ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN ENGLISH: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH GENDER LENS

Abstract

Gender issues have become the talk of today's educational forum. Although the literacy rate is more among boys than girls; it is quite interesting to observe that girls are securing better rank than boys in almost all academic and other competitive examinations. Academic achievement is considered as a key criterion to judge one's total potentialities and capacities. In the present study, the researcher has analysed and assessed the gender differences in academic achievement of 10th class students in English in Salem and Sankari educational districts of Tamil Nadu. The Ex-post Facto research method has been adopted in this study and the annual examination marks obtained by the students (N=195,941: Boys-1,02,027 and Girls- 93,914) in English in last five years (2007 – 2011) were used as a measure to assess the academic achievement.