Determinants Of Misbehavior Among Students Of Ekiti State, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria

CHAPTER ONE/ INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

The youth is the hope of the future. The future of the nation lies on the hands of the students. It is just proper for them to be molded properly in all aspects of life intellectually, spiritually, socially, and emotionally especially to their behavior or values. Anyawu (2011). The modern world where so many high-technology that interferes on the life of students. Thereby affecting their behavior as a person. Social media using the internet were the youth, the students express their passion, feelings, likes, and other lifestyle is just one of the factors affecting the behaviors of the students. The biological factors also affect the behavior of the students. Another factor is the society itself where they are in, starting from their family where values count a lot on the behavior.
Students misbehaviors such as disruptive talking, chronic avoidance of work, clowning, interfering with teaching activities, harassing classmates, verbal insults, rudeness to teachers, defiance, and hostility, ranging from infrequent to frequent, mild to severe, is a thorny issue in everyday classroom. Teachers usually reported that these disturbing behaviors in the classroom are intolerable and stress-provoking that they have to spend a great deal of time and energy to manage the classroom. Obviously, student misbehaviors retard the smoothness and effectiveness of teaching and also impede the learning of the student involved affecting his/her classmates. Moreover, research finding have shown that school misbehavior not only escalated with time but also lowered academic achievement and increased delinquent behaviors. To lessen these immediate and gradual adverse effects of students’ misbehaviors, it is of primary importance to identify what exactly are those behaviors inside the classroom where it is taking place.
It has been observed that there are many students have been dismissed in the Divine Word College of Bangued so this study will examine the conceptions of students in the classroom and to identify the most common, disruptive and unacceptable student problem behaviors and the reasons behind these. It is a way of knowing and understanding the behavior of the students to apply certain measures to solve the problem.
                        What is Student Misbehavior in the Classroom? Kyriacou defines student misbehaviour as “any behaviour that undermines the teacher’s ability to establish and maintain effective learning experience in the classroom” (1997:121). Kyriacou (1997) ranges student misbehaviour from simple non-compliance (e.g., not paying attention) to overt disruptive behaviour (e.g., throwing a missile across the room). He also points out that serious misbehaviour, including direct disobedience, physical aggression or damage, is much less frequent.
Hollin (1993) states several reasons why student misbehaviour is problematic: 1. It provokes and offends members of the teaching profession; 2. It is detrimental to the educational progress of the “bad child”; 3. It may have untoward effects later in the child’s life; 4. It may hinder and disrupt the educational and social progress of “good children” who share a classroom with “bad children”. According to the Teacher teaching tips,there are causes of misbehavior in the classroom which are  a.) seeking attention (i.e. looking for more of the spotlight) b.) desire for power (i.e. control in the classroom) c.) looking for revenge (i.e. a response to hurt feelings) d.) lack of self-confidence (i.e. afraid of failure) e.) physiological factors (i.e. a victim in a sudden change in routine) f.) classroom environment (i.e. poor seating arrangements, extreme temperatures or a high noise level) and g.) problems with the curriculum (i.e. no enough challenge to behave). These causes must be understood to be able to relate to the students’ needs. There are solutions to misbehavior in the classroom for teachers to ensure the best educational experience possible. A.) monitor your students closely B.) model appropriate behavior C.) have a regular class meetings D.) stay calm E.) use nonverbal cues. They should be practiced in order to avoid the negatives of disruptive behavior which are a.) negative effects on teaching b.) issues for students and c.) negative impact on the school.
As McManus (1995) suggests, “enlightenment is a valuable aid to seeing problems not as opaque and oppressive but interesting puzzle to be solved—even if we conclude that on some levels no direct actions is possible.” Being the teachers, the controller of the classroom, they must have the confidence to solve the problem.In order to understand the behaviour of the student, the teachers should imagine they are in the position of the students, thinking about themselves what they will do? And then “pre-empting” the student misbehaviour to minimize its occurrence in the first place (Kyriacou, 1997) to ensure the quality of the educational progress.
Fontana (1993) states that as a child grows older and starts school, the situation is made worse by the fact that he or she may have anti-social behaviour patterns further reinforced rather than discouraged. This is because the teacher may have little time to watch carefully and respond with attention and praise for the child who produces correct behaviour. Instead of praising the “good behaviour”, the teacher will spend most of time “catching the child behaving badly”, and attempt to instruct him or her against unacceptable behaviour. The reactions of the teacher will probably “encourage” a large amount of misbehaviour in the classroom that is only because of students’ attention-seeking. McManus (1993) suggests that the teacher must try to give the student attention when he or she is engaged in acceptable behaviour; and, so far is possible, unacceptable behaviour must be ignored or given minimal attention.
In a study conducted by Kyriaco (1997), students are sensitive to how teachers behave to them, and it is easy to see how some students may see their own misbehaviour simply as a fair and legitimate reaction to the teacher’s teaching. Kyriacou (1997) suggests that “all teachers need to be aware of how their behaviour can serve to hinder rather than facilitate good discipline in the classroom”.
According to Joanne Nordling(1999), there are categories of misbehavior which are not- minding, self-indulgent, routine not-minding, and aggressive.
Results from this study may provide insight into best practices for helping students develop positive behavioural self-efficacy and teach them to act in socially desirable ways. Better self-control will allow students to focus their attention on learning and skill development and strive towards their academic potential. (Journal of Educational and Development Psychology).

