Title: Children's reading and writing success: the role of diligence and intelligence

Authors: Teinye Briggs; Nwachukwu Prince Ololube

Addresses: Faculty of Behavioural Sciences, Department of Teacher Education, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9 (Siltavuorenpenger 5), FI-00014, Finland ' Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Foundations and Management, University of Education, P.M.B. 5047, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract: In today's world, young children look for attention and engage in positive or negative behaviour to attain it and it is important that teachers recognise the diligence and intelligence worth of their students on a consistent basis. This study posits two constructs: diligence and intelligence, which express or reflect individual children's efforts towards achieving reading and writing success. A Diligence and Intelligence Inventory was developed with assistance from experts to elicit data from 6-, 7- and 8-year-old children's teachers on their pupils' achievements in reading and writing. Using Cronback analysis and construct validation procedures, the instrument was certified to have internal consistency. The results from 321 preschool children revealed a significant statistical difference between diligence and intelligence. Thus, both diligence and intelligence are not singing from the same hymnbook. The academic and practical implications of this study to educational practice include a greater need to complement the efforts of young children in their pursuit for balanced educational development.

Keywords: diligence; intelligence; reading; writing; academic success; preschool children; Nigeria; young children.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKL.2015.071055

International Journal of Knowledge and Learning, 2015 Vol.10 No.1, pp.78 - 93

Received: 25 Jul 2014
Accepted: 22 Apr 2015
Published online: 09 Aug 2015 *

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