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European Journal of Education Studies ISSN: 2501 - 1111 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1111 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu 10.5281/zenodo.58252 Volume 1│Issue 4│2016 INFLUENCE OF LOCALITY ON STUDENTS’ STUDY ORIENTATION AT SECONDARY LEVEL Shyamal Kumar Biswas Associate Professor, Sponsored Teachers’ Training College Purulia, West Bengal, India Abstract: The aim of this study is to find out the influence of locality on study orientation of secondary school students. A modified Study Orientation Scale (SOS) was used on the sample of 360 students those were studying in class X in different schools of Purulia district for obtaining the study orientation scores. Similarly, academic achievement was measured through marks obtained by the students in the school level examination of class IX. From the analysis of data, the results showed that the urban and rural students have average level study orientation. The study orientation of rural students is slightly better than urban students. The study also revealed that locality has no significant influence on students’ study orientation in secondary school. Key words: study orientation, secondary school, academic achievement, locality Introduction Study orientations simply mean how a pupil manages his or her time in such a way that he/her lessons in school regularly. It becomes a habit or a way of life for the child, just like brushing the teeth after eating, taking a bath every day, washing hands before eating, or saying a prayer before sleeping. It is true that we are all born with the ability to learn. We do it every day of our lives, often without being aware of it. However, studying is a special form of learning and it is achieved with some specific purpose in mind. All of us need to learn how to study (Lalitha, 2000). If we want to do best that we can, as a student, we need to understand what would we want out of studying and what learning means to us. A student who has his or her proper study orientation cannot sleep or go to school without studying the assigned lessons. As a teacher educator the investigator Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved Published by Open Access Publishing Group ©2015. 85 Shyamal Kumar Biswas INFLUENCE OF LOCALITY ON STUDENTS’ STUDY ORIENTATION AT SECONDARY LEVEL feels that a student can be intelligent and have self confidence in class compared to those do not have their proper study orientation. A student who does not have good study orientation he/she cannot do well in class performance. Good study orientation is the tools to success. Study habits have tremendous effect on the achievement (Patel 1997). Poor study method clearly disrupt the progress of students. Lee (1992) found that development of study skills, increased student achievement. Young 1 observed that students’ study habits seem to show differences in how they learn and how serious they are about learning. Sarwar1, Bashir, Khan, and Khan (2009) found that the urban and rural students differ significantly in their study orientations. Another studies (Stella and Purushothaman 1993; Ayishabi 1991) showed that there is a difference between urban and rural students in respect of their study habits. Sundaram (1989) studied urban and rural difference in achievement and achievement related factors such as self-concept, manifest anxiety, study habits, intelligence, adjustment problems and achievement motivation among college students. The study revealed that the urban and rural students do not differ significantly in respect of their study habits. Nagaraju (2004) found that students in secondary schools in India usually do not devote sufficient time to their studies and seldom have proper study habits. However, the study habits significantly influenced on reading achievement of high school students (Narayana, 1997). Without well-developed study orientation, a student cannot perform well in class, develop less self-confidence and surely, he or she cannot reach his or her ambition in life. In spite of our every effort for creating good study orientation among the school students the goal, in respect of their academic performance, is far to achieve. There is a clear distinction in academic performance among the high and low achievers in school. We see that a major portion of the students are not competent in higher education and failed to achieve their desired goal due to their lack of proper study orientation. It is easier to us if we try to build the proper study orientation from the early stage of individual’s life. The main hurdle in promoting a good study orientation today is that there is a lack of proper knowledge regarding the development of study orientation and correlation between study orientations of high and low achievers. It is apparent that the sufficient study has been done looking at the study orientation, study habits and attitudes to learning of students at any level of the education system in India. Keeping in view the prior researches the present study was designed to study the influence of locality on study orientation of secondary school students. European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 1 │ Issue 4 │ 2016 86 Shyamal Kumar Biswas INFLUENCE OF LOCALITY ON STUDENTS’ STUDY ORIENTATION AT SECONDARY LEVEL Objective The purpose of the study was to find out the difference between urban and rural students at secondary level in respect of their study orientation. The study was designed: 1. To find out the study orientation level among the urban and rural students in secondary school. 2. To study the influence of locality on study orientation of the secondary school students. Hypothesis The following null hypotheses were formulated for the purpose of this study: 1. There would not be good study orientation among the urban and rural secondary school students. 