Teacher Feedback Quality and Students’ Academic Achievement in Public Secondary Schools in Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study explored how the quality of teacher feedback affects students' academic success in public secondary schools across Imo State, Nigeria. It was structured around five research questions and four null hypotheses, all tested at a significance level of 0.05. A correlational survey research design was employed, focusing on a population of 22,155 SS2 students and 5,576 teachers from 308 public secondary schools in the region. Using a multistage sampling technique, a sample of 1,200 SS2 students and 300 teachers was selected. For data collection, three instruments were utilized: the Teacher Feedback Quality Questionnaire, the Students’ Academic Achievement Record Sheet, and the Challenges to Feedback Provision Scale. These tools were validated by experts and demonstrated Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients of 0.84 and 0.79. The data analysis involved mean, standard deviation, Pearson Product Moment Correlation, and Independent Samples t-test, all conducted with SPSS Version 27. The results indicated that teachers provided feedback to a high degree in terms of specificity (M = 3.12) and clarity (M = 3.05), but were less timely (M = 2.41). Key challenges to delivering quality feedback included large class sizes (M = 3.45), heavy workloads (M = 3.38), and insufficient training (M = 3.21). A significant moderate positive relationship was found between the timeliness (r(1198) = 0.42, p <0.001), specificity (r(1198) = 0.56, p <0.001), and clarity (r(1198) = 0.51, p <0.001) of feedback and students’ academic performance. Additionally, students who received high-quality feedback (M = 64.82, SD = 11.34) outperformed those who received low-quality feedback (M = 57.19, SD = 12.01), t(1198) = 6.87, p <0.001, d = 0.65. The study concluded that the quality of teacher feedback-specifically its timeliness, specificity, and clarity-plays a significant role in influencing students’ academic achievement in English and Mathematics. It was recommended that the Imo State Ministry of Education organize regular in-service training sessions for teachers focused on assessment and feedback literacy, school administrators should reduce class size and workload, and teachers should ensure timely, specific, and clear feedback.