Effect of gender difference on students' reading habit and academic performamance in Nigeria

Abstract

Gender is an important issue in education and it represents the socially  constructed definition of men and women (different from their biological  characteristics) which is usually determined by the conception of tasks,  functions, roles and responsibilities attributed to women and men in a  society. This study is a descriptive survey design that examined the Effect of Gender Difference on students’ Reading Habit and Academic  performance in Nigeria using Imo State University (IMSU) as a case study. The population of this study comprised of the entire final year students of IMSU while a sample size of 600 students comprising of 300 male and 300 female students were drawn to represent the population using the  purposive random sampling technique. A researcher-made rating scale was validated and used for data collection. The data collected were analysed with the mean and standard deviation at 2.5 decision mark while the z-test was used in testing the hypotheses. The result of the study revealed that gender difference has profound effect on students’ reading habit but does not affect their academic performance. The researcher therefore  recommended among other things that the formulation, planning and implementation of educational policies and programmes should be gender sensitive so as to eliminate all forms of gender bias thereby encouraging gender equity and gender diversity in all activities of the educational and social system.

Keywords: Gender Difference, Reading Habit, Academic Performance,  Higher Institutions