Page 22 - 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. 22
odoros P. Kokkinos, Aikaterini D. Gari, and Lavrentios G. Dellassoudas
academic intrinsic motivation tend to have significantly higher achievement,
less anxiety, less extrinsic motivation, and higher intellectual performance.
Also, according to other studies, high academic achievement is attributed
to the combination of high ability and strong student effort (Street, 2001),
since it implies the implementation of strong strategies concerning self-
regulation, an indicator of strong intrinsic motivation (Tirri, 2010). Indeed,
other studies also suggest that strong motivation of high ability students
seems to come from features such as a high degree of personal interest and
attribution of high value to school work, the pursuit of realistic objectives,
perseverance in solving demanding tasks, a high degree of task commitment
and responsibility (Lashaway-Bokina, 2000; Siegle & McCoach, 2005). More-
over, a study focusing on high achieving students, found that gifted high
achievers expressed higher levels of motivation than non-high achievers. At
the same time, high achievers perceived positively a classroom structure that
provides tasks with a focus on learning and more autonomy (Lüftenegger et
al., 2015).
As regards gender differences, related research has found that teachers
seem to consider that students with the strongest intrinsic motivation are
of the female gender (Lashaway-Bokina, 2000), since it is widely held that
girls show stronger task commitment and responsibility (Lupart, Cannon,
& Telfer, 2004). There are also some research findings concerning low mo-
tivation of high ability students within the Greek educational system (Gari,
Kalantzi-Azizi, & Mylonas, 2000; Theodoridou & Davazoglou, 2006; Zbainos
& Kyritsi, 2011), but they don’t focus on the relationship between motivation
and domain-specific features such as creativity and linguistic traits.
Linguistic Features of High Ability Students
According to related literature, a significant diversification of high ability stu-
dents’ linguistic features from their typical peers can be observed not only at
the cognitive linguistic infrastructure but also at the differentiation of their
language choices and their overall communicative ability.
High ability students’ main linguistic features can be summarized in spe-
cific areas of language competence, such as the vocabulary/grammatical
competence where there is not only a greater range but also a faster intro-
duction of new stimuli to these students’ mental infrastructure compared to
their peers. Also, in speech reception high ability students are characterized
by a stronger ability in both bottom-up and top-down reading processes.
In bottom-up reading processes, namely decoding and understanding the
meaning of words and sentences, these students present a higher level of
20
academic intrinsic motivation tend to have significantly higher achievement,
less anxiety, less extrinsic motivation, and higher intellectual performance.
Also, according to other studies, high academic achievement is attributed
to the combination of high ability and strong student effort (Street, 2001),
since it implies the implementation of strong strategies concerning self-
regulation, an indicator of strong intrinsic motivation (Tirri, 2010). Indeed,
other studies also suggest that strong motivation of high ability students
seems to come from features such as a high degree of personal interest and
attribution of high value to school work, the pursuit of realistic objectives,
perseverance in solving demanding tasks, a high degree of task commitment
and responsibility (Lashaway-Bokina, 2000; Siegle & McCoach, 2005). More-
over, a study focusing on high achieving students, found that gifted high
achievers expressed higher levels of motivation than non-high achievers. At
the same time, high achievers perceived positively a classroom structure that
provides tasks with a focus on learning and more autonomy (Lüftenegger et
al., 2015).
As regards gender differences, related research has found that teachers
seem to consider that students with the strongest intrinsic motivation are
of the female gender (Lashaway-Bokina, 2000), since it is widely held that
girls show stronger task commitment and responsibility (Lupart, Cannon,
& Telfer, 2004). There are also some research findings concerning low mo-
tivation of high ability students within the Greek educational system (Gari,
Kalantzi-Azizi, & Mylonas, 2000; Theodoridou & Davazoglou, 2006; Zbainos
& Kyritsi, 2011), but they don’t focus on the relationship between motivation
and domain-specific features such as creativity and linguistic traits.
Linguistic Features of High Ability Students
According to related literature, a significant diversification of high ability stu-
dents’ linguistic features from their typical peers can be observed not only at
the cognitive linguistic infrastructure but also at the differentiation of their
language choices and their overall communicative ability.
High ability students’ main linguistic features can be summarized in spe-
cific areas of language competence, such as the vocabulary/grammatical
competence where there is not only a greater range but also a faster intro-
duction of new stimuli to these students’ mental infrastructure compared to
their peers. Also, in speech reception high ability students are characterized
by a stronger ability in both bottom-up and top-down reading processes.
In bottom-up reading processes, namely decoding and understanding the
meaning of words and sentences, these students present a higher level of
20
