Abstract
The study examined the impact of teachers’ comments on the academic performance of secondary school students in Lagos Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State. To guide the study, two hypotheses were formulated and tested. The descriptive survey research design was used in the study. Two instruments were used to collect data for the study. The first was a self-structured questionnaire titled “Impact of Teachers’ Positive and Negative Comments on the Academic Performance of Secondary School Students Questionnaire (ITPNCAPSSSQ)”. The second instrument was Achievement Test in English Language and Mathematics. Two hundred (200) secondary school students comprising of 100 females and 100 males were selected through simple random sampling technique as sample. Independent t-test statistical tool was used to test the hypotheses formulated in this study at 0.05 level of significance. Findings from the study showed that there is a significant impact of teachers’ positive comments on the academic performance of secondary school students and there is a significant impact of teachers’ negative comments on the academic performance of secondary school students. Based on the findings, the researchers recommended among others that positive comments should be used by the teachers as a method of improving the students’ academic performance; positive comments can come in form of “thank you”, “well done”, “impressive performance” among others.

Keywords
Impact, Positive and Negative Comments, Academic Performance, Motivation