IMPACT OF STUDENT TEAMS ACHIEVEMENT DIVISIONS STRATEGY ON SENIOR SCHOOL STUDENTS' INTEREST AND ACHIEVEMENT IN READING COMPREHENSION IN MAKURDI AREA OF BENUE STATE

The study investigated the impact of Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD) strategy on senior school students’ interest and achievement in reading comprehension in Makurdi area of Benue State. The design for the study was Quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test design. Four research objectives are developed; while four research questions and four hypotheses are tested. The research questions are answered using mean and standard deviation while the null hypotheses are tested using ANCOVA at 0.05 level of significance. Population of the study is 15,200 male and female students in the 2021/2022 academic session from 311 public secondary schools in Makurdi, Benue state – Nigeria. Multiple stage sampling technique is used; the sample size is 132 males and female senior secondary II students from 4 senior secondary schools in Makurdi local government area of Benue state – Nigeria. The findings show STAD strategy has significant effect on students’ mean interest ratings in reading comprehension (f = 7.07; p = 0.00 < 0.05). STAD strategy has significant effect on students reading comprehension achievement (f = 19.64; p = 0.00 < 0.05). There is no significant effect in male and female students’ mean interest ratings taught reading comprehension using STAD strategy (f = 3.40; p = -06 > 0.05). And there is no significant effect in male and female students’ reading comprehension achievement scores taught using STAD strategy (f = 0.01; p = 0.89 > 0.05). It is concluded that STAD strategy enhances students’ interest and achievement in reading comprehension. And also addresses gender differences among learners. The researchers recommend that teachers should use STAD strategy, stakeholders in education on their part are encouraged to promote the use of STAD strategy at all levels of education and regularly organise symposium, seminars, workshops and refresher trainings to keep teachers abreast of effective teaching methods/strategies of teaching.