The relationship between home variables and academic achievement in English and science

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine, by means of a review of literature and an empirical investigation, the influence of home and other variables on pupils' academic achievcment in English and Science. From the review of literature it was concluded that home variables have an influence on acadcmic achicvement. Different families create different environments that influcnce children's academic performance in different ways. It was concluded from the literature review that school-related variables such as teacher-pupil relationships, discipline, curriculum, subject matter, teaching method and peer-group have an influence on academic achievement. From the literature review it was also concluded that learning strategies enhance the learning of students. Attributions of success to stable factors such as aptitude, ability and effort make a student work harder and persist longer at a task and thereby increase his level of performance. A student with a high sense of efficacy achieves better than the one with low efficacy, because obstacles make him intensifY his efforts more than the one who doubts his capabilities. By means of an empirical investigation. it could be concluded that there is a relationship between home variables and academic achievement with reference to family structure. The hypthess that there is a relationship between motivational variables and academic achievement could only be accepted with reference to anxiety. The hypothesis Ihat there is a relationship between cognitive variables and academic achievement had to be rejected.