Reading habits of rural and urban college students iln the 21st century.
Loan, Fayaz Ahmad
Introduction
Reading has been the passion of the greatest personalities of all
times. Humans have been reading since ages and thus words of knowledge
have been passed on through generations. The reading habit influences in
the promotion of one's personal development in particular and
social progress in general. Regular and systematic reading sharpens the
intellect, refines the emotions, elevates tastes and provides
perspectives for one's living; and thereby prepares a person for an
effective participation in the social, religious, cultural and political
life. Reading fires the imagination of the person. It adds new sight to
eyes and new wisdom to mind. "A dumb person becomes a communicator
and a lame climbs mountains of knowledge through reading" is an old
saying. Reading loads the mind with new software (Satija, 2002). The
individual who reads well has at his command a means for widening his
mental horizons and for multiplying his opportunities of success.
Reading is a vital factor affecting intellectual and emotional growth.
Sir Richard Steele has logically quoted, "Reading is to mind what
exercise is to body".
The definition of reading has undergone through many changes. In
the past, reading simply meant to extract visual information from any
given codes or systems. However, thereafter, reading became much more
complex and involved the understanding of a whole text composed of
written signs. Smith & Robinson (1980) defined reading as "an
active attempt on the part of reader to understand a writer's
message". According to Toit (2001) "Reading is as a process of
thinking, recalling and relating concepts under the functioning of
written words." Devarajan (1989) defined reading as the art of
interpreting printed and written words. Irvin (1998) describes the
reading process as "The interaction of what is in the head with
what is on the page within a particular context that causes students to
comprehend what they read" Thus, reading is the ability to
recognise, and examine words or sentences and understand the information
within. It is a cognitive process of understanding a written linguistic
message and to examine and grasp the meaning of written or printed
characters, words or sentences.
Reading Culture in Kashmir Valley
Kashmir valley has been a seat of learning since ages. Right from
the very ancient times, Kashmir was a clearing house of spiritual
knowledge, a laboratory of scientists and a place of thinking
personalities as is evident from the ancient writings present on stone-
slabs, copper plates and coins found in Kashmir (Iqbal, 2007). Kashmiri
are proud of their literary glories of the past. They had produced
masterpieces of history, poetry and philosophy. The Rajataranini speaks
of many literary personalities who flourished in ancient Kashmir and who
thought and wrote with ability on different branches of knowledge. The
noteworthy among them are Vasunanda, Candaka, Matrgupta and Vakpatiraja
(Roy, 2005). Presently, in spite of all odds, the students of Kashmir
Valley achieve greatest highest in literary world.
Review of Literature
Reading has increasingly been the object of empirical and
theoretical investigations since a long past. Norvell (1950) as cited by
Hanna & Marriana (1960) identifies that sex and age are the two
principal factors affecting reading habits. Moyes (2000), Stenberg
(2001), Ross (2002) and Abram (2007) report female as more heavy reader
than male. Clark & Foster (2005) reports that girls enjoy reading
greater than boys and boys tend to hold more negative attitudes towards
reading than girls. McKenna, Kearn & Ellsworth (1995) and Hassell
& Rodge (2007) reveal that girls have more favourable attitudes than
boys for both recreational and academic reading. Hopper (2005) depicts
that (67%) of girls were reading compared with (54%) of boys. Sahai
(1970) results make visible that more than (90%) of the users read
newspapers and magazines and the percentage of women is higher than the
men. Kendrick (1999) discovers that over half (56%) of the middle grade
boys do not enjoy reading and (86%) of them complain that parents do not
read with them. Yilmaz (2000) finds that the majority of the students
(77.8%) don't have reading habits whereas the smallest ratio (6.5%)
belongs to the heavy readers. Hastings & Henry (2006) reveal that
more than half of respondents (56%) spend less than an hour a day on
reading and (13%) says that they do not read at all. Igun & Adogbeji
(2007) report that nearly two-thirds (61.5%) of postgraduate students
are motivated for study & reading primarily by the desire for
knowledge and skills, while (22.5%) study mainly to pass their
examinations and tests and for self development. Cabral & Tavares
(2002) study concerning the students reading habits reflects that
students read for academic purposes (97.8%) almost as much as they use
reading as a hobby (97.2%). The study of Hassell & Rodge (2007)
depict that (72%) of the students are reading in their leisure time in
which 22% read constantly and (50%) read when they get a chance.
