Asian Journal of Contemporary Education

Predictive relationship between admission academic abilities and undergraduates’ academic achievement in Nigerian universities

Ala Mary Adetola — 2026-01-09

This study aimed to determine the predictive relationship between admission academic abilities and subsequent undergraduates’ academic achievement in Nigeria. This research adopted an ex post facto descriptive design. The total population consisted of 282,834 students, while the target population comprised 72,062 undergraduates in the 200 level, and the sample size was 1,524 respondents through a multistage sampling procedure. At the point of admission, students whose scores ranged from 70% to 100% were 291 (22%), 60% to 69% were 484 (36%), 50% to 59% were 471 (35%), 45% to 49% were 69 (5%), and below 44% were 31 (2%). The same undergraduates, after admission, declined in academic achievement to 129 (10%) among the first class, 428 (32%) second class upper, 543 (41%) second class lower, 218 (16%) third class, and 17 (1%) pass category, while others were on probation. The analysis (F_{(2, 1345)} = 0.934) revealed that undergraduates’ academic achievement was not significantly affected by admission academic abilities. The study recommended that undergraduates should work towards improving their academic achievement, as this will determine their future privileges. The government should encourage students to value education by improving employment opportunities for graduates, thereby fostering academic achievement in Nigeria.

Stress, meaning-making and academic engagement under extended school hours

Lord Joseas Costales Conwi — 2026-01-09

Extended school hours and a high academic workload have been causes of distress affecting students' well-being, which subsequently contribute to fatigue and reduced engagement. Guided by Park’s Meaning-Making Model, this study examined the relationships among extended school hours, stress, academic engagement, and meaning in life among students. A mixed-methods explanatory sequential design was employed, combining surveys and thematic analysis. Data were collected from 575 students. Quantitative results indicated high levels of academic stress, low academic engagement, and a strong presence of meaning-making in students' experiences. While stress directly reduced engagement, it simultaneously impacted meaning-making processes that partially counterbalanced its negative effects, fostering engagement and reflecting a post-traumatic growth-like response. Moreover, these findings highlighted situational contributors to stress, including extended school hours, inflexible schedules, and inadequate rest, which exacerbated fatigue and diminished engagement. These results suggest that schools should foster an environment that encourages meaningful learning opportunities through policies that allow flexible scheduling, sufficient rest, and institutional support. Such measures may help reduce stress-related disengagement while harnessing the adaptive potential of stress to promote personal and professional development. Furthermore, these findings highlight the importance of implementing evidence-based strategies such as revised timetables, wellness breaks, workload management, and counseling services to maintain student well-being and engagement.

The role of social media in developing tertiary-level learners’ English language skills

Md. Mahmudur Rahman Siam — 2026-01-09

Social media is nowadays emerging worldwide as an integral part of the youth’s interactive English learning practices, and Bangladeshi tertiary-level students are no exception. This paper studies Jashore University of Science and Technology (JUST) students’ perspectives on the incorporation of social media in developing their basic language skills. It investigates the influence of different social media platforms and content on the students’ listening, speaking, reading, and writing proficiency in English. This research used a mixed-method approach to collect and analyze data. The data were obtained from 100 undergraduate students of JUST through a structured questionnaire. The findings of this study revealed social media’s crucial role in the enhancement of the students’ English language skills. However, the respondents expressed their concerns about multiple challenges that they encountered. Social media’s effectiveness is curtailed by distraction and less structured guidance, as this study finds. This study also collected their suggestions on a better utilization of social media as an English language learning assistant. This study promotes the balanced incorporation of social media in the mainstream language learning and skills development environment. Social media’s inclusion alongside the existing traditional methods can ensure an inclusive and engaging learning experience for English language learners.