2. There would be no significant difference between the urban and rural students in respect of their study orientation. Methods The present study was conducted by using survey research method. The study was conducted on 360 secondary school students among them 166 were urban students and 194 were rural students. The students getting more than 60% marks were taken as high achievers and the students getting less than 45% marks were taken as low achievers. The sample was taken from 10th grade students those were studying at secondary schools under WBBSE in Purulia district of West Bengal. The Stratified Random Sampling technique has been used to collect the sample for the present study. For sampling, the population was divided into two strata viz. urban and rural. Required numbers of sample were collected from each stratum. A Study Orientation Scale was developed through modification on the lines of M. Mukhopadhyay and D. N. Sansanwal’s Study Habit Inventory SHI scale keeping in view its relevance and suitability for the students of Purulia in West Bengal. The final form of the scale was consisting 52 items and it was divided into the following subcomponents namely Comprehension (12 items), Concentration (10 items), Task Orientation (9 items), Study Sets (7 items), Interaction (3 items), Drilling (4 items), Supports (4 items), Recording (2 items) and Language (1 item). The items of the scale were arranged randomly in the scale to avoid any mechanistic pattern of response. European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 1 │ Issue 4 │ 2016 87 Shyamal Kumar Biswas INFLUENCE OF LOCALITY ON STUDENTS’ STUDY ORIENTATION AT SECONDARY LEVEL Analysis and Interpretation To test the hypotheses of the study mean, SD (Standard Deviation) and t test techniques were employed and results are presented in the following tables. Hypothesis 1: There would not be good study orientation among the urban and rural secondary school students. In order to find out the study orientation level among the urban and rural students of secondary school mean and SD (Standard Deviation) were computed to test the hypothesis 1. The results of mean and SD have been given in Table 1. Table 1: Mean and SD on study orientation scores of urban and rural students Category N Mean SD Urban 166 124.02 21.00 Rural 194 127.58 17.59 It is observed from Table-1 that the mean and SD of study orientation scores of urban and rural students are 124.02 & 21.00 and 127.58 & 17.59 respectively. It shows that both the groups have average level study orientation. Comparison of the mean of the two groups indicates that the mean value of study orientation level of rural students is slightly more than the urban. It is concluded that the urban and rural students of secondary school do not have good study orientation. Hence, hypothesis 1 is accepted. Hypothesis 2: There would be no significant difference between the urban and rural students in respect of their study orientation. To test this hypothesis, t test technique was applied and the results are shown in Table 2. Table 2: Computed t-value on study orientation scores of urban and rural students in secondary school Variables No. of Students Study Orientation scores Mean Mean difference df t value  Urban 166 124.02 21.00 Rural 194 127.58 17.59 3.55 358 1.72* * = t value is not significant at 0.05 level It is revealed from Table-2 that the urban and rural secondary school students have secured mean 124.02 and 127.58 respectively in their study orientation. The calculated tvalue for the variable of locality is 1.72, which is less than the table value at 0.05 level of European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 1 │ Issue 4 │ 2016 88 Shyamal Kumar Biswas INFLUENCE OF LOCALITY ON STUDENTS’ STUDY ORIENTATION AT SECONDARY LEVEL significance. Hence, it is not significant at 0.05 level of significance. Therefore, the null hypothesis 2 is accepted. It may be interpreted that the difference of mean of study orientation scores between the urban and rural secondary school students is not significant and locality has no significance influence on study orientation of the students. In other words, the urban and rural secondary school students do not differ significantly in study orientation. Findings The statistical treatment of the data reveals the following findings of the study: 1. The mean value of the study orientation scores of urban and rural students are 124.02 and 127.58 respectively which is in average as per study orientation norms. Hence, the urban and rural students have average study orientation level. 2. The mean value of urban students (124.02) is less than that of rural students (127.58). It is concluded that the study orientation of rural students are slightly better than urban students. 3. The variable locality has no significant influence on students’ study orientation. It means the urban and rural secondary school students do not differ significantly in their study orientation. Conclusion It is concluded that the study orientation level of urban and rural students is average and the rural students are slightly better than urban students in their study orientation. It is also concluded that there is no significant difference in the study orientation of urban and rural students. To sustain and increase the good study orientation proper steps to be taken by the teachers and parents. They should try to encourage them to prepare a plan for studying each subject. References 1. Ayishabi, T. C. (1991). Biology achievement of scheduled caste and nonscheduled caste high school pupils. Journal of Educational Research and Extension, Vol. 27(4), April, pp. 234-242. 2. Lalitha, A.R. (2000). Building good study habits. The Kerala Journal of Education; Research and Extension. Kerala State Council of Educational Research and Training. European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 1 │ Issue 4 │ 2016 89 Shyamal Kumar Biswas INFLUENCE OF LOCALITY ON STUDENTS’ STUDY ORIENTATION AT SECONDARY LEVEL 3. Nagaraju, M.T.V. (2004). Study habits of secondary school students. New Delhi: Discover Publishing House. 4. Patel, R.S. (1997). An investigation into the causes of under achievement in Mathematics of VIII grade pupils having high numerical ability. Journal of Educational Research and Extension, Vol. 25(12), December, pp. 238-243. 5. Ruth Lee, F. (1992). Development of study skills pocket to improve grades in IX and X standard students. Resources in Education (ERIC), Vol. 32(3), p. 137. 6. Sarwar1 M., Bashir M., Khan M.N. and Khan M.S. (2009). Study-orientation of high and low academic achievers at secondary level in Pakistan. Educational Research and Review Vol. 4 (4), pp. 204-207. Retrieved on 7.06.2012 from http://www.academicjournals.org/ERR 7. Stella and Purushothaman, S. (1993). Study habits of underachievers. Journal of Educational Research and Extension, Vol. 29(4), April, pp.206-214. 8. Sundaram, S.R. (1989). Urban-Rural difference in academic achievement and achievement related factors. Journal of Educational Research and Extension, Vol. 25(3), January, pp. 121-129. 9. Young, T. (1998). Children`s study habits and parental involvement. National Undergraduate Research Clearinghouse, 1. Retrieved on 19.6.2012 from www.webclearinghouse.net Creative Commons licensing terms Author(s) will retain the copyright of their published articles agreeing that a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) terms will be applied to their work. 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