Adaptability and Grit: Foundations for Their Joint Contribution to Students' Academic and Nonacademic Outcomes

Adaptability (adjustment to new and uncertain situations) and grit (perseverance and passion for long-term goals) both sustain students, but their joint contribution has never been explored, and recent studies propose they could compose a single factor. In this study we aim to test whether (i) they actually belong to a single overarching factor as recently posited by the Triarchic Model of Grit and (ii) they have specific effects on different outcomes. We show that, in a sample of 602 students (11–18 years old), perseverance of effort, consistency of interests (the two facets of grit), and adaptability are distinct factors, that uniquely contribute to the outcomes considered (academic self-efficacy, achievement emotions, learning goals, self-regulated learning, achievement, and life satisfaction). Perseverance resulted as the strongest predictor, followed by adaptability and consistency. Conscientiousness was positively related to all three. We conclude that adaptability and grit are two separate but correlated factors that can promote a host of positive outcomes.     

Learning to Write for an International Audience through Cross-cultural Collaboration and Text-negotiation

The international project described in this paper has been inspired by the Trans-Atlantic and Pacific Projects (TAPP). By 2013, the TAPP network had connected classes in writing, usability testing and/or translation at three universities in the US and several partner universities in Europe, Africa and China. The pedagogical import of these forms of collaboration has been emphasised in studies that analysed the dynamics of cross-cultural virtual teams. The goal of our study was to have first-year undergraduate students in the US learn what is at stake when they write a text for an ‘alien’ audience. At the Italian end, we wanted students to enhance English as a lingua franca (ELF) reading and writing skills as well as to raise their cross-cultural language awareness. Another goal for both groups of students was to communicate via email, Facebook and other online environments using ELF.     

‘Perceived’ competition and performance in Italian secondary schools: New evidence from OECD—PISA 2006

In this paper, we investigate the effects of competition on the performance of Italian secondary schools as measured by maths achievement scores (PISA 2006 dataset). Competition is measured by an indicator of ‘perceived’ competition (generated from an answer provided by the schools’ principals). The methodology employed is a propensity score matching that is corrected to take into account heteroskedasticity and finite sample bias. The results show a positive effect of competition on school performance. Nevertheless, this effect is quite low (between 3.62% and 4.05% computed at the average score level) and is consistent with previous findings about educational systems in Italy and worldwide. This is relevant for policy‐making because competition appears to impact school performance even in a country like Italy where specific pro‐competitive policies are quite absent.