EFFECTS OF CONCEPT MAPPING ON HIGHER NATIONAL DIPLOMA STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT AND RETENTION IN MARKETING COMMUNICATION IN POLYTECHNICS IN BENUE AND KOGI STATES OF NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

This study determined Effects of Concept Mapping on Higher National Diploma (HND) Students’ Achievement  and Retention  in Marketing  communication  in Polytechnics  in  Benue and Kogi States of Nigeria. The study adopted a quasi-experimental research design. The study was carried out in Benue and Kogi States, Nigeria.  The population for the  study  comprised  228 HND II students  offering  marketing  in  the  four  polytechnics  in  Benue  and  Kogi  States  of  Nigeria. Purposive  sampling  technique  was  used  to  select  two  polytechnics,  which  are  Benue  State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, with 35 HND II marketing students, and Federal Polytechnic, Idah, with 30  HND  II marketing  students,  making  the total sample  frame  to  be 65  HND  II  marketing students.  The  criteria  for  the  purposive  selection  of  the  two  polytechnics  was  based  on polytechnics with approved marketing programme with marketing communication components, available qualified marketing lecturers with degrees, approved required facilities. The instrument for data collection was 80-items multiple choice  Marketing Communication Achievement  Test (MCAT). The instrument was subjected to face and content validation. The Validation was done by five experts. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Kuder Richardson 21 (K-R 21) formula which  yielded  a reliability coefficient  of 0.78. Before the commencement  of  the experiment, all students in both experimental and control groups were subjected to a pre-test in order to obtain the pre-test scores for the study. On completion of the experiment, post-test scores were collected while the post-post test scores were collected two weeks after the post-test. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used for testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Based on the data collected and analyzed, and results interpreted, the study found that the concept mapping technique   significantly increased students’ academic achievement and retention    of   learning   in    advertising,    sales   promotion,    personal    selling,    and   public relations/publicity (marketing communication). There was significant difference (p < 0.05) in the mean achievement scores of students taught with concept mapping technique and those taught with conventional teaching method only. Based on these findings, the study recommended among others   that:   seminars,   workshops   and   conferences   should   be   organized   by   educational administrators and ministry of education where polytechnic lecturers will be trained on the use and application of concept mapping technique for effective teaching and learning.

CHAPTER ONE

Background of the Study

INTRODUCTION

Marketing is a pervasive activity that impacts on all spheres of life. It has become  the basic  element  of  development  in  the  Nigerian  economy  because  it  involves   production, distribution and consumption of goods, services and ideas. Marketing is defined  by Kotler and Keller (2012) as a societal process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need or want through creating offering, and freely exchanging products and services of value with others. As recorded  by  the  American  Marketing  Association  (AMA)  (2007),  marketing  is  the  set  of institutions,  activity  and  processes,  for  creating,  communicating,  delivering  and  exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large. In the same vein, Kotler (2003) described Marketing as getting the right goods and services to the right people, at the right place, at the right time, at the right price, with the right communication and promotion. Marketing is the performance of business activities that direct the flow of products and services from  producers  to  consumers  or  users  to  satisfy  customers’  demand  and  accomplish  the company’s objective (Obi, 2002). The author further explained that marketing consists of a large number  of  business  activities  which  include  gathering  products,  information,  designing  and developing,  packaging,  transportation,  advertising  and selling.  In this study, marketing  is the process of exchanging goods and services between producers and consumers.

Marketing is important in many ways. In the view of Nwabueze (2006), marketing creates different kinds of utilities which are beneficial to consumers or users. These include form, place, time, information and possession utilities. Form utility is making a product available in the right shape, size or when it is packaged in a convenient way that will ease its usage. Place utility means making a product available at the right place, that is, where it is needed by the target consumers. Time utility is making a product available at the right time, when the target consumers want it. Information utility is providing information about a product such as information about how to get

the product, what to gain from it, and how to use the product; while possession utility is created

1

when the buyer pays for a product and takes possession of it. This implies ensuring that exchange of  product  ownership  is  completed.  The  product  could  be  a  book,  laptop  among  others. Furthermore,  marketing  creates  jobs for trained  graduates  from tertiary  institutions  and other individuals (Olayinka and Aminu, 2006). For marketing to be  beneficial to human beings and institutions, it must aim at certain objectives which must be fulfilled by marketers.

The objectives of marketing as contained in the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE,  1991)  curriculum  are  as  follows:  produce  middle  level  management  personnel  with relevant knowledge for the solution of marketing problems in business and  commerce, provide training   necessary   for  the  acquisition   of  skills  to  individuals   who   shall  be  self-reliant economically,   provide   training  necessary  to  conduct  product   planning   for  manufacturing organizations,  and provide  training necessary to organize  sales  and distribution  of goods and materials. Marketing has different aspects which include marketing research, sales management and marketing communication among others.

