19TIME SPENT OF STUDENTS AND THEIR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
FOR THE SUBJECT OF LITERATURE: A CASE STUDY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE, KANDAHAR UNIVERSITY
i -I
Rahmatullah Katawazai, Jamil Rahman Zayraey , Sultan Mahmood Stanikzai
1-2: Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Languages and
Literature, Kandahar University, Afghanistan 3: English Department, Faculty of Education, Kandahar University, Afghanistan
ABSTRACT
There are various factors that higher education institutions need to make sure of their quality graduates. Academic performance is one of such considerable factors that higher education institutions need to make a continuous assessment of that. The purpose of the current study was to find out the relationships between two variables (time spent and academic performance) of students. The current study used a quantitative research method to find out the statistical relationships between time spent and academic performance. Researchers first distributed a questionnaire to students to select one of the options given to them for their normal time spent during their studies. Then, researchers compared their exam marks with their time spent hours and calculated the correlation between these two variables. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package in Social Sciences (SPSS 24.00) using inferential statistical tests to test the hypothesis to find out if any relationship exists. The statistical findings of the current study revealed that there is a correlation between these two variables (time spent and academic performance). Researchers suggest other research studies in different Afghan universities to investigate the status of students' academic performance in different aspects.
Keywords: Time Spent, Academic Performance, University Students, Afghanistan
1. Introduction
The concept of academic performance is considered amorphous, covering a wide spectrum of factors ranging from the acquisition of a professional degree to the moral development of students. In other words, the amorphous notion of Academic Performance can be defined in terms of learning; the acquisition of skills and competencies; Ensuring high grades and comparable academic achievements; confirming a progressive career; and
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intention and persistence toward education. In addition, when it comes to information about student academic performance, the importance given to the above versions of academic performance is highest for Academic Performance, followed by acquired knowledge and acquired skills and abilities (York et al., 2015).
The perspective character of academic performance also makes a comprehensive definition of the term difficult. For some individuals, taking courses and acquiring knowledge and skills can be important. For some others, the release would be a chance to secure an evolutionary career. Overall, the ultimate goal of the world education system is to induce and mediate meaningful change (psychological, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral) in students.
Students' academic performance is one of the substantial learning objectives, which can be defined as the knowledge acquired by the student, assessed based on teacher assessments and/or learning goals set by students and teachers, to be achieved within a given time period (Narad & Abdullah, 2016).
In fact, academic performance can be understood as the core around which a whole range of important elements of the education system revolves, which is why the academic performance of students, particularly those in higher education, has attracted the interest of researchers, parents, policymakers, and planners. Since good academic performance is seen as a prerequisite for a good job, a better career, and thus a good life, the importance of student performance is tremendous. While it may seem like a simple educational outcome, the impact of students' academic performance in each country is diverse.
Narad and Abdullah (2016) indicated that the setback or victory of an academic institution at the primary level depends largely on the Academic Performance of its students. They also reinforced the general belief that good academic performance results in equal better career prospects and a secure future.
The academic performance of the students is extremely important as the economic and social development of every country depends on the academic performance of the students. The better the Academic Performance of the students, the better the prospects for developing an excellent workforce that will contribute to the country's economic and social development (Silva et al., 2010).
When we think about academic performance we tend to associate it with academic achievement, which is best expressed by a student's cumulative grade point average (CGPA). This measurement typically involves the ongoing assessment of a student's academic performance in terms of performance on assignments, tests, quizzes, midterms, and final exams throughout the academic year. academic performance depends on the
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student's curiosity and intellectual ability (e.g., as measured by IQ), their drive and motivation, the educational environment, health, prior test results (e.g. SAT), and personality traits (e.g. conscientiousness). However, there is no general consensus as to why students with similar academic skills perform better or worse at the same institution. It seems likely that students' daily behavioral patterns (e.g., study habits, attendance, time management, sleeping patterns, partying behavior) contribute significantly to individual differences in students' academic performance (Wang et al., 2015).
2. Literature Review
To train quality graduates, fostering academic performance is one of the key factors to be considered in higher education institutions. Therefore, numerous research studies have been conducted in different contexts globally to investigate this considerable research topic in in-depth detail (Isa et al., 2020; Johnston & O'Neill, 1973; Kusurkar et al., 2013; Nonis & Hudson, 2006; Zwain et al., 2012). Nonis and Hudson (2006) investigated the influences of time spent and working and the impacts of these two factors on the academic performance of college students. The findings of their study revealed that these two factors significantly influenced the academic performance of college students. They suggested that while testing the efficacy of different factors improving academic performance, universities need to collect data and measure whether the factors fostering students' academic performance are in place. Similarly, Kusurkar et al. (2013) investigated how motivation impacted students' academic performance. The nature of their study was designed to correlate students' results and the motivating factors that impacted these results. The findings of their study show that there is a positive correlation between relative autonomous motivation and academic performance and their higher study effort.