Statement of the problem

A safe school looks after the welfare of students, comes up with strategies to promote and recognize positive behaviour of students and ensure student safety under minimal risks. Families, school leaders, teachers and the local community can contribute to constructive management of student behaviour. The students spend most of their time in school interacting with peers, and teachers. Proper behavior management strategies should be applied to promote a healthy learning environment. The family and the community should promote acceptable standards of behaviour by providing a positive environment and strengthening behavior management strategies in schools. The approaches to behaviour management are often negative such as corporal punishment. Punishment has been the most widely used form of behaviour management. Too harsh and excess corrective practices against students brings an atmosphere that can lead to school hostility (Hyman and Snook,2000) Students that receive relation based punishment are less disturbed when teachers handle their misbehaviour and they take action more maturely than those who receive coercive discipline and act less responsibly (Lewis 2001). Since coercive behaviour management approaches are negative, the non-coercive methods are normally recommended. Researchers have discussed successful parenting as a model for teachers’ authority based on wide observation of parents and their offspring. 

Objectives of the Study

The main aims of this study is on Determinants Of Misbehavior Among Students Of Ekiti State, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria. The other specific objectives of the study are: 

• To examine the reason why Ado-Ekiti students misbehave
• To investigate how students’ behavior affects their academic performances
• To analyze the various strategies that can be employed to promote behaviour management in schools

Research Questions

• What is the reason of Ado-Ekiti students to misbehave?
• Is the students’ behavior affects their academic performances?
• What strategies can be employed to promote behaviour management in school

Hypothesis

• There is no reason for student in Ado-Ekiti to misbehave in the classroom, canteen and corridors.
• There is no effect of students’ misbehavior on their academic performances.

Significance of the study

The students are the future leaders, the walls of our nation. It is worthy to give them the best quality education in all aspects that they need especially their behavior and values. Therefore, this study is a great help to the following:

1. Faculty. This study serves as basis for them to design, plan, and prepare curriculum contents and curricular activities suited for all students in terms of their behavior and intellectual capabilities. Teachers and curriculum makers are given prior information about the students so that they can adopt the best methods and the best strategies in dealing with them through the teaching-learning process.
2. Parents. They who always live closest to their children are given knowledge on their behavior inside the school especially within the classroom. Equipped with these information, the parents will know better on how to deal with them seeking solution. Dealing with them can result to harmonious relationship and a good behavior in school.
3. Students. Acquiring knowledge about the factors that affects students’ behavior will enlighten their curious minds on how to behave well in school. They can become more responsible on their actions, emotions, and behaviors especially in school. They can also be more mature in facing challenges that will interfere their studies.
4. Researchers. The result of this study is helpful for them in giving recommendations and advices connecting to the topic. They can acquire knowledge to know the facts and reasons behind a students’ misbehavior. It can also improve their research skills in conducting this survey.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This study on the Determinants Of Misbehavior Among Students Of Ekiti State, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria. Furthermore, the study covers forty students in total from Ekiti state university, Ado-Ekiti

Definition of Terms

These terms are defined according to their meanings on the sentences used in the study.

Misbehavior

this refers to the unacceptable behavior or the action of misbehaving; bad behavior.

Disruptive talking

it refers to the student who are making noise and talking out of turn asking irrelevant questions regularly.

 Biological Factors

this refers to anything that affects the students’ behavior. These factors can be physical, physiological, chemical, neurological, or generic.

Conceptions –

this refers to the formation of notion or idea of the student tend to originate and understand a given comprehension.

Academic achievement

this refers to a student’s success in meeting short- or long-term goals in education.

Impede

it refers to the student’s difficulty in activity or progress.

Detrimental

it refers to a student’s formal way of talking about things that tends to cause harm.

Physiological factors

this refer to thoughts, feelings and other cognitive characteristics that affect the attitude, function and the behavior of the student. It influences how a student thinks and later affect his decisions and relations in his daily life.

Legitimate reaction

it refers to the acceptable or recognized reaction of a student.

Self-efficacy

this serves as a student’s belief in one’s ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task.

Academic potential –

This refers to the ability of a student to perform and learn to develop their intelligence to achieved academically.

Hinder

it refers to the limiting of a student’s ability to do something or to limit their development.