AN INVESTIGATION OF LEARNING STYLE ON ACHIEVEMENT IN ENGLISH OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
Asrana Perween
Research Scholar, Faculty of Education, Lalit Narayan Mithila University, Darbhanga Dr. Md Aquil Azhar
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Education, L.N. Mishra College of Business Management, Muzaffarpur
Abstract- This study aims to investigate the relationship between learning style and achievement in English. Learning style of students plays a vital role in students‟achievement. For this purpose, the researcher has drawn a sample of 500 students from secondary school of Darbhanga District of Bihar using stratified random sampling technique. There were two instruments used to collect data, one was Learning Style Inventory (LSI-MK) and another Achievement Test in English developed by the researcher. For analysis and interpretation of results t-test and product moment correlation were employed. The finding of the study showed not significant difference between learning styles in relation to gender and class and achievement in English do differ in relation to gender and class. It also revealed no statistically significant correlation between learning style and achievement in English.
Keywords: Learning Styles, Achievement in English, Secondary School Students.
1. INTRODUCTION
English is considered as the most acclaimed language used worldwide. It is the only language which dominated the entire nation and used as a medium of instruction in education system. India also acknowledged the importance of English giving priority to this language in this regard Secondary Education Commission (1952-53) highlights in these words that “English shall be the compulsory subject of study at the secondary stage in all the state due to the following reasons; widely known among the educated means of national unity, useful in international sphere and harmful effect due to exclusion”. Although much emphasis is put on teaching English language at secondary level. The position of English remains neglected in Bihar because English was discontinued as a major subject in Matriculation as the government had proposed that „Pass without English‟, abolishing the study of English in Bihar as asserted (Mishra, 2021).
Achievement in educational situation has frequently been referred to as scholastic achievement depends upon various aspects of learning as readiness to learn, scholastic aptitude, attitude towards studies, style of learning and teaching, motivational level, level of aspiration and level of creativity. Academic achievement refers to as an individual ability to adjust his environment. In other words, achievement is something that is achieved successfully with the efforts and skills. Achievement can be defined as accomplishment or proficiency of performance in a given skill or body of knowledge asserted by Good (1975).
Further, achievement refers the extent to which a learner is profiting from instruction in a given area of learning (Crow and Crow, 1956). Thus, academic achievement concerned with the degree of level of success and that of proficiency attained in some specific area relating scholastic and academic work.
Learning style refers to how an individual learn differently not what they learn. The concept of learning style has opened a wide area investigation among educators. This acceptance led to developing many different tests, assessment device and online technologies to help educators in identifying their student‟s learning styles and adopt their instructional approaches accordingly. (Pashler, 2008). Moreover, Kolb (1984) asserts learning style indicates individual differences in learning. Dunn, et. al. (1995) suggested that matching students‟ learning style preferences with educational interventions compatible with those preferences is beneficial to their academic achievement. A thorough understanding of students‟ learning style can help counsellors to develop strategies, techniques and programmes that are responsive to unique learning needs. (Griggs, 1981).
2. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Taking into account, the previous studies conducted the researcher has noticed that many studies have focused on overall achievement and their learning style preferences but the least importance is given to achievement in English and its relation to learning style that really affect the performance. The researcher has carried out to examine the relationship and difference between the variables with respect to gender and class.
3. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY: The following are the objectives of the study given below.
1. To find out the Level of Learning Styles of Secondary School Students.
2. To Study the Achievement in English of Secondary School Students in relation to Genderand Class.
3. To Study the Learning Style of Secondary School Students in relation to Gender and Class.
4. To find the relationship between Learning Style and Achievement in English of Secondary School Students in relation to Gender and Class.
4. HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY: For this study hypotheses are as follows.
1. There exists no significant difference of mean of achievement in English of secondary school students in relation to gender and class.
2. There exists no significant difference of mean of learning style of secondary school students in relation to gender and class.
3. There exists no significant relationship between learning style and achievement in English of secondary school students in relation to gender and class.
5. METHODOLOGY
For the purpose of this study, descriptive survey method of research was employed.
Sample of the Study
The population of the present study consists of Secondary School Students. The researcher has selected 500 students from different schools of Darbhanga district of Bihar using stratified random sampling technique.
Tools Used in the Present Study
The researcher used the following tools for collecting data.
Learning Style Inventory (LSI-MK) developed by Karuna Shankar Mishra.
Academic Achievement Test in English Language developed by the Researcher.
6. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Table 1 Showing Level of Learning Styles of secondary school students.
Sr.
