Abstract
The study investigated achievement motivation and self-concept as correlates of academic performance among senior secondary school students of Federal Government Colleges in North Central, Nigeria. Two research objectives, 2 research questions and hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Correlational research design was adopted for this study. The population consists of 5,452 and the sample size consists of one thousand two hundred and seventy-five (1,275) Senior Secondary School Students using multi-stage sampling technique which was drawn from three states in North Central in seven (7) Federal Government College from each state using simple random sampling technique. Three instruments were used for data collection which include Students’ Achievement Motivation Questionnaire (SAMQ) 0.89, Students’ Self-Concept Questionnaire (SSCQ) 0.87 and Students’ Academic Performance Test with 0.79, respectively. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level of significance. Findings of the study shows that there is significant relationship between achievement motivation and academic performance; self-concept and academic performance, respectively. The study concluded that there is significant correlation between achievement motivation, self-concept and academic performance of Senior Secondary School Students of Federal Government Colleges in North Central, Nigeria. The study recommended that English Language teachers should help students realize the fact that success and failure is in their hands, and not associated with any external force and they should be offered professional guidance by educational authorities on these self-constructs in students as an avenue to improve on students’ academic performance by help students in developing the right personality construct among others