Blackwood (1991) indicates that students are reading about 2.5 hours
each week for pleasure during academic session and slightly more during
vacations. Tella & Akande (2007) disclose that the majority of the
students (53.3%) spent between 1-2 hours per day on reading. The
Department of Education, Hong Kong (2001) points out that the students
are spending 2 or more hours on reading in a week. Sheorey &
Mokhtari (1994) results reveal that students read an average of 4.75
hours per week. Karim & Hasan (2007) identify that the students
spend about 7 to 9 hours per week on average to read. Kaur &
Thiyagarajah (1999) reveals that while many students prefer spending as
much as 3-5 hours per week in reading yet the breakdown of the responses
indicate that (69.8%) of them spend this amount of time on literary
works, (28.6%) on newspapers and (25.4%) on novels. Devarajan (1989)
reports that irrespective of the socio-economic background, the majority
is interested in reading literature (51.96%) especially novels followed
by Science (34.66%). Clark & Foster (2005) report that 83.9% of
pupils admit mother teaches them to read, followed by their teacher
(72.2%) and their father (65.0%). Their mother (42.5%), teacher (38.5%)
and father (32.4%) are also the most frequently cited reading partners.
The mother (57.4%), father (42.1%) and friend (39.9%) are the top three
people with whom pupils discuss their reading. De boer & Dall Mann
(1960) is of the opinion that it is the task of the teacher to bring the
child and book together. They further insist that the techniques of
improving a child's voluntary reading should in general be those of
enticement and persuasion rather than those of coercion. Shokeen (2005)
is of the opinion that it is the duty of parents and librarians to
promote a love for reading among students. However, all parties
concerned- parents, teachers and librarians should work together to
infuse a habit of reading in children at the young age when the mind is
most impressionable.
Scope of the Study
The present study is limited to the academic college students of
Kashmir Valley covering the faculties of General Science, Social
Sciences, Humanities, Business & Commerce and Computer Science. The
total number of such colleges in Kashmir Valley is 20 in which 11 are
falling in rural areas and 9 in urban area.
Objectives of the Study
The specific objective of the paper is to study thoroughly the
reading habits of the rural and urban students with the aim to identify
their attitudes, purposes, preferences & tastes of reading.
Methodology
The data was collected using the questionnaire method. Before
drafting the questionnaire, in-depth interviews were conducted to some
college students, which provided some directions in drafting
questionnaire. After the survey questionnaire was drafted, it was
pre-tested with 30 students. The questionnaire was then modified
according to the result of the pre-test. Later, the following
statistical formula was used to obtain sample of the student.
Where,
Z = The probability given under 96.5% reliability
N = The population or universe
E = Sampling error
pq = Proportion of the total population (Rural: Urban)
The total population of students in the academic colleges of
Kashmir was 54191 in which 28,838 were studying in rural colleges and
25,353 in urban colleges. Further, to ensure an optimal sample size, the
96.5% confidence level was preassigned and a small sampling error (0.04)
was fixed.
The sample size of the rural and urban categories is determined by
population allocation method as:
, Where,
i = 1, 2, 3, 4.......
n = 676 (total Sample size)
Ni = Total number of students in the Category
N = Total population.
Data Analysis: Findings and Recommendations
1. Reading Enjoyment
It is revealed from the data (Table 1) that majority of the
students (66.86%) enjoy reading in which urban students (68.99%) are
more than rural counterparts (65%). The variation is possible due to
many reasons like lack of adequate information centres and sources (like
public libraries) in far-flung rural areas, lack of Internet facilities,
etc. Thus, there is need to bridge the information access as well as
digital divide gap between rural and urban students.
Table 1: Enjoyment of reading (Region wise)
Reading Enjoyment Total Rural Urban
A lot 304/676 (44.97) 156/360 (43.33) 148/316 (46.84)
A bit 148/676 (21.89) 78/360 (21.67) 70/316 (22.15)
Not much 119/676 (17.60) 73/360 (20.28) 46/316 (14.56)
Not at all 105/676 (15.53) 53/360 (14.72) 52/316 (16.46)
Note: Figures in parentheses are percentage
2. Time Spent
The majority of the students (32.69%) spend 1-2 hours on reading
per day. The average time (mean) students spend on reading is 1.90 hours
daily (Table 2).
