International Journal of Social Sciences and Entrepreneurship Vol.1, Issue 13, 2014 http://www.ijsse.org ISSN 2307-6305 Page | 1 ROLE OF GENDER COMMUNICATION ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC BEHAVIOUR: SURVEY OF PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN MAKADARA SUB-COUNTY NAIROBI Mary Akoth Ochola Master of Science in Mass Communication, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture of Technology, Kenya Dennis Juma Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture of Technology, Kenya CITATION: Ochola, M. A. & Juma, D. (2014). Role of gender communication on students’ academic behaviour: Survey of public secondary schools in Makadara Sub-county Nairobi. International Journal of Social Sciences and Entrepreneurship, 1 (13), 366-385. ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to establish the role of gender communication on students’ academic behaviour in ten public secondary schools in Makadara Sub-County, Nairobi. Objectives were to establish the effects of conversational styles on student’s academic behaviour, to establish the effects of gender communication biases on students’ academic behaviour and to establish the effects of gender communication factors on students’ academic behaviour. The target population of interest for this study was 1200 form four students from the ten public secondary schools in Makadara Sub-County, Nairobi. Stratified random sampling was used to select the sample of schools which included boys, girls and mixed gender schools. Questionnaires were used to collect data from the 120 sampled students. End of term three examination results 2013 were analyzed to establish the performance of these students from sampled subjects taught by teachers of opposite gender. Pilot testing was done with questionnaires to test reliability and validity. Descriptive and inferential statistics was used to process and analyse data. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to run descriptive analysis to produce frequency distribution and percentages. From the findings, the researcher established that gender communication plays a role on students academic performance behaviour. Female students taught by male teachers perfomed better in Chemistry whereas male students taught by female teachers performed better in English. This is supported by Wentzel (2008) who states that a strong teacher-student relationship characterized by caring and high expectations for students’ success maybe promotive of universal benefits such as good performance and positive academic behavior. The findings also established that gender steorotypes still exists in learning institutions where male teachers dominated science subjects while female teacher dominated languages and art subjects. Since this study was done in Makadara Sub-County, it is recommended that a similar study be carried in other counties to elicit a more accurate national perception of enhancing positive student academic behaviour.