The Actiotope Model of Giftedness: Its Relationship With Motivation, and the Prediction of Academic Achievement Among Turkish Students

Abstract

The Actiotope Model of Giftedness (AMG) focuses on person-environment interactions instead of on the personality traits associated with actions. Motivation is a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic forces that are fundamental to the production of actions. Therefore, the resources provided by the environment or person are important for the creation of motivation. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between resources and motivation components, and to determine which were predictors of academic achievement among Turkish students (440 students, 206 from the 4th grade and 234 from the 7th grade). The Questionnaire of Educational and Learning Capital (QELC) was used to assess the resources described in the AMG, and the Scale of Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Motivational Orientation in the Classroom (IVEMOCS) was used to assess the motivation components. Findings showed significant correlations between all resources and two motivation components: intrinsic and dependence on the teacher. Using stepwise regression analysis, in 4th-graders, infrastructural capital and extrinsic motivation were found to predict academic achievement; and in 7th-graders, intrinsic motivation, economic capital, extrinsic motivation and didactic capital were found to predict academic achievement.

Keywords::

• actiotope model of giftedness
• motivation
• achievement
• Turkish students

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank all participating students and the teachers for their help: (in alphabetical order) Songül Dağlı, Neslihan Güngüder, Neval Türkeli. Special thanks are due to Dr Esra İşmen-Gazioğlu, Dr Erten Gökçe, Tobias Debatin, Dipl.Psych, and Dr Albert Ziegler. Additionally, the author would like to thank the TME for their permission to administer the questionnaires.