Marketing Communication according to Kotler and Keller (2012) is the means by which firms  attempt  to  inform,  persuade  and  remind  consumers  directly  and  indirectly  about  the products and brands they sell through their trained marketers. Olayinka and Aminu (2006) posited that marketing communication is basically an attempt by marketers of a company to influence the recipient’s  feelings,  beliefs,  or  behaviours  about  the  goods put  for  sale  by a company.  The availability of goods produced by a company is made known  to customers through marketing communication, to enable customers patronize them. In this study, marketing communication is a vocational course in marketing, offered in the Polytechnic at HND level to give relevant training to students for the achievement  of the  objectives  of marketing  programme  and with a major purpose of equipping students with relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes on how companies inform, persuade and remind their customers about the products and services they sell. Students are  expected  to  among  others,  acquire  knowledge  and  skills  to  enable  them  understand  the principles and operations of marketing.

Marketing  Communication  is  an  important  activity  in  the  marketing  system  where commercial and non-commercial  organizations  employ substantial field forces to  promote and distribute products or services, to service and assist prospects, clients and middlemen, to report on consumer preferences and competitive activities. Commenting  on the importance of marketing communication, Kotler and Keller (2012) asserted that marketing communication provides jobs to a large number of people in factories, offices and  within the society, links producers and their products with consumers  and potential  consumers,  represents  the voice of a company and its products, establishes dialogue and  builds relationships with a company’s publics and increases product  sales  through  the  use  of  incentives  and  other  promotional  strategies  by  marketers. According  to  Anyanwu  (2000),  marketing  communication  provides  opportunities  to  trained marketers to present the product or service in the most appropriate manner. It informs, persuades and  reminds  the  public  of  the  existence  of  a  company  and/or  its  products,  and  influences consumers’  feelings,  beliefs  or behaviours.  Marketing  communication  is intended  to produce competent polytechnic graduates in marketing that can serve as marketers in companies. It has objectives which must be achieved by both the lecturers and students of marketing.

The objectives of marketing communication as contained in NBTE curriculum (1991) are to: understand the concept of advertising,sales promotion, appreciate the importance of personal selling, understand the evaluation and control of the promotion programme and understand public relations/publicity (NBTE, 1991). In order to achieve these objectives,  the  NBTE prepared the relevant content for study by HND students and lecturers to teach the same content to students. The content of the course as contained in NBTE document for HND programme, is clustered and covers: Cluster 1 (one) which comprised advertising. Its content covers definition of advertising; types of advertising; objectives of advertising; roles of advertising; advantages and disadvantages of  advertising;  advertising  media;  types  of  advertising  media;  advertising  media  selection; advertising  media  scheduling;  advertising  agency;  roles  of  advertising  agencies;  criteria  for selecting advertising agency. Cluster 2 (two) consists concept of sales promotion. The content of sales  promotion  include:  nature  and  scope  of  sales  promotion;  sales  promotion  methods;

importance of sales promotion; consumer and dealer promotion; techniques essential to consumer and dealer promotion; reasons for the increase in sales promotion activities (popularity factors of sales  promotion);  and  problem  areas  of sales  promotion.  Cluster  3  (three)  involves  personal selling  in the  communication  mix.  Its content  include  meaning  of personal  selling;  types of personal selling; types of personal selling sales people; personal selling process; personal selling channels; importance of personal selling; and conditions for utilizing personal selling. Cluster 4 (four) contains  public relations/publicity in the communication mix, and it comprised  public in public relations; types of publics in public relations; meaning of public relations; objectives of public relations; public relations  channels; types of public relations channels; and publicity in public  relations  (See  Appendix  Y,  p.  336).  Communication  mix  is  an  important  aspect  in marketing.

Communication  Mix  is  a  way  companies/organizations   use  a  variety  of  marketing communication  tools  and  media  to  convey  particular  messages  and  encourage  their  target audiences  to  favour  their  products  or  brands.  Communication  mix  according  to  Kotler  and Armstrong (2010) are specific mix of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and public relations/publicity that a company uses to pursue its advertising and marketing objectives. These are promotional tools applied in the marketing process to achieve a purpose. Nwabueze (2006) defined marketing communication mix as a set of controllable promotional and communication variables that an organization adopts in achieving its marketing objectives. The author explained further   that   marketing   communication   mix   refer   to   the   key  components   of   marketing communication  which  the  marketer  employs  in  creating  awareness  for  and  promoting  his products, persuading customers to buy and retaining their loyalty to his products.Communication mix  is called different names by different authors. Kotler and Keller (2012) calls it marketing communication  mix,  while  Belch  and  Belch  (2012)  calls  it  promotional  mix.  In this  study, communication  mix  is  referred  to  as  components  of  marketing  communication.  This  is  in agreement  with  Anyanwu  (2000)  who  calls  communication  mix,  components  of  marketing communication. It is the specific methods used to promote a company or its products to targeted

customers,   and   it   comprised   advertising,   sales   promotion,   personal   selling   and   public relations/publicity  for  marketing  (MKT  413  and  423)  as  stipulated  by  NBTE  (1991)  (See Appendix Y, p. 336).

