ICT Exposure and Its Relationship with Academic Self-efficacy and Achievement of Adolescent Students: The Field-Level Study in India and Fiji

Abstract

Today, children and adolescents are more interested in spending time on ICT applications such as playing video games, using mobile, computer and Internet, and watching TV by sacrificing learning and extracurricular activity. The present study investigates whether time devoted to ICT applications adversely affects academic self-efficacy and achievement of adolescent students in two developing countries, India and Fiji. The study developed a structured questionnaire to capture the proposed variables such as level (time spent) of ICT exposure, academic self-efficacy and achievement into a quantitative framework. A survey collected relevant information for these variables from 873 adolescent students of the tenth class standard from 16 schools selected in rural and urban areas in India and Fiji. Cronbach’s alpha test was used to assess the reliability of the instrument before principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to construct a suitable index of academic self-efficacy. Statistical analyses such as ANOVA and regression methods were followed to establish various relationships among the variables. The results suggested that ICT exposure improves academic self-efficacy and achievement of adolescent students, but at a low rate and up to a certain limit of time (3 h/day) spending.