Page 19 - Kukanja Gabrijelčič, Mojca, and Maruška Seničar Željeznov, eds. 2018. Teaching Gifted and Talented Children in A New Educational Era. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 19
Contributors of High Achieving Students’
Linguistic Competence
Theodoros P. Kokkinos
University of Thessaly, Greece
theokokkinos@yahoo.gr
Aikaterini D. Gari
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
agari@psych.uoa.gr
Lavrentios G. Dellassoudas
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
lavdellas@ppp.uoa.gr
This study explores the contribution of linguistic, creativity and motivation fea-
tures on high achieving students’ language performance in secondary edu-
cation. The sample (N = 87) was selected on the basis of students’ excellent
performance in a national highly competitive formal language exam. 44 high
school teachers in 25 schools of the broader area of Athens participated in a
structured interview process rating these students’ features on 6 Likert type
questions through a 5-point scale. A three factor model came up but in a hierar-
chical multiple regression analysis these features were not found to contribute
significantly to the sample students’ language performance.
Keywords: high achieving students, creativity, motivation, writing, secondary
education
Introduction
In many countries, professional educators are concerned about raising the
quality of teaching and learning in the school system, especially in terms of
the mother tongue writing competence. In Greece there is particular con-
cern about the quality of Language Arts teaching, as it is considered a basic
discipline that leads to Higher Education through a Pan-Hellenic Exams pro-
cedure, a kind of highly competitive, state exams for enrolment in the state
Greek universities. These Exams are being organized each year by the Min-
istry of Education and are a prerequisite in order for a student to enter Higher
Education. They are placed at the end of secondary educations’ last year (12th
year), happening at the same time and having the same content on a national
level. The common discipline in which all students are examined, regardless
of the study orientation they have chosen (Humanities, Science or Technol-
ogy), is Language Arts. Particularly, students are required to answer some
17
Linguistic Competence
Theodoros P. Kokkinos
University of Thessaly, Greece
theokokkinos@yahoo.gr
Aikaterini D. Gari
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
agari@psych.uoa.gr
Lavrentios G. Dellassoudas
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
lavdellas@ppp.uoa.gr
This study explores the contribution of linguistic, creativity and motivation fea-
tures on high achieving students’ language performance in secondary edu-
cation. The sample (N = 87) was selected on the basis of students’ excellent
performance in a national highly competitive formal language exam. 44 high
school teachers in 25 schools of the broader area of Athens participated in a
structured interview process rating these students’ features on 6 Likert type
questions through a 5-point scale. A three factor model came up but in a hierar-
chical multiple regression analysis these features were not found to contribute
significantly to the sample students’ language performance.
Keywords: high achieving students, creativity, motivation, writing, secondary
education
Introduction
In many countries, professional educators are concerned about raising the
quality of teaching and learning in the school system, especially in terms of
the mother tongue writing competence. In Greece there is particular con-
cern about the quality of Language Arts teaching, as it is considered a basic
discipline that leads to Higher Education through a Pan-Hellenic Exams pro-
cedure, a kind of highly competitive, state exams for enrolment in the state
Greek universities. These Exams are being organized each year by the Min-
istry of Education and are a prerequisite in order for a student to enter Higher
Education. They are placed at the end of secondary educations’ last year (12th
year), happening at the same time and having the same content on a national
level. The common discipline in which all students are examined, regardless
of the study orientation they have chosen (Humanities, Science or Technol-
ogy), is Language Arts. Particularly, students are required to answer some
17