No. Range of Z-
Score No. of
Students Percentage Level of Learning Style
01 +1.76 and above 27 5.4% Extremely High
02 +1.26 to +1.75 32 6.4% High
03 +0.76 to +1.25 50 10% Above Average
04 +0.26 to +0.75 106 21.2% Slightly Above Average
05 -0.25 to +0.25 98 19.6% Average/Moderate
06 -0.26 to -0.75 85 17% Slightly Below Average
07 -0.76 to -1.25 62 12.4% Below Average
08 -1.26 to -1.75 23 4.6% Low
09 -1.76 and below 17 3.4% Extremely Low
Total 500 100%
Table:1 illustrates that out of 500 students 27 (5.4%) have extremely high level of learning style, 32 (6.4%) students have level of L.S, 50 (10%) students have above average level of L.S, 106 (21.2%) students have slightly above average level of L.S, 98 (19.6%) students have average level of L.S, 85 (17%) students have slightly below average level of L.S, 62 (12.4%) students have below average level of L.S, 23 (4.6%) have low level of L.S and 17 (3.4%) students have extremely low level of L.S. Thus, it is also concluded from the above observation that 21.2% students have slightly above average level of learning style as compare to the high and low level of learning style.
Table 2 Showing comparison between achievement in English of male and female secondary school students.
Gender N Mean S.D. Cal. t-value Tab. t-value Result Male 250 28.412 6.132
5.807 1.964 Sig.
Female 250 30.784 4.153
Level of Significance 0.05, Degree of freedom 498.
Table 2. indicates that the mean of achievement in English of male secondary school students is 28.412 and S.D. 6.132 whereas the mean of achievement in English of female secondary school students is 30.784 and S.D. 4.153. The calculated t-value is 5.807 while tabulated t-value is 1.964 which is less than calculated at 0.05 level with 498 degrees of freedom. It shows that there is a significant difference between mean of achievement in English of male and female secondary school students. Hence the null hypothesis is rejected.
Table 3 Showing comparison between achievement in English of class 9th and 10th students.
Class N Mean S.D. Cal. t-value Tab. t-value Result 9th 250 25.508 3.299
4.411 1.964 Sig.
10th 250 33.688 3.634
Level of Significance 0.05, Degree of freedom 498.
Table 3. indicates that the mean of achievement in English of class 9th students is 25.508 and S.D.3.299 whereas the mean of achievement in English of class 10th students is 33.688 and S.D. 3.634. The calculated t-value is 4.411 while tabulated t-value is 1.964 which is less than calculated at 0.05 level with 498 degrees of freedom. It shows that there is a significant difference between mean of achievement in English of class 9th and 10th students. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected.
Table 4 Showing comparison between learning style of male and female secondary school students.
Gender N Mean S.D. Cal. t-value Tab. t-value Result Male 250 125.708 10.288
0.722 1.964 N.S.
Female 250 126.02 9.309 Level of Significance 0.05, Degree of freedom 498.
Table 4. indicates that the mean of learning style of male secondary school students is 125.708 and S.D. 10.288 whereas the mean of learning style of female secondary school students is 126.02 and S.D. 9.309. The calculated t-value is 0.722 while tabulated t-value is 1.964 which is more than calculated at 0.05 level with 498 degrees of freedom. It shows that there is no significant difference between mean of learning style of male and female secondary school students.
Table 5 Showing comparison between learning style of class 9th and 10th students.
Class N Mean S.D. Cal. t-value Tab. t-value Result 9th 250 125.684 10.302
0.681 1.964 N.S.
10th 250 126.044 9.293
Level of Significance 0.05, Degree of freedom 498.
Table 5 indicates that the mean of learning style of class 9th students is 125.684 and S.D.10.302 whereas the mean of learning style of class 10thstudents is 126.044 and S.D.
9.293. The calculated t-value is 0.681 while tabulated t-value is 1.964 which is higher than calculated at 0.05 level with 498 degrees of freedom. It shows that there is no significant difference between mean of learning style of class 9th and 10th students.
Table 6 Showing correlation coefficient of learning style and achievement in English of secondary school students.
Variable N Calculated r-value
Tabulated r-value
L.S. DF Result Learning
Style 500
0.021 0.061 0.05 498 N.S.
Achievement in English
500
From thetable 6, it indicates that learning style and Achievement in English of secondary school students is found not significant at 0.05 level of significance because its calculated r value 0.021 which is less than the tabulated r value 0.087 at 498 degrees of freedom.
Hence, the Hypothesis which states „there exists significant correlation between learning style and achievement in English of secondary school students.‟ is rejected.
Table 7 Showing correlation coefficient of learning style and achievement in English of male secondary school students.
