaluation, and class size.
Table 2
A T-test Analysis of KSU and COE Students Academic Performance by the Second Semester Results
(2011/2012)
Institution
KSU
COE

N
100
100

2.4068
2.3025

SD
0.7828
0.8526

df

199

0.8984

Notes. P < 0.05, t = 1.9720 at df = 199.

Table 3
Population T-test of the Factors Militating Against Academic Performance of Students
S/N
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)

7.03
9.74
6.29
5.32
8.56
7.10
9.80
6.23

Variable
Lack of textbook
Inadequate human resources
Teaching methods
Class size
Lecturer-student interaction
Low qualification of lecturers
Students attitudes
Inadequacy of evaluation

SD
1.50
1.74
1.27
1.32
2.01
1.91
1.48
1.56

T-value
16.94
17.80
18.00
16.40
16.94
20.25
19.88
17.24

df
199
199
199
199
199
199
199
199

Notes. P < 0.05, critical t =1.96, and N = 199.

Hypothesis 4: There is no significant difference between the influence of the factor on academic
performance of the students in KSU and COE. To test this hypothesis, independent t-test was employed, and
the results are reflected in Table 4.
Table 4
Independent T-test of the Factors Militating Against Academic Performance of Students
S/N

Variable

(1)

Lack of textbooks

(2)

Inadequate human resources

(3)

Teaching methods

(4)

Class size

(5)

Lecturer-student interaction

(6)

Low qualifications of lecturers

(7)

Students attitudes

(8)

Inadequacy of evaluation

Institution
KSU 100
COE 100
KSU 100
COE 100
KSU 100
COE 100
KSU 100
COE 100
KSU 100
COE 100
KSU 100
COE 100
KSU 100
COE 100
KSU 100
COE 100

10.03
7.74
6.29
8.32
9.66
8.20
5.46
3.02
6.62
8.84
9.45
11.55
12.24
10.00
6.12
7.68

SD
2.50
2.74
1.87
1.52
2.04
1.71
1.48
1.25
1.66
1.58
1.75
1.65
2.00
3.12
1.86
2.12

T-value
2.60
7.74
5.40
2.46
2.01
8.73
6.04
5.53

As shown in Table 4, the calculated t-values were all greater than the critical t-value of 1.96, which is an
indication that there are significant differences between the two institutions of the influence of those factors on
academic performance of students. Their levels of influence are not equal judging by their mean scores, for

FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

913

example, taken lack of textbooks as a factor, the mean score of KSU students is higher than that of the students
from COE. But taken inadequacy of evaluation as a factor, COE students have a higher mean than the KSU
students. This may not be far from the truth, COE lecturers are at tune with the knowledge, rudiment, and
implications of measurement and evaluation.

Conclusions
These findings were consistent with the basic proposition that the effects of classroom factors are
differentiated within the school. Major findings indicate that variation in mathematics performance was found
to be significantly influenced by the type of teaching method. The interactive teaching method was found to be
superior to the traditional approach, especially with respect to achieving higher order cognitive skills. This
study also in agreement with the findings of Abdullahi (2013) that there was no significant difference in
performance when the availability of textbooks was at the student/textbook ratio level 1:1 and 1:2. However,
ratio levels beyond 1:3 were found to have a negative effect on performance. Class size was found not to have
significant and direct influence on achievement in assignments. However, the amount of time that students
spent on mathematics tasks was found to be minimum, and it is observed that, in recent time, students spent
more time in charting, facebook, and computer games than in academic activities. The study indicated that a
students attitude was a major predictor of his/her performance.
The findings in this study also revealed that the majority of students attained at computation cognitive
level, a competency class that test reproduction, definitions, and computations skills. Poor performance was
evident in application level, which tests connections and integration for problem-solving skills. This is because,
often time mathematics is taught without any intentions to apply the facts, proofs, and the computational skills
to real life situations.

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