A Study on the Non-verbal Intelligence and Academic Achievement of First Graders from Underprivileged Families in Taichung City

• Main Authors: Huang Chao Ling, 黃昭綾
• Other Authors: Jiang Zi Yi
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/78541578003355181401

碩士 === 國立臺中教育大學 === 幼兒教育學系碩士班 === 97 === The purpose of the present study is to probe any significant differences on the non-verbal intelligence and academic achievement of first graders from non- underprivileged and underprivileged families in Taichung City, and to investigate the relationship between the general background information of the participants’ and their parents’ and the participants’ non-verbal intelligence and academic achievement. At last, open-ended questions related to personal insights on the non-verbal intelligence and academic achievement of the underprivileged family children were answered to support the quantitative study. The underprivileged families in this study include single parent, grandparents raising grandchildren, newly immigrated and low-income. The first graders in this study were chosen from two public elementary schools in West and Nantun districts in Taichung City. The research methods include survey questionnaires, non-verbal intelligence testing and interviewing. “Participants’ family background and academic achievement questionnaire” and “Toni 2 test of non-verbal intelligence questionnaire type A” were employed as the researching instruments and the retrieved data were calculated and analyzed using the SPSS software package. The main research findings were as follows: 1.Single parenting and new immigrated families are more commonly seen than those of other types in this study. Most newly immigrated mothers were from Southeast Asia. The major caregivers are the mothers. The parents’ professions mostly fell into the second level of the six-rank social and economic status. 2.Participants’ average score on the non-verbal intelligence test was very similar to the standard norm of Toni 2 test of non-verbal intelligence. 3.There was no significant difference found on the non-verbal intelligence between the children from non-underprivileged and underprivileged families. Academic achievement of the non-underprivileged family children was significantly higher than that of the underprivileged family children. 4.No significant difference was found on the non-verbal intelligence performance of the underprivileged family children with diverse family backgrounds. The academic achievement did not vary with the sex variable. Among all the underprivileged family types, the academic achievement of grandparents raising grandchildren is the worst. The Taiwanese or Mainland Chinese mothers’ children performed better on Chinese language. Participants whose main caregivers were not their parents and those who had mothers aged below 25 had lower academic achievement. There was no significant influence found related to the age of the fathers in this study. Children of parents with higher education and of fathers had higher ranks of professions had better academic performance. Mothers’ professional ranking had no significant influence on academic achievement. 5.The family background variable could not effectively predict non-verbal intelligence performance. Neither could non-verbal intelligence performance effectively predict academic achievement. In conclusion, the professional ranking of father, the type of underprivileged families and the educational levels of father had higher predictability toward general academic achievement. 6.The analysis of the interview data from the parents and teachers indicated that underprivileged family background did deprive participants of academic learning opportunities and resources. The parents with heavy economic burden did leave little quality time and educational assistance for their children. Therefore school authorities and teachers should provide these students academic help depending on their needs and also attend to their physical as well as their mental well beings. Based on the findings above, the study also proposed suggestions for the educational authorities, schools, teachers, parents and future studies.