Incivility in the Classroom as Correlate of Students’ Motivation to Learn in Secondary Schools in Tubah, Mezam Division of the North West Region of Cameroon

Abstract

This study examined “the influence of incivility in the classroom on students’ motivation to learn in secondary schools in Bamenda III Municipality, North West Region of Cameroon”. The main research objective was to investigate the influence of incivility in the classroom on students’ motivation learn. A concurrent mixed methods research design was used for the study. Questionnaires for students and interview guide for teachers were used for data collection and a purposive sampling technique was used to select respondents. A sample of 320 student and 50 teachers were used. Data was analyzed quantitatively with the used of frequency counts and percentages while qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis and direct reporting technique. The normality assumption test was computed using Shapiro-Wilk test of significance which showed that the data was not uniformly distributed, consequently, the Spearman’s Rho test was used to test the hypothesis. Finally, findings were presented using frequency distribution tables and charts and inferential statistic was presented 95% level of confidence interval with alpha at 0.05 levels accepting only 5% margin of errors. Findings indicated that; incivility in the classroom has a significant and negative effect on students’ motivation to learn. Specifically, the findings indicated that: physical assault has a significant and relatively strong and negative influence on students’ motivation to learn (R-value = -0.506**, p-value 0.000<0.05). Similarly, findings equally revealed that bullying has a significant, relative strong and negative influence on students’ motivation to learn (R-value =0.416**, p-value 0.000<0.05). The study therefore concluded that incivility has an influence on students’ motivation to learn and it was therefore recommended among other things that, teacher and guidance counsellors should constantly orient and guide students to adopt civil behaviour and help students to inculcate integrity, morality, virtue which will enhance the motivation to stay in class and learn.