Les fonctions exécutives et leur influence sur les performances académiques chez les enfants d’âge scolaire en Tunisie

Objectives

Executive functions are essential cognitive abilities that help children adapt to the school environment, thus facilitating their academic success. This study used a correlational approach to examine the relationship between executive functions and academic performance in school-aged children in Tunisia. The focus was on understanding how different components of executive functions, such as working memory (WM), mental flexibility, and inhibition, relate to achievement in core subjects including language-related subjects, mathematics, and sciences.

Patients and methods

A sample of 180 children, aged 7 to 12 years old, was assessed using the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) which was filled out by both parents and teachers. The BRIEF is a well-established tool for evaluating executive functions in children and provides a comprehensive view of their behavior in different settings.

Results

The analysis showed strong correlations between working memory (WM) and performance in language arts and mathematics, as reported by teachers. Correlations were weaker for mental flexibility and inhibition in language arts and moderate for mathematics. Parent evaluations revealed generally weaker correlations in language arts, though moderate correlations were found for mathematics. No significant correlation was identified for science across all executive functions assessed in both types of evaluations. Additionally, other executive functions, such as planning/organization, showed strong correlations with language arts and mathematics in teacher evaluations and moderate correlations in parent evaluations. Inhibitory control displayed strong correlations with language arts and mathematics according to teachers but more moderate correlations in parent evaluations.

Discussion

The results revealed notable variability between teacher and parent assessments. Teachers reported stronger correlations between executive functions and academic performance. The lack of significant correlations for science in both evaluations contrasts with conclusions typically reported in the literature. These discrepancies may be explained by the use of different assessment tools in various studies, cultural factors, or specific characteristics of science instruction in Tunisia within the context of this sample.

Conclusion

Executive functions play a key role in primary school students’ academic success. Understanding their link to academic performance would help identify students in need of additional support and facilitate the implementation of targeted remediation programs. Future research should consider factors that influence the assessment of these functions. Furthermore, exploring the relationship between executive functions and academic achievement through predictive models would represent a promising avenue to analyze their potential to predict academic performance in the medium term.