EFFECTIVENESS OF BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION AND STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION AS STRATEGIES USED BY TEACHERS IN MANAGING STUDENTS’ CLASSROOM MISBEHAVIOUR IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of behaviour modification and students’ motivation as strategies used by teachers in managing students’ classroom misbehaviour in public secondary schools in Anambra State. Two research questions guided the study and two hypotheses were tested at 005 level of significance. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population consisted of all the 5,369 teachers in the 268 public secondary schools in the six education zone in Anambra State. A sample of 378 was drawn using multistage sampling technique and simple random sampling. Data were collected using two instruments "“Behaviour Modification and Students Motivation Strategies Questionnaire” (TMSQ) and the second instrument was titled “Classroom Management Questionnaire” (BMSMSQ).  The instruments were validated by three experts who are lecturers in the faculty of Education, Chukwemeka Odumuegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam Campus. For internal consistency, reliability indices of 0.78 and 0.81 were obtained for the two sections of BMSMSQ with and overall reliability index of 0.81 while 0.81 was obtained for CMQ using Cronbach's alpha methods. The method of analyses used for the study were mean and standard deviation for answering the research questions and Pearson Product Correlation Coefficient (PPMC) was used in testing the hypotheses at 0.05 significance level. The findings revealed among others that behaviour modification and students’ motivation are effective strategies used by teachers for managing students’ classroom misbehaviours in public secondary schools in Anambra State. The study recommended among others that principals of secondary schools should encourage teachers to consistently implement behaviour modification strategies, like positive reinforcement and constructive feedback, to address classroom misbehaviour effectively.