ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND ACADEMIC OPTIMISM AS CORRELATES OF ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT AMONG POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS IN NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNVERSITY (NAU), AWKA
ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND ACADEMIC OPTIMISM AS CORRELATES OF ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT AMONG POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS IN NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNVERSITY (NAU), AWKA

Summary/Abstract: Academic engagement is a pre requisite for academic success among students at all levels of education. This study sought to determine the relationship that achievement motivation, academic self-efficacy and optimism have with academic engagement of postgraduate students in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Two research questions and two null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. The study adopted a correlational research design. The population comprised of 1633 Postgraduate students of 2018/2019 academic session in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. A sample of 280 postgraduate students were randomly drawn from the 14 Faculties in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka for the study. The instruments used for data collection were three, namely: Academic Achievement Questionnaire (AAC), Academic Optimism Questionnaire (OQ) and Academic Engagement Questionnaire (AEQ). Both validity and reliability of the instruments were determined. Validity of the instruments was determined by three experts in the Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The reliability of the instrument was determined using the Cronbach Alpha and alpha coefficient of 0.72 was obtained for AAC, 0.75 for ASEQ, 0.70 for OQ and 0.72 for AEQ. Data collected were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation for answering research questions and t-test of significance of r for testing the hypotheses. Findings of the study revealed that the independent variables (achievement motivation and academic optimism) have a moderate and positive relationship (r = 0.508; and r = 0.582 respectively) with the dependent variable (academic engagement). Based on the findings, it was recommended that the University should re-strategize by employing more motivational packages for the postgraduate students to arouse them into active academic engagement required of their academic pursuit.

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