ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION OF THE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY AMONG DIFFERENT COMMUNITIES OF GOALPARA DISTRICT OF ASSAM

Abstract

Achievement Motivation is a consistent striving force of an individual to achieve success to certain standard of excellence in competing situation. In this study an attempt was made to study the effect of achievement motivation on the academic achievement of the high school students of tribal and non tribal communities in relation to their sex and locale. For this purpose a sample of 200 students, studying in class IX of ten government high schools of Goalpara District of Assam was selected. They were administered the measures of Achievement Motivation Scale by Gopal Rao. ‘t’ test and co-efficient of correlation (r) was applied to study the significance of difference between means and significant relation between achievement motivation academic achievement respectively. It was found that there was no significant difference between tribal- non tribal and boy - girl students but urban students have shown high achievement motivation than the rural students. In case of relationship between achievement motivation and academic achievement  it was observed that there was no significant relation between achievement motivation and academic achievement of tribal, boy and rural  students but there was a significant relationship between the achievement motivation and academic achievement of non tribal, girl and urban students.

In this modern age achievement is considered to be a key factor for personal and social progress. The whole system of education revolves round academic achievements of students in the school. Children do not find any interest in learning school subjects. The school learning of a child depends on various physiological, psychological, socio-cultural and economic factors. Individual differences result in diversity among students in their academic achievement and studies have shown general mental ability as a major factor in determining achievement (Patel, 1988 and Khader, 1992). But apart from the general mental ability other factors such as personality traits like interest, achievement –motivation  etc  are also the determinants of education. Motivation is always considered as a central factor in academic achievement. Achievement is a task oriented behaviour that allows the individual's performance to be evaluated according to some internally or externally imposed criterion that involves the individual in competing with others or with some standard of excellence. (Smith,1969).

Achievement motivation is a primary condition to achieve something. It is a strong motive characterized by ambition, high level of energy, strong desire for independence. It is a stable learned characteristics in which satisfaction comes from striving for and achieving a level of excellence. Achievement Motivation is a drive to excel in learning tasks combined with capacity to experience tried in accomplishment, Eggen  Manchak, (1994). The concept of Achievement Motivation was first popularized by Murray (1938). Later David McClleland and Atkinson concentrated on the study of achievement motivation. People who strove for excellence in a field for the sake of achieving and not for some reward are considered to have a high need for achievement. This need has labeled as n-achievement for convenience. So the need for achievement or n-Ach was defined  as the desire or tendency to do things rapidly and to accomplish something difficult to master, manipulate, organize physical objects,  human beings or ideas. This is to do things rapidly and independently as possible to overcome obstacles and obtain a high standard to excel oneself to rival and surpass others and to increase self-regard by the successful exercise talents (Murray,1938).

The theory of achievement motivation is concerned with the interaction of personality and the immediate environment as a contemporary determinant of aspiration, efforts and persistence when an individual expects that performance will be evaluated as success or failure in relation to some standard of excellence.

McClelland (1966) has rightly said, if in a given country the students in the schools or universities have concern for excellence, that country will show a considerable amount of progress. So the progress of a country depends upon its youth /students and, to a great extent, depends upon their academic attainment.  Since Eysenek (1953), research works have been reported on human motivation or achievement motivation and its concomitant effect upon classroom learning. The prediction of relationship between academic achievement and achievement motivation has been the primary objective of many investigators. From those studies the findings on n-Ach and its relationship with academic achievement are available. Meheta (1969), Dutt and Subhramal (1971), Pathak (1974), Christian(1977), Nair (1984), Geetha (1985),  Busato et al.(2000), Panda and Jena(2000), Krishnamurty(2001), Browsand (2002), Kour (2004), Tseng(2004), Bansal et al. (2006), Tan et al.(2007), Umadevi (2009), Yusuf (2011) etc. have shown the positive and significant relationship between n-Ach and school performance while Bhatnagar (1969), Sinha (1970), Walaytiram (1974), Shesadri (1980), Reddy (1990), Singh and Parminder (2005), Wang and Xing (2009) etc. have reported no significant relationship between two variables.

It is important both for parents and educators to understand why promoting and encouraging achievement motivation from an early age is imperative. It is a consistent striving force of an individual to achieve success to certain standard of excellence in the competing situation. The students form self concept, values and beliefs about their abilities at a young age at school. The development of early academic achievement motivation has significant implications for later academic careers. A great deal of research  has found that students with high achievement motivation are more likely to have increased levels of academic achievement and have lower dropout rates (1997).

So, the investigator feels that raising of achievement motivation of the high school students may go a long way in enhancing the academic achievement. That is why, the present study endeavoured to examine the achievement motivation of tribal and non-tribal students.

Further, works on achievement motivation and its relationship with school achievement are very scarce particularly in North-Eastern States. Except a few studies e.g. by Gokulnathan (1971), Deka (1992) etc. no other significant study is reported from this region.