Advertising, according to Kotler (2003), is any paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor. It is mass communication aimed at helping to sell goods and services. On the other hand, sales promotion involves the use of short- term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or service. Blotterg and Neslin in Kotler and Armstrong (2010) described sales promotion as a collection of incentive tools, mostly short-term, designed to stimulate quicker or greater purchase of particular products or service by consumers or the trade. Personal selling is the face-to-face presentation of a company’s product(s) to customers or potential buyers by the firm’s  salesforce  for the purpose of making sales and building customer relationships. As viewed  by Riley (2012), personal selling is where business use people (salesforce) to sell their products after meeting face-to-face with the customer. Public relations on the other hand, is a variety of programmes directed internally to employees of the company or externally to customers, other firms, the government and media, to promote or protect a company’s image or its individual products (Kotler & Keller, 2012). Public relations is defined as  building  good  relationships  with  the  company’s  various  publics  by obtaining  favourable publicity, building up a good corporate image and handling or heading off unfavourable rumours, stories and events (Kotler & Armstrong, 2010). These components are delivered to students by lecturers in polytechnics.

Polytechnics play a vital role in the educational, scientific and technological progress of Nigeria.  They are established  to train and produce  the technical manpower  necessary  for the execution of the nation’s development plans, goals and strategies (NBTE, 1991). A polytechnic according to Simpson (2011) is an institution of higher education offering courses at degree level or  below,  especially  in  various  vocational  subjects.  Barnes  and   Noble  (2006)  defined  a polytechnic as an institution offering or dealing with instruction in many industrial art and applied sciences.  Furthermore,  the National Policy on Education  (NPE) of     the Federal Republic of

Nigeria (FRN, 2004) described a polytechnic as a tertiary institution which offers courses for a period of four years duration,  two years of National Diploma  (ND) and two years  of  Higher National Diploma (HND), with one year period of industrial experience, serving as one of the pre- requisites for entry into the HND programmes. The HND programme in Polytechnics is structured into four semesters of classroom, studio/workshop  activities in the  institution (NBTE, 1991). A polytechnic in this study is a tertiary  institution designed to train and produce diploma graduates in various technical and business areas.

The National Board for Technical Education is responsible for developing programmes for polytechnics in many areas including marketing (marketing communication being a component). Marketing communication is taught to students by lecturers in the polytechnic. A student is   an individual admitted into a course of study in a college or university (Quirk,2009). In this study, a student is an individual admitted into polytechnic to study marketing at HND level with special interest in marketing communication. Such student must obtain a minimum of lower credit pass before  he  is  awarded  the  HND  certificate.   Students  are  taught  the  content  of  marketing communication by lecturers. A lecturer, is an individual who has been trained in the technical area of his subject and is delivering lecture in college of education, polytechnic or university (Bakare

& Owodunni, 2011).According to Okebukola (2007), a lecturer is a person who gives speeches and presentations, often as part of his or her profession. Most lecturers in marketing department in polytechnics are graduates of marketing programme in Business Administration Faculties in the universities who may not have been exposed to the methodology and pedagogy of instruction in education.  Therefore,  they teach the contents  of their  subject  areas  through  the conventional method  (lecture). This may be  responsilble  for the high anxiety of failure expressed  by their students.  Commenting  on  the  methods of teaching used in teaching students by lecturers, the author  posited  that  most  higher  education  lecturers  including  polytechnics  are  inadequately prepared both in content and pedagogy, and therefore could not teach well, which have negative effect on the  achievement of the students they teach. The method of teaching adopted by the polytechnic lecturers could be improved on through the integration of concept mapping in order to

produce competent  graduates. This study adopts lecture.   In this study, a lecturer refers to  an individual that has acquired higher degrees from universities and is competent in marketing and is charged  with the responsibility  of delivering  lectures  in marketing  communication  to  Higher National Diploma (HND) students in polytechnics in Benue and Kogi States of Nigeria.  Also, a lecturer  is  used  in  this  study to  represent  Chief  lecturers  –  Instructors  in  polytechnics  and Professors – Instructors in universities. Polytechnic lecturers deliver lectures in marketing through the  conventional  lecture  method.    According  to  Quirk  (2009),  a lecture  is a long talk on a particular subject that an individual gives to a group of people-especially students in colleges of education, polytechnics and universities.