Additionally, researchers also investigated study habits and academic performance (Owusu-Acheaw & Larson, 2014). Their research was conducted at Koforidua Polytechnic situated in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Data was collected through a questionnaire; the results showed that the majority of the respondents claimed the significant influences of reading on their academic performance.
Likewise, Israel and Salau (2019) investigated the impact of students' performance and the correlation between their three years graduation results. Researchers stated that „ensuring adequate quality' in the higher education system is very important for students' academic achievements. They proposed a model that can assess students' academic performance and their CGPA and results in their first, second, and third years.
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Researchers suggested that students with poor academic performance need not graduate.
Researchers also investigated the efficacy of emotional intelligence in teaching English as a foreign language (Yang & Duan, 2023). The findings of their study revealed interesting insights from the ground related to how emotional intelligence can be used as a factor to improve students' academic literacy. Additionally, emotional intelligence can facilitate their learning habits and their academic literacy development. Therefore, (Yang & Duan, 2023) suggested more research studies be conducted to investigate some other remaining aspects of practical implications for English language students, teachers, and trainers. Rajeh et al. (2020) investigated another interesting aspect of students' academic performance. They examined Ajman University undergraduate students' achievements and the faculty members' perspectives on the role of electronic books for students. The nature of their study is experimental and they grouped students into two groups (empirical and control). In the end, their study results were hopeful and clearly stated that utilizing electronic books was quite effective in terms of not only improving their academic performance but their communication skills in the Arabic language as well.
Similarly, investigating students' academic performance has also been considered a researchable topic during the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Because things look different when comparing students' attitudes and their academic performance towards their studies online or in the classroom. Tong et al. (2022) investigated this considerable topic and examined the effectiveness of blended learning on students' achievement, self-study skills, and learning attitude. Researchers used a quasi-experiment method to examine students' performance, self-study skills, and learning attitudes toward traditional methods of teaching-learning and blended learning. The comparative findings of their study revealed that blended learning positively impacted students' academic achievement, self-study skills, and learning attitudes. In addition, the results of their survey also indicated the preference of students towards blended learning and claimed that this mode of teaching-learning increased their interactions with their teachers. On the other hand, students' perceptions towards the use of flipped classrooms and the effectiveness of using this mode of teaching-learning mode in their early childhood degree had no considerable impacts on their academic performance (Soria-vilchez, 2021). Studies also investigate the relationships between students' time management skills and their academic performance skills (Kaushar, 2013).
The purpose of the current study is to investigate the correlation between student time spent and their academic
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performance. Therefore, the current study correlates these two variables and will find appropriate responses for the following research questions, and research objectives and will test the following hypothesis:
2.1 Research Question:
The following question is tried to be answered in the current study:
1: Is there any relationship between the time spent and academic performance among the students of the Department of English Language and Literature?
2.2 Research Objective:
1: To investigate the relationship between two variables; time spent and exam performance.
2.3 Hypotheses Testing:
The researcher tries to test the following research hypothesis:
A: Null Hypothesis:
H0: p = 0 (There is no correlation between the time spent and students' performance in the exam)
B: Alternative Hypothesis:
HA: p ^ 0 (There is a correlation between the time spent and students' performance in exams)
3. Research Methodology
The research design for the current study is quantitative. As quantitative research design is used to measure numerical data, it best fits in order to find out whether there is a relationship between the time spent by students and their academic performance. Rahman (2016) stated that the quantitative is the method that lays heavy stress on measuring something or variables that existed in the social world. Furthermore, (Payne & Payne, 2004, p.180) (As cited by Rahman, 2016) opine that, "Quantitative methods (normally using deductive logic) seek regularities in human lives, by separating the social world into empirical components called variables which can be represented numerically as frequencies or rate, whose associations with each other can be explored by statistical techniques and accessed through researcher-introduced stimuli and systematic measurement." For this reason, the current study also investigates to find out whether there is any relationship between the time spent and students' academic performance.
3.1 Instrument for Data Collection
The instrument used for the study is students' exam scores and a questionnaire, distributed to students in their classroom.
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Before designing the questionnaire, researchers discussed with students to choose a subject they like the most and then asked how much time they spent normally when studying literature during their undergraduate studies. Most of the students claimed that they studied for (2 & 4) hours normally. Their responses were then collected and analyzed in SPSS 24.00 with their exam scores in the same subject and their cumulative grade point average (CGPA).
4. Results and Discussion
The results of the current study have been analysed using Statistical Package in Social Sciences (SPSS 24.00) to analyse the data and the results have been presented and interpreted through inferential statistics. Researchers applied the following statistical tests to find out correlation and as well as to test the hypotheses.
