INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN ENUGU EDUCATION ZONE OF ENUGU STATE

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to investigate the influence of social media on the performance of secondary school students in English language in Enugu Education Zone of Enugu State. The study sample was fifty nine(59) secondary schools, in which twenty three thousand, two hundred and fifty nine (23,259) were students and one thousand, seven hundred and ninety two (1,792) were teachers. A four-point Likert type rating questionnaire titled ‘Social Media and Academic Performance of Students in English Language’ (SMAPOSIEL) was used to collect data from the respondents. The descriptive survey design was used. Simple random sampling was employed in sampling the respondents. Frequency and mean (X) were used in the analysis of data. The findings of the study led to the conclusion that the dominance and addiction on social media are the major causes of poor performance in English language both in internal and external examinations among secondary school students of Enugu Education Zone of Enugu State. To this end, the researcher recommended that social media should be used for academic purposes, social networking sites should be expanded and new pages should be created to enhance students academic activities, more strict and proper supervision by all stakeholders should be imbibed, workshops, seminars and public enlightenment programmes should be launched by the government, parents and teachers should check the sites their students / wards are always using so as to be guided properly. This is to create a balance between social media and academic activities of students to avoid setbacks in the academic performance of the students.