Evaluating the Impacts of Social Skill Instruction on Self-Efficacy of Junior Secondary School Students in Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined effects of social skill instruction techniques on junior secondary school students’ self-efficacy esteem in Anambra State, Nigeria. The study was guided by two research questions and 3 hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. The design of the study was non-randomized control group, pre-test, post-test quasi-experimental design. Multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted in which purposive sampling technique was used to select six co-education zones while simple random sampling was used to select one co-education school from each of the six education zones from the already stratified six Education Zones. Also, simple random sampling was used to select one in-tact class from each sampled co-education school from each education zone that make up 258 secondary schools in Anambra State. Total sample size was 57 junior secondary II students. The experimental group was 30 (14 males and 17 females) while the control group was 27 (8 males and 18 females). Self-Efficacy Scale (SES) was used as instruments for data collection. Experimental and control groups received six weeks of social skill training (SST) and no social skill training respectively. Mean and Standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level using SPSS version 23.0. Findings revealed that the use of SST significantly enhanced JS II students’ self-efficacy than the conventional. Gender of students was only significant factor on the effect of SST on students’ self-esteem. Based on the findings, it was concluded that social skill training is a good alternative technique to improve students’ self-efficacy. It is therefore recommended among other things that, social skill training should be formally adopted in secondary schools in for effective enhancement of students’ psychological wellbeing.