Dealing with setbacks Exploring academic buoyancy in Latin students who are cognitively gifted

Gifted students are at significant risk of underachievement and dropping out of school. A lack of academic buoyancy (i.e. the ability to bounce back from short-term academic setbacks such as being faced with a too difficult task) might contribute to this. The present study investigated how a Latin translation task that third-year students were unable to satisfactorily complete affected their accuracy and task process during and after this setback. We also investigated the relationship between the extent of academic buoyancy demonstrated and the students’ translation proficiency, mindset preference and frustration tolerance. Data was collected through thinking aloud protocols, questionnaires and emoji charts.
Quantitative analysis of this data revealed that the negative effect of the setback on the students’ accuracy was significantly larger when the student was a proficient translator or inclined towards a fixed mindset. Moreover, proficiency and mindset preference also moderated the effect of the setback on the students’ task process. In-depth qualitative analysis led to the observation that avoidance strategies, negativity and motivation loss were particularly present in students with a fixed mindset. We also found that the quality of the metacognitive and cognitive activity was highest in the high proficient students and that, surprisingly, they relied on bottom-up strategies. Furthermore, high buoyant students were found to be more flexible in their displayed strategies.
Implications for Latin education are discussed, as is the importance of teachers addressing the emotional aspects of learning. Further research might take the form of a longitudinal study or focus on younger participants.