Table 2: Time spend on reading per day (Region Wise)
Time Total (t) Rural (p) Urban (q)
Spent
Up to 1 162/676 94/360 68/316
hour (23.96) (26.11) (21.52)
1-2 221/676 139/360 82/316
hours (32.69) (38.61) (25.95)
2-3 183/676 71/360 112/316
hours (27.07) (19.72) (35.44)
3-4 78/676 35/360 43/316
hours (11.54) (9.72) (13.61)
>4 32/676 21/360 11/316
hours (4.73) (5.83) (3.48)
Total a (t)= a (p)= 650 a (q)= 637
Time 1287
Spend
(hrs)
Average Mean= 1.90 Mean= 1.81 Mean= 2.02
Time
Spend
(hrs)
Note: Figures in parentheses are percentage
The data on the basis of region shows that majority of rural
students (38.61%) spend 1-2 hours on reading per day whereas most of
urban students (35.44%) spend 2-3 hours on reading in a day. The average
time rural and urban students spend on reading is 1.81 hours and 2.02
hours per day respectively. The variation is possible due to many
reasons like low level of literacy in rural areas; lack of healthy
reading tradition and so on. The need is to overcome the problem of
illiteracy and develop a healthy reading culture in the country
especially in rural areas. Moreover, the students should develop a time
table to spend their time on different activities like playing games and
sports, electronic media and print media. The students should always
spend its share on academic and non-academic reading without any fall.
3. Inculcating Reading Habit
It is clear from the data that students develop reading habits
mostly of their own (36.24%) followed by with the help of parents
(28.48%) and teachers (13.17%) respectively (Table 3). The region wise
break up of data shows that parents of the urban students (33.54%) play
better role in developing reading habits of their children than parents
of rural students (24.17%). The parents, teachers and librarians must
join hands to develop reading habits in children at young age. Once the
reading habit is formed at the early age, it is likely to last for a
long time.
Table 3: Inculcating reading habit (Region Wise)
Inculcating Total Rural Urban
Reading Habit
Parents 193/676 87/360 106/316
(28.55) (24.17) (33.54)
Brother/Sister 64/676 33/360 31/316
(9.47) (9.17) (9.81)
Teacher 89/676 51/360 38/316
(13.17) (14.17) (12.03)
Friends 60/676 35/360 25/316
(8.88) (9.72) (7.91)
Self 245/676 139/360 106/316
(36.24) (38.61) (33.54)
Others 25/676 15/360 10/316
(3.70) (4.17) (3.16)
Note: Figures in parentheses are percentage
4. Preferred Time
The data (Table 4) depicts that the students mostly prefer to read
in the morning (44.23%) compared to late night (27.81%) and evening
(22.04%). The information gleaned from the region wise data reveals that
more rural students (46.11%) prefer to read in the morning compared to
urban students (42.09%) whereas more urban students (31.33%) prefer to
read in the late night than rural students (24.72%). The reading not
only needs silence but calm and quite atmosphere as well, it is possibly
the basic reason that the students mostly prefer to read in the morning
and late night.
Table 4: Preferred time for reading (Region wise)
Preferred Time Total Rural Urban
Morning 299/676 (44.23) 166/360 (46.11) 133/316 (42.09)
Evening 149/676 (22.04) 85/360 (23.61) 64/316 (20.25)
Afternoon 40/676 (5.92) 20/360 (5.56) 20/316 (6.33)
Late night 188/676 (27.81) 89/360 (24.72) 99/316 (31.33)
Note: Figures in parentheses are percentage
5. Favourite Place
It is visible from the data (Table 5) that home is the dominating
place for reading as majority of students (75.44%) prefer to read in
home followed by library (10.95%) and park/field (8.14%).
Table 5: Favourite place for reading (Region wise)
Favourite Place Total Rural Urban
Library 74/676 (10.95) 35/360 (9.72) 39/316 (12.34)
Home 510/676 (75.44) 258/360 (71.67) 252/316 (79.75)
Park/Field 55/676 (8.14) 46/360 (12.78) 9/316 (2.85)
Other place 37/676 (5.47) 21/360 (5.83) 16/316 (5.06)
Note: Figures in parentheses are percentage
The region wise data reveals that more rural students prefer to
read in home (71.67%) followed by park/field (12.78%) whereas urban
students prefer to read at home (79.75%) followed by library (12.34%).
The rural and urban students do not have healthy habits of reading in
libraries. The provision of reading room facility in the libraries with
all necessary infrastructural, sanitation, ventilation and other
facilities can attract students towards libraries for reading.
6. Preferred Language
It is clear from data (Table 6) that majority of students read in
English (71.75%) followed by Urdu (22.93%) and only a small number of
them (5.32%) prefer to read in other languages like Persian, Hindi,
Panjabi and Kashmiri respectively. The region wise datadiscloses that
urban students read in English more than rural students (75.95% versus
68.06%) and rural students read in Urdu more than urban students (27.50%
versus 17.72%). The students, irrespective of regional differences, do
not read as per expectations in their mother languages in Kashmir
Valley. The possible reasons are lack of qualitative reading material in
these languages and lack of reading and writing skills in these
languages. The possible solution is to translate qualitative reading
materials from other languages to local languages. In this regard, the
Sahita Academy of India can play a significant role. Moreover, the
students should be trained to read and write in the local languages from
the primary school level.
