Motivational Variables as Determinant of Adult Learners’ Participation in Vocational Skills Acquisition in Literacy Education Centers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine motivational variables as determinant of adult learners’ participation in vocational skills acquisition in Ilorin Metropolis. Therefore, the study seeks to find out the level of adult participation in vocational skills acquisition in Ilorin Metropolis and also to determine the relationship between motivational variables and adult learners’ participation in vocational skills acquisition. This study adopted a descriptive survey design. This survey was considered appropriate for this study because it involved direct contact with the samples that are relevant to the investigation. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 40 adult learners from each of the five literacy education centers. Two hundred participants participated in the study. A researcher-designed questionnaire titled Motivational Variables and Participation in Vocational Skills Questionnaire (MVPVSQ) was used to obtain information from the respondents. To measure the reliability of the instrument, the researchers adopted the test-retest method to ascertain the reliability of the instrument, the data was analyzed with Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMC) and reliability value obtained was 0.85. The data collected from the respondent were analyzed using descriptive statistics to answer the research questions, while multiple regression was used to analyze the hypotheses raised. The combination of the independent variables significantly correlated the dependent variable (F_{(4, 195)} = 4.785, p<0.05). It was shown in the study that the combination of the independent variables significantly correlated the dependent variable (F_{(4, 195)} = 4.785, p<0.05). This implies that there was a significant correlation between motivational variables (achievement motivation, self-determination, career motivation and self-efficacy) and adult learners’ participation in vocational skills acquisition. It was revealed further that adult learners’ achievement motivation has the highest contribution with Beta weight of 0.410 to the adult learners’ participation in vocational skills acquisition followed by career motivation having 0.367 and self-determination. Thus, it was recommended that adult learners should endeavor to improve their self-efficacy and confidence to foster their acquisition of vocational skills for the improvement of their economic independence.