In this study, a lecture is a long talk in marketing communication  given by lecturers to HND  students  in  polytechnics  in  Benue  and  Kogi  States,  Nigeria.  This  long  talk  (lecture), according  to  Ukoha  and  Eneogwe  (2001)  encourages  self-study  and  research.  Okoro  (2004) asserted that lecture method of teaching has its use in large classes, that is, it is convenient for teaching  large number  of students  at the same  time,  and it is useful to  cover  a considerable amount of lesson content in a very short time. However,  lecture  method  is characterized  and certified  ineffective  because  of inherent  limitations.    According to  Olaitan  and  Agusiobo  in Melissa (2010), the lecture method has limited students’ participation and who are usually passive while some are observed to be absent minded or getting engaged secretly in other activities such as  counting  fingers  or  cutting  nails  under  the  desk.  Some  may  be  involved  in  vicarious experiences-typical of comparing the lecturer with something that appeal to them. At times, the passiveness  or  lack  of  attention  by  students  is  generally  observed  by most  of  the  students stretching their body at the end of the lecture, signifying that they probably gain little from the lecture.  In affirmation,  Ogwo and Oranu (2006) stated that one disadvantage  of lecture is  the tendency for the students to become inattentive and passive. This occurs if they are not involved actively or if they do not understand what the lecturer’s exposition is all about. Moreover, Ale in Imoko  (2005) noted that lecture method  encourages  rote learning or  memorization,  and lacks active participation of students, which sets in boredom.

The effect of the aformentioned  on students of marketing communication  is that  many students graduate with very low grade in the course while some have to repeat the course several times before passing it. Most students develop high anxiety towards failure  in the course that technically makes marketing uninteresting to them contrary to what it supposes to be. The data from the preliminary study agrees with this assertion (See  Appendix T, p. 324). An interaction with the lecturers on excursion to one of the polytechnics revealed that lecturers lecture students the way they were lectured while in the  university.  This connotes that they lecture marketing communication to students. A change of strategy (a series of plan for accomplishing a mission) in teaching   marketing   communication   in  polytechnics,   therefore,   becomes   necessary,   if  the objectives of teaching marketing courses in polytechnics are to be achieved.

Teaching is the process of giving instruction to an individual by a teacher in order to assist him or her acquires knowledge, skills and attitude. According to Owoso (2010) and David (2010), teaching is a systematic activity deliberately engaged in by the teacher to facilitate the learning of the worthwhile knowledge, skills and values by the learners. Moore (2000) is of the same view with the above authors about teaching. Clark and Star in Kanu (2015) stated that teaching is an attempt to assist students in acquiring or changing some  skills, knowledge,  ideas, attitudes or appreciation.  Thus,  teaching  involves  the  setting  up  of  activities  to  enable  somebody  learn something which can improve the person’s knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. The aim of teaching is to facilitate learning. In teaching, the content to be taught has to be worthwhile and the procedure  has  to  be  educationally  acceptable  for  the  activity  to  be  classified  as  teaching (Onabanjo,  2000).  In this study,  teaching refers to the systematic  activity engaged  in by the teacher of marketing communication to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge, skills and values by the students in the content areas. Teaching is carried out by all teachers.

A teacher in the view of Quirk (2009) is a person whose job/occupation is to teach in a school or college or other place of formal education. Okebukola (2007) defined a  teacher as a trained invididual who has been exposed to the methodology and pedagology of instruction in education. A teacher could use various teaching methods and techniques in teaching.

Teaching methods are the various    procedures adopted by teachers for inculcating  the needed values, attitudes, ideas and skills to an individual in the classroom or laboratory. Teaching method in the opinion of Onyemerekeya  (1998) is a procedure and means of  communicating, conveying and inculcating ideas, skills, and values implied in the aims and objectives of teaching. Obodo in Okonkwo (2012) described teaching method as an approach, procedure, or a position which a teacher adopts to explain a subject matter to learners. Nwachukwu (2006) stressed that teaching methods are aimed at developing in the  learners the ability to acquire knowledge and skills useful for work. They are viewed by Onwuka in Ogwo and Oranu (2006) as a way by which the teacher presents his/her materials  to learners and engages them in the task of learning the curriculum   content.   The   author   further   stated   that   teaching   methods   include   lecture, demonstration,  discussion,  project,  field  trip.  These  are  among  the  most  used  conventional methods  in teaching  and implementing  the curriculum.  In this study, the conventional  lecture method only was adopted. This is because it is the method that is used by polytechnic lecturers in delivering instruction to their students. One or more teaching techniques can be adopted by the teacher to achieve a particular method of instruction.

Teaching technique according to David (2010) are ways or processes, which teachers use to help students become independent, strategic learners. Similarly, Ukoha and Eneogwe in Ogwo and Oranu (2006) defined teaching techniques as processes adopted by veteran teachers to inject variety in their teaching in order to improve and maintain the learners’ achievement in a particular course.   Imoko (2005) described teaching techniques as a set of unique activities that a teacher employs to implement a particular teaching method. In this study, teaching techniques refer to the processes which marketing lecturers adopt to inject variety into their teaching in order to improve and  maintain  HND  students’  achievement   in   marketing  communication.   Various  teaching techniques have been adopted in teaching by some authors. These include: task analysis technique (Kanu,  2016),  mind  mapping  technique  (Shodeinde,   2013),  simulation  –  game  technique (Okonkwo,  2012)  and  vee  and  concept  mapping  techniques  (Fakorede,  2011).  The  concept mapping technique is being considered in this study, to enhance the method of teaching adopted

