The Journal of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children

The World Council for Gifted and Talented Children
Results
Question 1
The first question was “Who are the students who choose to study in this program?” To
answer this guiding question, three sub questions were asked about students’ family background,
preparation for the school entrance exam and family tradition of attending the program. Both the
former and current students were similar in their responses to the question. Their parents were
highly educated and the majority of them held BA degrees and white-collar jobs. Preparation for the
school entrance exam was taken seriously as the majority of the participants indicated taking private
lessons prior to the exams. Finally, connections to the school through relatives (current students)
and acquaintances (former students) played a part in the students’ choice of the school.
Question 2
The second question was “How do students perceive the effectiveness of the program in
helping them acquire a high level of proficiency and English language skills?” Seven questions were
included, each offering the following three options: “Not satisfied at all”, “Somewhat satisfied” and
“Completely satisfied.” The responses of current and former students are summarized in Table 1
below.
Table 1: Students’ perceptions about the effectiveness of the program.
Speaking
Reading
Writing
Listening
Grammar
Vocabulary
Pronunciation
Current students Former students
NS 6 10%
NS 5 17%
SS 47 78% Speaking
SS 21 70%
CS 7 12% CS 4 13%
NS 3 5%
NS 4 13%
SS 43 72% Reading
SS 20 67%
CS 14 23% CS 6 20%
NS 1 2%
NS 4 13%
SS 56 93% Writing
SS 19 63%
CS 3 5% CS 7 23%
NS 6 10%
NS 9 30%
SS 50 83% Listening
SS 14 47%
CS 4 7% CS 7 23%
NS 39 65%
NS 8 27%
SS 18 30% Grammar
SS 18 60%
CS 3 5% CS 4 13%
NS 1 2%
NS 2 7%
SS 44 73% Vocabulary SS 23 77%
CS 15 15% CS 5 17%
NS 35 58%
NS 19 63%
SS 21 35% Pronunciation SS 7 23%
CS 4 17% CS 4 13%
Legend: NS: Not Satisfied at all SS: Somewhat Satisfied CS: Completely Satisfied
The percentages in Table 1 show that except for very few differences, both current and
former students had similar perceptions of the effectiveness of the program. Specifically, more than
70% of both current and former students were satisfied with the opportunity to develop good
speaking skills in English. For reading skills, current students had a little higher rate of satisfaction
than former ones; but, in general, both groups were pleased with the opportunities to develop their
reading skills in English. For writing, current students also showed a higher rate of satisfaction than
former students, 93% of current students as compared to 63% of former ones. 80% of current
students were satisfied with the opportunity to develop good listening skills in comparison with 47%
of the former students. Concerning the opportunity to acquire extensive knowledge of English
84 Gifted and Talented International – 26(1), August, 2011; and 26(2), December, 2011.