Gender Differences in the Relationship between Success in Learning Russian, Intelligence and Reading Skills at the Primary School Age

Abstract

The aim of the article is to investigate the interrelationship between various indicators of success in learning Russian at the primary school age. The study analyzed both expert assess-ments – teachers’ annual grades on Russian language and literary reading, and test results – the scores of State testing on Russian. The gender differences of the contributions of the non-verbal intelligence and reading skills to the individual differences of the success in learning Russian are also presented. The study involved all students in Grades 4 (N = 162) of the general educational institu-tion aged from 10 to 11. The «Standard Progressive Matrices» test was used to assessment the level of nonverbal intelligence. Reading skills were assessed by testing in accordance with the Federal State Standard for Primary Education. Gender differences were obtained for all analyzed indicators of success in learning Rus-sian, for the relationships of these indicators, and in the contributions of nonverbal intelli-gence and reading skills to individual differences in terms of success in learning. The results of analysis of variance revealed statistically significant gender differences in all analyzed indicators of success in learning Russian. The greatest differences were observed for teachers’ annual grades on Russian language – 18% of the variance of this indicator, the smallest – for teachers’ annual grades on literary reading (7%). The gender differences for State testing on Russian also obtained (12%). Girls performed better than boys on all analyzed indicators of success in learning Russian. The results of the correlation analysis showed that the structure of relationships of various success indicators in learning Russian is characterized by closer relationships in boys than in girls. It emphasizes the greater interdependence of the assessed knowledge and skills neces-sary for the successful learning Russian in boys. The hierarchical regression analysis were shown that gender differences for both the scores of the State testing and annual grade on Russian are associated with a large percentage of the explained variance of these indicators in boys compared to girls. It emphasizes the great value of nonverbal intelligence and reading skills for successfully learning Russian at group of boys. Gender differences for the annual grade on literary reading are associated with different patterns of predictors. The reading skill only is significant predictor in girls, and both reading speed and non-verbal intelligence are in boys. It may be due to the age-related development of the reading skills in girls and boys.