Performance on State Exams in the Russian Language and Indicators of Cognitive Development: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Relationships

Abstract

Introduction. The relationship between indicators of cognitive development and the performance on state exams varies depending on whether or not the language of instruction is different from the student’s native language, as well as the effectiveness of the national educational system. This study is a first attempt to examine universal and specific patterns of correlation between cognitive development and the success of learning the Russian language among native and non-native Russian-speaking students under different educational conditions. Methods. The study involved 899 public school graduates from the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Moldova, and the Russian Federation. The language of instruction was Russian. The sample comprised native and non-native Russian-speaking students, of whom 63.7 % were females (mean age = 17.6 years, SD = 0.5). Statistical analysis was performed in the form of correlation analysis and ANOVA. Results. The findings indicated that the relationship between non-verbal intelligence and state exam performance is universal and manifests itself in various educational environments and language contexts. Along with intelligence, visuospatial working memory was only actualized in more favorable educational environments, when the student’s native language was not different from the language of instructionat school. Information processing speed was of specific importance in the process of learning the Russian language by non-native Russian-speaking students, regardless of whether they were native speakers of Romance or Turkic languages. Discussion. The results were interpreted within the context of the resource theory of individual human achievements. The conclusion is drawn that the structure of the relationship between cognitive development and the performance in the Russian language state examinations differs for native and non-native Russian-speaking schoolchildren, even after eleven years of schooling in Russian.

Keywords

• cognitive development
• learning success
• russian language
• native language
• language of instruction
• state exam
• information processing speed
• visuospatial working memory
• non-verbal intelligence
• high school education