by the polytechnic lecturers. The choice of concept mapping for this study is hinged on the fact that it has been reported by Ogwo and Oranu (2006) that, it is a teaching technique that organizes information piece by piece so that it is easy for students to comprehend, simplifies complex ideas, and represents information  visually. Moreover, concept mapping technique  has been shown in other  deciplines  to:  be  more  effective  than  conventional  teaching  method  only  in  fostering students’ achievement  in learning (Imoko, 2005; Asan, 2007;  Manjula, 2010); discourage rote learning which means little or no integration of new knowledge with the existing knowledge that promotes meaningful learning (Novak, 2002); promotes meaningful learning and enables students to take notes easily,sumarise and  synthesise what they read (Asiya, 2005); encourages high level of critical thinking and aids meaningful learning (Eurasia, 2008); improve long-term information retention,   reduce   verbatim   retention   of  non-meaningful   information,   improve   transfer   of knowledge in future problem activities, and promote the development of critical thinking skills which can be used for other meaningful learning activities (Mayer and Small in Ezeudu, 2013); help individuals to regulate their cognitive activities and become meta-cognitively, motivationally and behaviourally  active participants  in the learning process (Zimmerman  in Eneasato,  2014) among others. The conventional teaching method only often subjects the learner to the position of passive recipient of the facts. Could the above be true for this study?

Concept mapping, according to Novak and Gowin in Ezeudu (2013) is a schematic device for representing a set of concept meanings embedded in a framework of prepositions. Prepositions according to the authors are terms used when two or more concepts are connected with linking lines  and  linking  words,  phrases  or symbols  to form  a meaningful  statement.  Olaitan,  Igbo, Ekong, Nwachukwu and Onyemachi (1999) explained concept mapping (CM) as an approach to represent  sets  or  words  graphically  in  order  to  systematically  understand  all  aspects  of  the characteristics  of  those  sets  or  words.  The  authors  added  that  concept  mapping  follows  a hierarchical order in which the major  concepts called primary concepts,are placed on top of a map, with the less inclusive  ones  that is, secondary and tertiary concepts  placed  below. The authors further stated that in preparing concept mapping, major programme concepts are arranged

from the general super-ordinate to sub-ordinate order, in keeping with the logical structure of the content.  This implies that the larger  or major units of contents are immediately  followed  by smaller contents. In addition, Canas, Coffey, Carnot, Feltovich, Hoffman, Feltovich and Novak (2003) defined concept mapping as a graphical representation  of  knowledge that comprised of concepts and the relationships between them.   Furthermore,  Asiyai (2005) stated that concept mapping  is a graphical  arrangement  of key concepts  to  show meaningful  relationship  among selected  concepts  or  ideas  being  studied.  In this  study,  concept  mapping  is the  hierarchical diagrammatic   representation   of  marketing   communication   showing   its   concepts   and   the relationship  between them.  (See  Appendices  M, N, O, P and  Q pp. 317,  318, 319, 320 and

321).Concept mapping is important in many ways.

In the opinion of Atkins (2009) concept mapping is important to both the teacher and the student in the following  ways: guides teachers  in formulating  useful channels  of  information; helps them to decide how best to organize and negotiate the meaning of concept with students; helps teachers to correct students’ misconceptions of words or sets of words and help teachers in drawing  valid  conclusion  using  functional  examples.  Novak  (1998)  stated  that  teachers  use concept mapping to: Organize the materials they want to use to teach their students during the planning  stage  and  assess  knowledge  gained  by  their  students  by  testing  them  during  the assessment  stage.  The  author  further  stated  that  concept  mapping  facilitates  the  learning  of material by students in a meaningful and structured way by organizing information piece by piece so that it is easy for them to  comprehend  and they help  students  to easily make connection between what was  previously  learnt and what they are presently learning for the purposes of retention and future use.  In this study, concept mapping will be used as a technique for teaching marketing communication to HND II marketing students to create a change in acquiring skills in marketing   communication   activities   such   as   sales   promotion,   personal   selling,   public relations/publicity among others. This study identified effects of concept mapping technique on the achievement  and retention of the polytechnic students in marketing  communication  in the study area.

An effect, according to Quirk (2009) is a change that is caused by an event or  action. Houghton (2009) defined effect as the power to produce an outcome or achieve a result. Effect in this   study   is  the   change   in  knowledge,   skills   and   attitudes   of   students   in  marketing communication,  caused  by  the  use  of  concept  mapping  (CM)  technique  to  teach  them  as compared  with conventional teaching method  only.  This  change  may be expressed  inform of achievement in a marketing communication test or examination which will be given to students before and after they are taught through concept mapping as compared with conventional teaching method only.