Table 6: Preferred language of reading (Region wise)
Preferred Language Total Rural Urban
English 485/676 (71.75) 245/360 (68.06) 240/316 (75.95)
Urdu 155/676 (22.93) 99/360 (27.50) 56/316 (17.72)
Other 36/676 (5.33) 16/360 (4.44) 20/316 (6.33)
Note: Figures in parentheses are percentage
7. Reading Purpose
It is revealed from data (Table 7) that the students mostly read
for education (43.49%) followed by information (40.23%) and recreation
(11.39%). The region wise data depicts that rural students read more
than urban for education (47.50% versus 38.92%) and urban students read
more than rural for information (43.04% versus 37.78%) and recreation
(13.29% versus 9.72%) as shown in table. The students of both the
categories do not have positive attitudes towards recreational reading
as majority of students read for education. This could possibly be due
to pressure from their parents and teachers to improve their academic
performance. The steps should be taken to encourage them for
recreational reading as well. Reading is a basic skill for lifelong
learning and lifelong reading can be established through leisure
reading.
Table 7: Primary purpose of reading (Region wise)
Primary purpose Total Rural Urban
Education 294/676 (43.49) 171/360 (47.50) 123/316 (38.92)
Information 272/676 (40.24) 136/360 (37.78) 136/316 (43.04)
Recreation 77/676 (11.39) 35/360 (9.72) 42/316 (13.29)
Other 33/676 (4.88) 18/360 (5.00) 15/316 (4.75)
Note: Figures in parentheses are percentage
8. Subject of Interest
The subject interest of students is to mostly read about Religion
(28.85%) followed by Science & Technology (18.93%), Literature
(18.34%) and Politics (12.87%). While having a glimpse on the region
wise data, the results bring into light that the rural students read
more about Politics (13.89% versus 11.71%), Religion (30% versus
27.53%), Science & Technology (22.22% versus 15.19%), and Games
& Sports (8.89% versus 6.33%) than urban students whereas urban
students defeat them in reading about literature (23.74% versus 13.61%)
and Business (10.44% versus 6.11%) as shown in table 8. The students
show interest in different subjects, so it is duty of the Document
Selection Committee to build a balanced collection of quality material
in libraries to satisfy the reading needs of all.
Table 8: Subject of interest (Region wise)
Subject of Total Rural Urban
Interest
Literature 124/676 49/360 75/316
(18.34) (13.61) (23.74)
Politics 87/676 50/360 37/316
(12.87) (13.89) (11.71)
Religion 195/676 108/360 87/316
(28.85) (30.00) (27.53)
Science & 80/360 48/316 128/676
Technology (22.22) (15.19) (18.93)
Games & 52/676 32/360 20/316
Sports (7.69) (8.89) (6.33)
Business 55/676 22/360 33/316
(8.14) (6.11) (10.44)
Others 35/676 19/360 16/316
(5.18) (5.28) (5.06)
Note: Figures in parentheses are percentage
Conclusion
The reading habits of rural and urban college students of the 21st
century show that the reading culture is more developed in urban
students than rural counterparts. The need is to bridge the gaps in
reading culture between regions for developing a great reading nation.
The goal can only be achieved through different means; however, the
Education for all and Information for all are the two main pillars of
reading society that need more emphasis.
Acknowledgement
I am greatly indebted to my praiseworthy teacher and supervisor,
Prof. S. M. Shafi, Head, Department of Library & Information
Science, University of Kashmir, J&K (India) for his enthusiastic
guidance, constructive criticism, sound advices and valuable suggestions
during the accomplishment of the present study.
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Category No. of Proportion (Ni/N) Sample Size
Students ni=n(Ni/N)
(Ni)
Urban 25,353 25353/54191=0.4678 676(0.4678)=316
Rural 28,838 28838/54191=0.5322 676(0.5322)=360
Total 54191 (100%) 676
Fayaz Ahmad Loan
Documentation Officer
Centre of Central Asian Studies
University of Kashmir, Srinagar (J&K), India
Author/s Brief Biography
The author was born on 3rd March, 1974 in J&K (India). As a
student he won the Ranganathan Quiz competition in Library and
Information Science. After completing his MLIS from University of
Kashmir, he qualified the UC/NET. Later, he was selected as Assistant
Librarian in Panjab University Chandigarh and now he works as
Documentation Officer in Centre of Central Asian Studies, University of
Kashmir, J&K (India). He is presently pursuing his Ph.D. from
University of Kashmir. He has published five research papers in
International journals, two in national journals, one in edited books,
nine conference/seminar papers and four newspaper/magazine articles in
the field of Library & Information Science.