4.1 Independent t test: the following are the group statistics in an independent t test for a better understanding of the two groups and for taking a look at the means for 2 hours (M=69.9333), 4 hours (M=88.2667), and Std. deviations for 2 hours (SD=7.65755) and 4 hours (SD=5.52225).
T-Test
Group Statistics
Std. Error
Time Spent N Mean Std. Deviation Mean
Academic 2.00 15 69.9333 7.65755 1.97717
Performance 4.00 15 88.2667 5.52225 1.42584
Independent Samples Test Levene's Tes! tor Equality ot Variances F Sig. t df Sig. (2-tailed) t-test tor Equality of Means Mean Std. Error Difference Difference 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper
ExamPerformance Equal variances assumed 1448 .239 -7.521 28 .000 ■18.33333 2.43767 -23.32667 -13.34000
Equal variances not assumed -7.521 25.462 .000 -18.33333 2.43767 -23.34919 -13.31748
The results of the independent t test also show that the (sig. (2-tailed) <.050), so it means that they are significantly different.
4.2 Spearman's Correlation: Spearman's correlation is one of the nonparametric test of Pearson, and the variables used in Pearson should be only in Interval or Ratio scales of measurement, but for the Spearman, it should be in the ordinal scale of measurement. In the variables selected for this study, although the time is to be measured by Interval, as in the
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questionnaire, they were only given two options (2 hours & 4 hours) so for this reason, as there is no point in-between these two hours of times, so we need to use it as in the ordinal scale of measurement in SPSS, and when we have variables with ordinal, we need to run them in Spearman's correlation test, instead of Pearson.
4.2.1 The results of the Spearman's test have been reported as follows:
A Spearman's correlation was run to determine whether there is a relationship between the time spent and the academic performances of the students. The results show that Spearman's correlation coefficient, rs, is .852, which is statistically significant (p=.000) and it is to be stated that there is a relationship between the time spent and academic performance, which is statistically significant (rs=.852, p=.000). For this reason, as p-value is smaller than alpha level, (p<.050), so we reject the null hypotheses and retain the alternative that there is a relationship between the time spent of students and their academic performances.
Correlations Time Spent Academic Performance
Spearman's rho Time Spent Correlation 1.000 .852**
Coefficient
Sig. (2-tailed) . 1.000
N 30 30
Academic Correlation .852** 1.000
Performance Coefficient
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 I.
N 30 I 30
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
As we can see in the following Scatter/Dot 1. as well that the students who studied for 2 hours, their mark are in between (55-81), but for the students who spent 4 hours studying, their marks are in-between (79-98) which are higher than the marks of the students who studied only for 2 hours. So based on this, it is to be claimed that there is a relationship between the two variables (marks of the students and the time spent).
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Scatter/Dot 1.
The results of the current study are in line with the findings of (Silva et al., 2010) but they analyzed five factors to have positively correlated with students' academic achievements. Due to the potential of researching academic performance for graduates, (Israel & Salau, 2019) investigated students' academic performance during their first, second, and third years of studies. They suggested that having quality graduates, in terms of their academic performance, is a vital issue for higher education institutions and they believe that students with poor results must not be considered as graduates. Researchers investigated different modes of teaching-learning methods to be implemented to make sure that university students' academic performance is improved. For instance, project-based online learning is one such teaching-learning model that can increase students' academic performance (Zen et al., 2022). Additionally, researchers investigated different factors influencing students' academic performance in a Malaysian public university and the results show that there are numerous factors influencing the academic performance of university students such as; active learning, student attendance, and involvement in extracurricular activities (Ali et al., 2009).
The findings of the currents are in line with some of the above-stated research studies conducted in different parts of the world. Particularly, the findings of the current study clearly stated that time spent directly positively influenced students' academic performance and there is a correlation between the time spent and students' performance in exams.
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5. Conclusion
The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationships between students' time spent and their academic performance and to statistically find out the correlation between these two variables. The focus of the current study was on a public university in Afghanistan. The findings of the study revealed that there is a correlation between the two variables (time spent and academic performance). It means that students who studied for a period of 4 hours a day achieved better results in exams when compared with those who studied for 2 hours a day. This means that the better students are involved in studying their university subjects, the better they will achieve their exam performance. Based on the results of the current study, it is suggested that students must be trained on how to effectively manage their study time in order to perform well in their university exams. Additionally, students also need to know that time is a potential factor in their academic success if managed well.
As this study is limited to only one public university, researchers suggest that the findings of the current study could not be generalized to other universities and if researchers wish to do so, it needs to select a bigger sample of different public universities in order to find out some other influencing factors that impact students' academic performance in different levels.
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