Achievement refers to what an individual has succeeded in doing usually by effort and skill. It may be regarded as behaviour exhibited at the end of a given period of time or within a given  time  range.  Students’  achievement  has  become  the  key  factor  for  personal  progress. Achievement in the opinion of Wilson and Tan in Manjula (2010) refers to the level of success attained in some general or specific area. It represents the acquirement of knowledge or skill and may imply the ability to make appropriate use of such knowledge or skill in a variety of present and future situations.  According to Anene (2005), achievement is quantified by a measure of the student’s academic standing in relation to those of other students who were exposed to the same material.  In  an  academic  setting,  achievement  connotes  performance  in  a  school  subject  as symbolized by a score or mark on test or examination. On the part of Olaitan and Nwoke (1999), academic achievement  refers to knowledge and skills attained by a student in school subjects, designated  by  a  score  obtained  in  an  achievement  test.  The  authors  further  stated  that  an achievement  test  is an  instrument  administered  to  an individual  to  elicit  certain  desired  and expected  responses  as  demanded  in the  instrument,  performance  on  which  the  individual  is assigned a score representing  his achievement.  Olaitan and Nwoke (1999) also explained  that academic achievement  is always denoted by a score which represents  the amount of  learning acquired,   knowledge   gained   or  skills  and  competence   developed   in  the   school  subject. Achievement in this study refers to a score representing amount of learning acquired by a student in  marketing  communication  achievement  and  retention  tests  when  taught  through  concept

mapping technique or conventional teaching method only. The scores obtained by students in  a test  on  marketing  communication  helped  to  justify  the  superiority  or  otherwise  of  concept mapping over conventional teaching method only in their effectiveness.

Statement of the Problem

Lecturers of marketing  in polytechnics  in Nigeria  are employed  to impart  knowledge, skills and attitudes to students in their subject areas. These lecturers are  expected to teach the content  of their subject  areas to students  towards the achievement  of  the objectives  of HND marketing as contained in NBTE curriculum. Therefore,  the  system accorded the teachers, the sole  responsibility  of  teaching  the  contents  of  marketing  communication  to  students  for  the achievement of its objectives after graduation.

The researcher had the opportunity of participating in an excursion of students of Business Education Department, College of Education Oju, to Benue State Polytechnic Ugbokolo in 2015 to understudy their marketing programme (Appendix R, p. 322). In an interactive session with the HND final year students on the prospects and challenges in their programme, it was discovered among other things that, marketing is a good course, but they dreaded marketing communication aspect because they found it most difficult to learn and pass examination well in it (See Appendix T, p. 324). They stated that many of their past seniors (graduates) had very low grade level as a result of low scores in marketing communication which reduced their pass grade to lower credit. The final year marketing students further complained of lower credit in marketing that  it is not favourable in employment and further studies as upper credit and distinction. They also lamented that   many graduates with lower credit had to go to universities for a three year undergraduate course (bachelor’s degree) while those who had upper credit  and distinction go for post graduate diploma, and at the same time, have an edge in employment over those with lower credit.

With these experiences, the researcher conducted a preliminary study in the area of study, that is, Benue State Polytechnic, Ubgokolo; Fidei Polytechnic, Gboko; Federal Polytechnic Idah; and Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, to find out whether the students in these other polytechnics

have similar experience of finding marketing communication, the most difficult to learn and pass examinations among all the courses in the marketing programme (See Appendix T, p. 324).

Sixty (60) randomly selected students; made up of fifteen (15) students from each of the polytechnics stated above were involved in the study. Sixty copies of a structured questionnaire on the level of difficulty in learning marketing courses by students of polytechnics in the study area, were administered on the sixty students in the respective polytechnics, with the assistance of four regular marketing lecturers, one from each polytechnic (Appendix S, p. 323). Data collected were analyzed using percentages.

The data in Appendix T, p. 324 revealed that marketing communication (MKT 413 and

423) scored 98% and ranked first, as the most difficult course to learn and pass by the students. This is followed  by marketing problems  and cases (MKT  424) which scored 8%  and ranked second  in  terms  of  high  level  of  difficulty.  Other  courses  scored  averagely,  slightly  or  not difficult,  as can be observed  in the data.This  information  revealed  that the  most problematic course of study to learn and pass well by students of marketing in polytechnics in Benue and Kogi States was marketing communication.

From the data, it can be deduced that if problem of marketing communication, in terms of teaching and learning is solved, many students are likely to obtain higher grades in marketing than is being experienced presently.

The data also supported the complaints of HND II marketing students from Benue State Polytechnic  Ugbokolo  during  the  focused  group  discussion  reported  earlier,  that  marketing communication  was very difficult for them to learn and pass well. During the  focused  group discussion, as mentioned earlier, the students were asked the probable cause(s) of their inability to learn marketing communication and pass it very well, the students claimed that it was the way by which the lecturers taught the course to them in a very hard way to understand, which is talk and note taking(lecturing).

The researcher therefore, had a discussion on this issue with lecturers of marketing in three of the polytechnics during the preliminary study exercise about the complain of the students on

their mode of teaching generally. The lecturers interviewed stated that they taught the students the way they were taught while in the university,  which was using conventional  teaching  method only.  Therefore,  this  study  determined  the  effects  of  concept  mapping  on  HND  students’ achievement and retention in marketing communication in polytechnics in Benue and Kogi States of Nigeria.

