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PEER GROUP INFLUENCE AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF
SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE
BY
BASSEY, INYANG ODO
E-mail:
inobas1994@gmail.com
Phone: +2347068517039
ABSTRACT
The study was on the influence peer group on the academic performance
secondary school students in English language in Calabar Municipality of Cross
River State, Nigeria. To carry out the purpose of the research, a null hypothesis
was formulated to guide the study. Descriptive research design was utilised for
the research. A sample size of two hundred (200) respondents was selected
randomly for the study through the simple random sampling technique. A
questionnaire and an English Language achievement test were the instruments
used in the collection data. The instruments were subjected to face and content
validation by experts in measurement and evaluation. The reliability estimates of
the instruments were established through test-re-test reliability method. Pearson
moment product correlation analysis was the statistical tool adopted to test the
hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the finding revealed that
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peer group significantly influences the academic performance secondary school
students in English Language. Based on the finding, it was recommended that
students should be on the type of friends they keep so as not to fall into the
company of bad friends (peer) who may influence them negatively.
Key words: Academic performance, peer group, influence,
INTRODUCTION
Peer group plays an important part throughout one’s life. It is more crucial
during the developmental years of learners. The child’s peer group consists of
people or individuals that are within an age bracket. The school serves as the
primary setting for the membership of a peer group. They may be in the same
class.
The educational foundation of a child starts right from the home in an
informal way before the child is sent to school for formal education. At school,
the child is exposed to classmates, teachers and peers (Ryan, 2012). They all
influence the child in one way or the other. The peer group is therefore the first
social group outside the home which the child interacts with. Each peer group has
its code of conduct which may not always conform to advanced standard.
Peer group is the pilot of social change and during interaction the child’s
life is transformed from helplessness into mature adult. According to
Castrogiovanni (2002) a peer group is a small group of about the same age, fairly
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close friends, sharing the same activities. In general, peer groups or cliques
are essential to social and general development. Communication with fellow peer
group members increases significantly during adolescence, and peer relationship
becomes more intensive than in other stages (Papalia, Feldman & Kruk, 2004).
High quality friendship may enhance students’ development regardless of the
characteristics of those friends. As children begin to bond with various people and
create friendships, it helps them as adolescents and set up a framework for
adolescent life and peer group interaction.
Peer group is an agency of acculturation and learning. Every child
develops a sense of self from their perception of important people in their
surroundings, relations, teachers and peers. As a child leaves the home setting,
self-perception and socialization takes place. When children move out from their
family to schools and the community at large, they begin to form attachment, and
friendship results as they play together (Landau, 2002). This relationship
influences behaviour. Peer group influence on students’ academic performance
greatly depends on the skills and potentials of the students. As a child grows up,
his/her own peer group or companion is likely to be of greater importance to the
child than even the parents and teachers.
It is believed that students feel more comfortable and relaxed among
friends. A student who is brilliant and surrounded by dull friends may lose interest
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in learning. On the other hand, peer group that is inclined to study will have
positive effect on the dull members towards academic work. Peer group
influences academic performance in various ways. One of the ways is through
model similarity. A student observing his or her successful peer can raise his or
her self-motivation to perform better. In school set up teachers can take advantage
of peer group to plan group activities for learning and to promote peer counseling.
However, peer group may socialize negatively (Ukume, Uguma & Agbinya,
2020). An example is when they inculcate antisocial behaviour, immoral conduct,
and experiment with drugs. (Thungu, Wandera & Gachie, 2008)
Peer group influence could be negative or positive. Positive influences
could be volunteering for community and social activities, participating in sports,
and other productive endeavours (De Guzman, 2007, Omojuwa & Uguma, 2003).
Negative peer group leads an adolescent student to be involved in antisocial
behaviours (Howard & Medway, 2004). Peer influence is not a simple process
where a child is a passive recipient of influence from others. In fact, peers who
become friends already have a lot of behaviourial traits in common. Peers with
similar interest and similar academic standing enjoy doing the same thing; they
gravitate towards each other (De Guzman, 2007).
Adolescents are always exposed to peer influences. Influence could be
mode dressing, substance abuse or other anti-social behaviours (Temitope &
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Christy, 2015). Literature indicates that peers who are interested in academic
issues are more likely to associate with fellow peers who have same interest. They
study together, sharing materials and information with fellow peers who are
motivated to learn. For instance, it has been noted by Landau, (2002) that,
students who form positive peer group make more effort during learning, doing
social activities, and fear to engage in delinquent activities. However, Ryan
(2012) argues that those students who are identified as jock popular perceive more
pressure in the area of social involvement than pressure towards misconduct.
Peer group according to Bankole and Ogunsakin (2016) provides a sense
of security and helps adolescents to ask questions relating to social identity theory
such as ‘who am I?’ and ‘what do I want out of life?’ Many peer groups can exert
a positive influence on their friends. It is thought that intelligent students do help
their peers by bringing up their academic performances. Likewise students with
good friends who are considered intelligent tend to do better in school: all
attributed to the fact that they share a common team of similar aspiration (Landau,
2002). Adolescent period is a time an individual makes important decisions on
commitment to academics. Young students begin to ask questions such as ‘is
English language important to me’? ‘Why do I want to spend my time studying
English”? The choices that adolescents make regarding their motivation re-
engagement and achievement in school (and life) and the satisfaction they obtain
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from their choices depend in part on the context in which they make such choices.
The kind of peers a student identifies with and depends on, will determine the
kind of influence the group will have on his academic achievement.
Peer influence on academic achievement depends on the students’ self-
identity, self-esteem and self-reliance. Peer influence can mobilize students’
energy and motivate for success. Peers can act as positive role models. If a student
is influenced negatively, it affects his academic performance. Stronger students do
have some impact on their peers and improves the overall academic performance.
Attitudes and aspirations of peers as well as peer expectations and standards affect
individual effort and achievement in school (Uguma & Usani, 2016).
However, it is through the peer group that students are more likely to be
introduced to problem behaviour such as drinking, smoking and low academic
performance results. Positive peer influence generates more alternative solution to
problems, proposes more mature solution and are less aggressive than students
who are influenced negatively. It is thought that intelligent students do help their
peers bring up their academic performance. Girls with good friends who are
considered intelligent tend to do better in school, all attributable to the fact that
they share a common team of similar aspirations (Landau, 2002; Timothy &
Uguma, 2017). Also there are some peer group members who can exert negative
influence on their friends and this group tends to share low aspirations of going to
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tertiary institution to pursue certain careers. There may be other values in place,
such as taking care of the family or making quick money rather than pursuing
education first (Ide, 2006).
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