PREDICTIVE VALIDITY OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ QUALIFYING EXAMINATION SCORES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN KATSINA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study assessed the predictive validity of predictive validity of senior secondary school students’ qualifying examination scores in English Language in Dutsin-Ma Zonal Education Quality Assurance area of Katsina State, Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study, and three hypotheses were formulated and tested at a 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a correlational research design. The population consisted of 4,796 Senior Secondary School Three (SSS3) students who took the qualifying English Language examinations in 2019 and 2020, as well as the NECO SSC English examinations in 2020 and 2021. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 524 students for the study. Data were collected using proforma. Frequencies and percentages were used to answer the research questions, while Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was used to test Hypothesis 1 and t-tests were employed to test Hypotheses 2 and 3. Findings of the study showed that there was a significant positive relationship between students’ performance in the 2019 qualifying examination and the 2020 SSCE English Language examinations. Also, a significant difference was observed between male and female students’ performance in the 2020 qualifying examination (t = 3.687; p < 0.05). The study concluded that qualifying examination scores in English Language can serve as valid predictors of students' performance in the NECO SSC English examination. It was recommended that students should take both the qualifying and SSCE examinations seriously and approach them with equal commitment.