Project – The impact of internet and the way it influence students reading culture

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background of the study

Reading is an essential tool for lifelong learning. It is important for everyone to develop the rudiments of reading and the culture of reading always so as to survive in life. Reading according to Holte (1998) adds quality to life and provides access to culture and cultural heritage. He pointed out that reading empowers and emancipates citizens and bring people together. Okeke (2000) reaffirms that the art of reading is a priceless instrument for everyone. It is one of the most important activities of life through which we enter into the life and experiences of others and extend our knowledge, scope of experience and enjoyment. It has critical role to play in the overall development of an individual and the nation at large. Reading experience can be obtained in the library. The school library is a gateway to knowledge and will serve as a starting point or road map to reading and the promotion to reading culture. The library provides books and other resources which will help shape thoughts and influence the actions of students throughout life with active supervision by an experienced librarian.

Due to technological development, reading habits are changing. In our society today, while technology is slowly taking a steady control over individual lives, the reading habit is fast vanishing into thin air (The Hindu, 2004). Students now lack the skill of reading. Instead they spend more hours on the internet. Browsing the net, playing with funky handsets and passing non-stop SMSs and chatting with friends seem to be the order of the day, thereby making reading a book or any other piece of written material in a quiet or peaceful corner of a library or home become an archaic idea for most school children and adults (The Hindu, 2004). Obama (2008) in his speech pinpointed that children cannot achieve unless they raise their expectations and turn off television sets. Shabi and Udofia (2009) noted that active learning from books is better than passive learning such as watching televisions and playing games.

Students are rarely interested in reading for pleasure and enjoyment instead they read only to pass examination. The declining interest in reading culture among our children (especially those in primary and secondary schools) is a cause for alarm and a challenge to all and something need to be done to alleviate this yawning problem. Unfortunately, reading is not taught or included in school curriculum. Reading is not a subject and cannot be taught separately as most other subjects in the curriculum rather it is subsumed in every other subject and is regarded as a tool facilitating many other types of learning. Nowadays, due to the rat race syndrome, parents pay little or no attention to their children’s reading ability, parents themselves lack the skill and the culture of reading such that some do not read to their kids.

Mefor (2010) urged all Nigerians schools to launch a readership promotion campaign which will help to inculcate the culture of reading in children. It is also important to start early to inculcate the culture of reading early enough in a child. Also Olukemi (2010) advised Nigerian youths to imbibe the reading culture in all their endeavors. She lamented that lack of reading culture among youths nowadays has greatly affected quality of graduates being produced by the nation’s higher institutions. It is against this background that this study tries to investigate on the influence of internet on the reading culture of pupils in homes and schools. Improving access to relevant information and promoting a reading culture are prerequisites for strengthening literacy skills, widening education and learning opportunities, and helping people to address the causes of poverty (Makotsi, 2005).

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Reading is the springboard of any literacy program. It does not only give learners an active place, but also places them in the center of pedagogy and the curriculum (Corcoran and Evans, 1987). Reading is very powerful and indispensable equipment for learning and acquisition of the varied skills and experiences needed by man to develop a satisfactory personal life. It is important that pupils/students should develop positive habits towards reading of books as a life-long learning experience. Gradually, the advent of internet has led to the development of various applications for games and chatting which has continue to take students time leaving reading books as old fashioned. However, the researcher is examining the impact of internet on the student’s reading culture.

1.3   OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The following are the objectives of this study:

1. To examine the impact of internet on the student’s reading culture.
2. To examine the impact of internet on student’s academic achievement.
3. To examine the advantages and disadvantages of internet on students’ academic performance.

1.4   RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What is the impact of internet on the student’s reading culture?
2. What is the impact of internet on student’s academic achievement?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of internet on students’ academic performance?

1.5   HYPOTHESIS

HO: There is no significant relationship between internet and the student’s reading culture

HA: There is significant relationship between internet and the student’s reading culture

1.6   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The following are the significance of this study:

The results from this study will educate the administrators in the education sector and the general public on the effect of internet and other related technologies on the student’s reading culture in Nigeria.

This research will be a contribution to the body of literature in the area of the effect of personality trait on student’s academic performance, thereby constituting the empirical literature for future research in the subject area.

1.7   SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This study will cover the relationship between internet technology and student’s reading culture.

1.8 Definition of Term

Interest in studying at the University is one of the contributors to academic achievement the interest of a student to the university when the student is willing to involve themselves in the learning process to meet the learning needs of daily living such as doing assignments and attending classes (Rouis, 2012). Initiation and participation in this study had to do with the internal pleasure derived from membership in a group and also invited the students to learn to meet the needs of the class. Therefore, the higher the desire of students to the university, will improve their academic achievement. In regard, this study shows that students who do not express a desire to learn will get a low grade in their academic performance.

Internet Usage: For the second factor of the influence of the internet usage, it is related to the use of the Internet impact on academic performance. The study was identifying the effects of the use of the internet and video games in student’s academic achievement. The results showed that the route between IT use and academic performance is complex.

Online Media Usage for Education: There are two theories has been used by (Asemah, Okpanachi & Edegoh, 2013) which is, social information processing theory and the theory of equations media in order to find out if social media exposure to students has an impact on their academic performance. The social information processing theory developed by Joseph Waither in (1992) which highlighted the information online. This theory suggests that the development of online interpersonal relationships take the time to develop compared with face-to-face relationships, but if it is developed it will be the same as face-to-face communication.

Online Media Usage for Non Education: There are two theories related with the online media usage for non-education. The first theory is social learning theory and the second is cultivation theory (Shakir Ullah et al., 2013). According to Bandura (1977) social cognitive principles have been widely used to describe the effects of television on various social issues.

Project – The impact of internet and the way it influence students reading culture