Relationship between Behavior and College Students Academic Performance: The Case of the National Institute of Transport in Tanzania
Keywords:
Contextual factors, College, Academic Performance, Behaviors, Learning
Abstract
This paper attempts to shed light on the extent of the influence of students behaviors to their learning initiatives. The study aimed at exploring strategies that may assist college students to invest full concentration in their studies in an effort to improve their academic performance. The target population included students at the National Institute of Transport in Dar es Salaam. Qualitative data was analyzed by using content analysis and quantitative data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics. The first phase involved a distribution of structured questionnaires to the selected respondents. In this phase, the researchers explored responses with the aim of identifying the level of students perceptions on the influence of their behavior on their academic performance at the college. In the second phase the researchers conducted three Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with selected respondents. This aimed at developing deeper understanding of behavioral and environmental factors influencing students academic performance both within the college and beyond. The findings revealed that, majority of the students spent much of their time thinking and engaging themselves in activities that would sustain their daily needs, thus distorting the level of concentration in their studies. Moreover, stress levels in most of the respondents were significant and required immediate rescue plan by the college. The findings for this study also identified the need for mitigating strategies to curb the identified challenges and propose new areas for future behavioral research. It is concluded that any strategy or policy established to assist students to have excellent academic performance requires attention on the behavioral patterns affecting students performance.Article Views and Downloands Counter
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behavioral patterns on academic performance - comparison between students of the morning session and afternoon session at the College of Health Sciences (CHS): Kingdom of Bahrain. International Journal of Sociology of Education,
1(1)
Bandura, A. & Schunk, D. H. (1981). Cultivating competence, self-efficacy and intrinsic
interest through proximal self-motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3(41)
Biggs, J. B. (1987). Student approaches to learning and studying. Australian Council for
Education Research. Melbourne
Blair, C., Ganger, D. A., Kivlinghan, K. T., Mills-Koonce, R., Wiloughby, M., & Greenberg,
M. T. (2008). Maternal and child contributions to cortisol response to emotional arousal in young children form low income rural communities. Developmental Psychology, 44(4).
Conrad, C. D. (2006). What is the functional significance of chronic stress-induced CA3
dendritic retraction within the hippocampus? Princeton, NJ.
Diseth, A., Pallesen, S., Brunborg, G., & Larsen, S. (2010). Academic achievement among first
semester undergraduate psychology students: The role of course experience, effort, motives and learning strategies. Higher Education, 59.
Evans, G. W., & English, K. (2002). The environment of poverty: Multiple stressor exposure,
psychological stress, and sociomotional adjustment. Child Development, 73, Retrieved from http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/-lds/pdfs/DonaSpelke.pdf October 29, 2014.
Jennifer, C., & Brenda, M. (1989). Social Stigma and self-esteeem: The sefl-proactive.
Jensen, E. (2010). Teaching with poverty in mind. Alexandria, VA: ASCD
Nonis, S. A., & Hudson, G. I. (2006). Academic Performance of College Students: Influence
of Time Spent Studying and Working. Journal of Education for Business
Pintrinch, P. R. (2004). A Conceptual framework for assessing motivation and
self-regulated learning in college students. Educational Psychology Review,
Rwegoshora, H. (2010). The State of HIV/AIDS and Behavioral Change in Higher Learning
Institutions: The Case of the Institute of Social Work in Tanzania. The Institute of Social Work Journal.
Samuel, F. (1973). Group images. New Heaven. CT College and University Press.
Sroufe, A. L. (2005). Attachment and development: A prospective, longitudinal study from
birth to adulthood. Attachment and Human Development.
Wang, R., Chen, F., Chen, Z., Li, T., Harari, G., Tignor, S., & Campbell, A. (2004).
Student life: Assessing mental health, academic performance and behavioral trends of college students using smartphones. Journal of ACM.
Yang, Y., Cao, J. X., Xiong, W., Zhang, J., Zhou, Q., Wei, H. & Xu, L. (2003). Both stress
experience and age determine the impairment or enhancement effect of stress on spatial memory retrieval. Journal of Adolescent Health.
Published
2016-05-25
How to Cite
Katopol, D., & Otmar, B. (2016). Africa Journal of Technical and Vocational Education and Training, 1(1), 168-178. Retrieved from https://afritvet.org/index.php/Afritvet/article/view/23
Section
CROSS CUTTING THEMES IN EDUCATION AND TRAINING
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