English Language Education to Pupils with General Intellectual Giftedness

The topic of English language education for pupils with general intellectual giftedness is rare in worldwide research areas. Even though research into English language education receives great attention and similarly does gifted education, the connection is not very common. The aim of this research study is to investigate the state of, and current challenges to, English language teaching in gifted education. Multiple methods (participant observation, interview and survey) were used under the «umbrella» of the case study with the aim to achieve an in-depth understanding of the case. Research findings reflect which principles, teaching techniques, types of activities and materials are used, what English teachers’ positions concerning their qualifications, experiences, beliefs and problems are, and what learning strategies gifted learners use when learning a foreign language.

Eva Reid is an associate professor at the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia. She has been researching the topic of teaching English to gifted pupils for several years, and she has published numerous papers in this area. Another area of research in which she has been publishing is the development of intercultural communicative competences in English language education. She is also the author of four English language textbooks for primary school pupils.