Variable N Calculated r-value
Tabulated r-value
L.S. DF Result Learning Style 250
0.046 0.087 0.05 498 N.S.
Achievement in English 250
The table 7 indicates that the Learning Style and Achievement in English of male students is found not significant at 0.05 level of significance because its calculated r value 0.046 which is lesser than the tabulated r value 0.087 at 498 degree of freedom. Hence, the Hypothesis which states „there exists significant correlation between learning style and achievement in English of male secondary school students‟ is rejected.
Table 8 Showing correlation coefficient of learning style and achievement in English of female secondary school students.
Variable N Calculated
r-value Tabulated
r-value L.S. DF Result Learning Style 250
0.004 0.087 0.05 498 N.S.
Achievement in English 250
As table 8illustrates that the Learning Style and Achievement in English of female students is found not significant at 0.05 level of significance because its calculated r value 0.004 which is lesser than the tabulated r value 0.087 at 498 degree of freedom. Hence, the Hypothesis which states „there exists significant correlation between learning style and achievement in English of female secondary school students‟ is rejected.
Table 9 Showing correlation coefficient of learning style and achievement in English of 9th class students.
Variable N Calculated
r-value Tabulated
r-value L.S. DF Result Learning Style 250
0.021 0.087 0.05 498 N.S.
Achievement in English 250
From the following table 9, it indicates that the Learning Style and Achievement in English of 9th class students is found not significant at 0.05 level of significance because its calculated r value 0.021 which is lesser than the tabulated r value 0.087 at 498 degree of freedom. Hence, the Hypothesis which states „there exists significant correlation between learning style and achievement in English of 9th class students‟ is rejected.
Table 10 Showing correlation coefficient of learning style and achievement in English of 10th class students.
Variable N Calculated
r-value Tabulated
r-value L.S. DF Result Learning Style 250
0.052 0.087 0.05 498 N.S.
Achievement in
English 250
Thetable 10 indicates that the Learning Style and Achievement in English of 10th class students is found not significant at 0.05 level of significance because its calculated r value 0.052 which is lesser than the tabulated r value 0.087 at 498 degrees of freedom. Hence, the Hypothesis which states „there exists significant correlation between learning style and achievement in English of 10th class students‟ is rejected.
7. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
It is found that there exists significant difference between achievement in English of male and female secondary school students. It also reveals that achievement in English of female students is higher in compare to male students.
The result reveals that there exists significant difference between achievement in English of class 9th and 10th students. It also shows that the class 10th students scored better in compare to class 9th students.
Comparing the achievement in English of secondary school students it is found that there exists significant difference between achievement in English of male and female students. It also reveals that female students have scored higher in compare to male
students. This finding is in line with the earlier studies by Vijayalakshmi and Nateson (1992), Harker (2000), Suneeta and Mayuri (2001) and Sah (2016). On the contrary, some studies which has been conducted in found no significant difference among male and female students like Kaur and Gill (1993). Fakey (2010) shows that male performed better than the female students. When comparing the achievement in English of class 9th and 10th students. It is found a significant difference in relation to class. It also revealed that 10th class students have performed better in compare to 9th class students.
There exists no significant difference between learning style of male and female secondary school students.No marked difference is found between learning style of class 9th and 10th students.
Positive but not significant relation is found between learning style and achievement in English of secondary school students.It is found positive but not significant correlation between learning style and achievement in English of male secondary school students.There exists no significant but positive relationship between learning style and achievement in English of female secondary school students.It is found not significant relationship between learning style and achievement in English of class 9th students.The result reveals not significant correlation between learning style and achievement in English of class 10th students. In addition, these findings are similar to the findings of study conducted by Razak (1999), Chua (2002), Al-Zayed(2017) and Parnrod et. al (2018). These studies found no significant correlation between learning styles and achievement of students.
8. CONCLUSION
The present study was carried out to find out difference between learning styles and achievement in English of secondary school students. Further it aimed to investigate the relationship between these two variables. It was found that 5.4% have extremely high level of learning style, 6.4% students have level of L.S, 10% students have above average level of L.S, 21.2% students have slightly above average level of L.S, 19.6% students have average level of L.S, 17% students have slightly below average level of L.S, 12.4% students have below average level of L.S, 4.6% have low level of L.S and 3.4% students have extremely low level of L.S. Thus, it is also concluded from the above observation that 21.2% students have slightly above average level of learning style as compare to the high and low level of learning style.
Additionally, the study also demonstrated no significant difference between male and female learning styles. Moreover, result showed a significant difference between male and female achievement int English. Furthermore, there was no statistically significant correlation between learning style and achievement in English.
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