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Saturday, December 27, 2014

Academic Stress Scale

Academic Stress Scale
Life today has become increasingly complex and tension ridden. It is the era of speed, rapid changes, never ending wishes and desires, which sometimes result in stress, anxiety, negativity and depression. Stress is an integral part of life. It operates in almost every walk of life. The investigator identified stress in the educational learning situation especially in the teacher training institutions (DIETs). Teachers’ are trained to face the complex problems that occur in schools during teaching-learning process.
Teachers can act as trail blazers in the lives of learners and in the process of education for development. If student-teachers (teacher trainees) acquire academic excellence and adjustment then they are empowered to perform multiple tasks in the classroom and in the community in a professional manner.
Stress is the internal response of the individual to pressure – when the pressure experienced is greater than normal ability. In the college situation, this pressure may be accountable for individual’s success and failures. Hence, the kind of stress (Academic Stress) is an important factor accounting for variation in academic success. Academic stress among D.Ed. teacher trainees leads to problems of adjustment in their teaching career. In the academic stress of teacher trainees their personal inadequacy, fear of failure, interpersonal difficulties with teachers, teacher-pupil relationship/teaching methods and inadequate study facilities were assessed.
i. Description of the Inventory:-
Keeping this in view a 40 item rating scale which was originally developed by Kim (1970) was used in the present study. The scale was adopted to Indian conditions by Rajendran and Kaliappan (1990) by administering the adapted version of the Students’ Academic Stress Scale to 285 subjects of their study and assessed the efficiency of behavioural programmes in managing academic stress in improving academic performance. The academic stress scale comprises of 40 items. Each item had five alternatives varying from the response ‘No Stress’ to ‘Extreme Stress’. Each response carries a score of ‘0’, ‘1’, ‘2’, ‘3’ and ‘4’ respectively. The items are classified into five areas contained 8 items each viz.,99
a. Personal Inadequacy … (F1)
b. Fear of Failure … (F2)
c. Interpersonal difficulties with teachers … (F3)
d. Teacher-pupil relationship / Teaching methods (F4)
e. Inadequate study facilities … (F5)
The total items were 40. Therefore 160 (4 x 40) is the maximum possible score and the highest score on each factor would be 32 (4 x 8). Each factor has equal number of items. The higher the value of the score, the more the academic stress and vice-versa. Academic stress scale is given in Appendix – A.
ii. Validity and Reliability:- There are various methods of estimating the validity of measuring the instrument. The authors established content validity of the tool on the basis of the scrutiny of experts and item validity through item analysis. As the investigator is using the tool viz., Students’ Academic Stress Scale, is assumed that the adopted version is having validity and reliability. The test-retest correlation of 50 students with an interval of 25 days has been found to be 0.82.
R. BALAJI RAO
M.Sc., M.Ed.,
Lecturer,
DIET: : PALLIPADU
Nellore District.


ACADEMIC STRESS SCALE
This scale consists of 40 items describing the stress in your institution/ college life from the various sources. The level of stress you feel for each item can be indicated by marking a ‘’ mark in the bracket given against each statement.
If you feel No Stress put a ‘’ mark in the 1st bracket (NS), Slight Stress in the 2nd (SS), Moderate Stress in the 3rd (MS), High Stress in the 4th (HS) and you feel Extreme Stress put a ‘’ mark in the 5th bracket (ES).

S.No Statement NS SS MS HS ES
1. Teachers make too many extra demands on students. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
2. Poor interest in some subjects. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
3. Progress reports to parents ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
4. The teacher is not humours towards us. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
5. Lack of concentration during study hours. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
6. Difficulty in remembering all that is studied. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
7. Worrying about the examinations. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
8. Lack of self-confidence. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
9. The teachers do not listen to our ideas. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
10. Conflict with friends/college authorities. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
11. Teachers give more punishment in the class. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
12. Worry about results after examinations. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
13. Hesitate to ask the teacher for detailed explanation. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
14. Biased attitude of the teacher. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
15. Inadequate space or room for study at home. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
16. Not knowing how to prepare for the examinations. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
17. Lack of assertiveness (confidence) in the class. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
18. Lack of opportunity to meet teachers. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
19. Teacher shows socio-economic status on students. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
20. Slow in getting along with the curriculum. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
21. Exam papers are tough and not valued well. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
22. Unable to complete the assignment in time. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
23. Lack of communication between teachers and students. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
24. Monotonous (boring or tedious) teaching style by the teacher. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
25. Not enough discussion in the class. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
26. Lack of mutual help among classmates. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
27. Lack of fluency while speaking the language other than the mother tongue. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
28. Difficulty in public speaking. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
29. The teacher is fast and does not use blackboard legibly. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
30. Teachers lacking interest in students. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
31. Examination syllabus is too heavy in some subjects. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
32. Feeling of inferiority. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
33. Unable to discuss Academic failures with parents. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
34. Not able to grasp the subject matter. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
35. Incomplete and confusing study material. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
36. Eleventh hour preparation for the examinations. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
37. Importance of the subject matter. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
38. Difficulty in adjusting with opposite gender. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
39. Inadequate subject knowledge of the teacher. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
40. Inadequate lab and library facilities. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )



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