Exploring the nexus between internet use and undergraduate students performance in reading comprehension test: a case study of two universities in anambra state

The study explores the nexus between internet use and undergraduate students’ performance in reading comprehension tests. The population consisted of undergraduate students of two universities in Anambra State: Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Uli. The sample size was 200 male and female students randomly selected from the two universities. A well-structured questionnaire and a reading test made up of a reading passage and comprehension questions were administered to respondents. The data collected from the questionnaire were analyzed using arithmetic mean while hypotheses were tested with Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).The result of the findings showed that the reading comprehension of undergraduate students that use the Internet to a high extent is 79.49 while that of those that use it to a low extent is 71.81, thus, a mean difference of 4.68 in favour of high internet users. This suggested that high internet users scored higher and performed better in the reading comprehension test irrespective of location. The study further revealed that there was no statistically significant interaction between gender and internet use on students’ reading test. This is shown by f= .84, P= .36. The study therefore recommended that undergraduate students should be encouraged to always use the Internet as a tool to tap valuable reading resources which can assist in the promotion of autonomous learning and make them more independent and resourceful.