THE INFLUENCE OF PERSONALITY TRAITS AND LEARNING STYLES ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL IN HARARI REGIONAL STATE, EASTERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The study examined the influence of personality traits and learning styles on students’ academic achievement of secondary school in Harari Regional State, Ethiopia. Concurrent/convergent parallel research design was employed in this study. The population of the study were secondary school students in Harari Regional State. Specifically, the study targeted four secondary school students in Harari Regional State. The stratified random sampling technique was used to select 359 respondents from the randomly selected secondary schools in the study area. The questionnaire was used for the personality traits (44 items) and for learning styles (15 items scale). The data collected were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of the study found out that conscientiousness and openness r(347) =0.46**, were high statistically significant positively related to academic achievement, whereas neuroticism r(347) =-0.39**) were high statistically significant negatively related to academic achievement. The result of learning styles, kinesthetic r(347) =0.42**) were high statistically significantly positive related to academic achievement. In this study, results from regression analysis showed that conscientiousness and kinesthetic were the good and strongest individual contributor or predict on academic achievement. In conclusion, personality traits and learning styles were statistically significant relationships on students’ academic achievement. It was recommended that teachers, parents, and students should be educated on the knowledge of personality traits, and learning styles plays a major role on how one can react to issues and academic activities and performance in school