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ERIC Number: EJ906123
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010
Pages: 27
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1932-202X
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Foreign Language Learning Aptitudes, Attitudes, Attributions, and Achievement of Postsecondary Students Identified as Gifted
Bain, Sherry K.; McCallum, R. Steve; Bell, Sherry Mee; Cochran, Jeff L.; Sawyer, Stephani Choate
Journal of Advanced Academics, v22 n1 p130-156 Fall 2010
We investigated the aptitudes, attitudes, attributions, and achievement of undergraduates identified as gifted who were taking a beginning Spanish course, and compared these characteristics to undergraduates in the same cohort group who had not been identified as gifted. There were differences in the aptitudes, attitudes, and achievement of post-secondary introductory Spanish students who had been identified as gifted and their nongifted peers. Gifted students had higher scores than nongifted students on the aptitude scale. The gifted group displayed a more positive attitude toward learning a foreign language than the nongifted group. Based on their performances on the attribution scale, the students identified as gifted and their nongifted peers did not differ in their attributions for ability, effort, teacher impact (context), or chance as explanations for their success in foreign language learning. Our findings seem to lead to suggestions for foreign language instructors to increase their focus on developing positive attitudes in all students, and on developing greater knowledge about native language skills (in this case, English) to enhance foreign language learning. However, research investigating the efficacy of such instruction is notably lacking. Therefore, studies investigating both of these areas would be welcome. (Contains 2 tables.)
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Modern Language Aptitude Test
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A