Purpose of the Study

The major purpose of this study was to determine the effects of concept mapping on HND students’ achievement and retention in marketing communication in polytechnics in Benue and Kogi states of Nigeria. Specifically, the study determined:

1.   the mean scores of HND students taught advertising using concept mapping technique and those taught with conventional teaching method only;

2.   the mean difference in retention scores of HND students taught advertising using concept mapping technique and those taught with conventional teaching method only.

3.   the  mean  scores  of  HND  students  taught  sales  promotion  using  concept  mapping technique and those taught with conventional teaching method only;

4.   the mean difference  in retention scores of HND students taught sales promotion  using concept mapping technique and those taught with conventional teaching method only;

5.   the mean scores of HND students taught personal selling using concept mapping technique and those taught with conventional teaching method only;

6.   the mean difference  in retention scores of HND students taught personal selling  using concept mapping  technique and those taught with conventional teaching method only;

7.   the mean scores of HND students taught public relations/publicity using concept mapping technique and those taught with conventional teaching method only;

8.   the mean difference in retention scores of HND students taught public relations/publicity using concept mapping technique   and those taught with conventional teaching method only;

Significance of the Study

This study has practical and theoretical significance. The findings of this study would be of practical benefit to lecturers/ teachers of marketing, students of marketing, curriculum planners, educational administrators, industries and entrepreneurs, National Board for Technical Education (NBTE)  and other  researchers/text  writers.  The  findings  of this  study  would  be of immense benefit to the lecturers/teachers of marketing communication because it will expose them to an innovative way of teaching the cource to their students. The teachers of marketing could adopt the concept mapping technique in instructional  process, as this could be useful in enhancing their effectiveness  in  the  teaching  of  marketing  communication  skills  in  the  polytechnics.  The information this study provided  would open-up new ways of helping teachers to stimulate and sustain students’ achievement and retention in marketing communication. Furthermore, through the findings  of this study,  teachers  of marketing  could  use this technique  to  accomplish  the following: develop the content of what he/she would teach into concept maps, teach marketing communication  to students  through concepts  and their  relationships  and  develop examination questions for evaluating students. Moreover, lecturers/teachers by using concept mapping would see teaching  less boring  and  stressful,  making  students  become  more proficient  and  focused during instructional process. This might motivate lecturers to  show more commitment  to their instructional  works  which  might  improve  students’  achievement  and  retention  in  marketing communication.

Students’ of marketing would benefit from the findings of this study since it would enable them to have full/better  understanding  of what they are taught, as concept  mapping involves pictorial representation and students’ active participation. This would eliminate rote memorization of  information  and  enhance  increased  achievement  and  retention  of  learning  in  marketing communication.  The  findings  of this study would  be  of benefit  to  students  because  concept mapping  organizes  information  piece  by piece  so  that  it  is  easy for  students  to  understand, simplifies complex information and represents information visually. Hence, students would learn meaningfully and this would lead to greater achievement and retention of learning.

The  findings  of  this  study  would  provide  information  to  curriculum  planners  on  the effectiveness of the technique in the provision of work related skills which is necessary for the onward review of the marketing curriculum.   If the curriculum planners find the  results useful, they might include concept mapping in the polytechnic curriculum as a new teaching technique that would improve student’s achievement and retention of learning in marketing communication that students find difficult. The curriculum planners might even recommend the concept mapping technique to other courses in the polytechnics  and  beyond. The information derived  from the study would be utilized by curriculum planners to organize seminars, workshops and conferences on the use of concept mapping for the training and re-training of lecturers/teachers.

The findings from this study would be of benefit to educational administrators. It would provide  them  with  information  on the  effects  of concept  mapping  technique  in  instructional delivery.  The  educational  administrators  would  use  the  findings  from  the  study to  organize conferences,  workshops and seminars  to train teachers  in order to  improve  their  instructional delivery and bring about greater achievement in teaching and learning.

Industries  and entrepreneurs  would benefit  from  the findings  of this study. If  concept mapping technique is put to use by the teacher, students will be actively involved  in practical skills learning which will motivate them to learn and acquire skills. Furthermore, the students will attain the proper and efficient technique in solving marketing problems they will encounter in the real world of work upon graduation. The graduates of polytechnics in marketing will also become competent in marketing communication operations and there will not be any need for industries and  entrepreneurs  to  spend  resources  in  retraining  them   for  efficiency,  except  there  are innovations for capacity building. This would lead to greater achievement in the objectives of the industries.

The findings from this study would provide the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) information on the effects of concept mapping technique on students’ achievement and retention  in marketing  communication.  This  information  could  help  the  board  to  advise  the curriculum planners which teaching techniques to adopt for training of polytechnic lecturers in

marketing. This technique would be integrated into marketing curriculum as one of the techniques of instruction. Other stakeholders like the corporate organization, and the nation in particular will also benefit from this study. This is because well-equipped marketing graduates will contribute to organizations’ success and economic advancement of the nation.

This study would be of great relevance to researchers  in the world of academics in the sense that the findings generated from the study will contribute immensely to existing body of knowledge  and also assist subsequent studies. It is expected that this study will be  one of the references  for  other  researchers  to  get  information  about  teaching  through  concept  mapping technique. Interested researchers could use the findings of this study as a background for research in other geographical areas or by studying other variables that are not covered in this study. The research findings would help text writers. If the text writers find the result useful, concept maps would be used in writing new texts or in improving on the existing ones.

The theoretical  significance  of the findings  of the  study is based  on its relevance  to Brunner (1966) theory of instruction. Brunner’s theory concerns how learning takes place. His theory  was  based   on  meaningful   learning,   discovery  and  spiral  curriculum.   The  author emphasized on understanding the structure of the subject which means understanding its basic or fundamental  ideas  and  how  they relate  to one another.  These  ideas  can  be represented  as a diagram, picture, verbal statement and formular. Brunner stated that when students are helped to grasp the structure of the field of study, they are more likely to retain and remember what they learnt. Brunner stated that an instructor should take into consideration the nature of the learner, the  nature  of  the  knowledge  and  the  nature  of  the  learning  process.  He  emphasized  that knowledge as it appears in our curriculum be put into the context of action and commitment. The learning environment of students including methods and strategies should be organized in such a way they can provide opportunities for explanation, discovery and discussion.

Theoretically, based on Brunner’s Theory of Instruction, the outcome of this study will strengthen the theory by supporting that learning should be organized from simple to complex. The findings of this work which proved that concept mapping enhances students’  achievement

supports  Brunner’s  theory that  condemns  rote  learning.  Concept  mapping  through  this  work showed that Brunner’s idea of relating ideas to another promotes achievement.

Research Questions

The following research questions were answered by this study.

1.   What are the mean achievement scores of HND students taught advertising using concept mapping technique and those taught with conventional teaching method only?

2.   What is the mean difference in HND students’ retention scores when taught advertising using concept  mapping technique  and those taught with conventional  teaching method only?

3.   What are the mean achievement  scores of HND students taught sales promotion  using concept mapping technique and those taught with conventional teaching method only?

4.   What  is  the  mean  difference  in  HND  students’  retention  scores  when  taught  sales promotion using concept mapping technique and those taught with conventional teaching method only?

5.   What are the mean achievement  scores of HND students taught personal selling  using concept mapping technique and those taught with conventional teaching method only?

6.   What  is the mean difference  in HND  students’  retention  scores  when taught  personal selling using concept mapping technieque and those taught with  conventional teaching method only?

7.   What are the mean achievement scores of HND students taught public relations/publicity using concept  mapping technique  and those taught with  conventional  teaching method only?

8.   What  is  the  mean  difference  in  HND  students’  retention  scores  when  taught  public relations/publicity using concept mapping technique and those taught with conventional teaching method only?

Null Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study and were tested at p ≤

0.05 level of significance:

Ho1:    There is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of students taught advertising  using  concept  mapping  technique  and  those  taught  with  conventional teaching method only.

Ho2:    There  is  no  significant  difference  in the  mean  retention  scores  of students  taught advertising  using  concept  mapping  technique  and  those  taught  with  conventional teaching method only.

Ho3:    There is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of students taught sales promotion using concept mapping technique and those taught with conventional teaching method only.

Ho4:    There is no significant difference in the mean retention scores of students taught sales promotion  using  concept  mapping  technieque  and  those  taught  with  conventional teaching method only.

Ho5:    There is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of students taught personal selling using concept mapping technieque and those taught with conventional teaching method only.

Ho6:    There  is  no  significant  difference  in the  mean  retention  scores  of students  taught personal selling using concept mapping technique and those taught with conventional teaching method only.

Ho7:    There is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of students taught public  relations/publicity  using  concept  mapping  technique  and  those  taught  with conventional teaching method only.

Ho8:    There is no significant difference in the mean retention scores of students taught public relations/publicity   using   concept   mapping   technique   and   those    taught   with conventional teaching method only.

Scope of the Study

The study was restricted to the effects of concept mapping on HND students’ achievement and retention in marketing communication in polytechnics in Benue and Kogi States of Nigeria. The  choice   of  Higher   National   Diploma   (HND)   is  based   on  the   fact   that   marketing communication  being  focused  is  prescribed  in  HND  marketing  curriculum.  The  study  also involved  the  following  aspects  of  marketing  communication:  advertising;  sales  promotion; personal  selling;  and  public  relations/  publicity.The  study is restricted  to  the use of concept mapping technique and  conventional  teaching method   only as channels of instruction in two intact classes of HND II Marketing in the area of study. Multiple choice test was administered on the students to collect data on achievement and retention scores of the students involved in the study.

₦5,000.00 – DOWNLOAD FULL PROJECT DOWNLOAD FULL PROJECT Added to cart

---

---

---

---

Related Project Topics :