2-4 February 2015- Istanbul, Turkey Proceedings of INTCESS15- 2 nd International Conference on Education and Social Sciences 971 ISBN: 978-605-64453-2-3 GENDER DIFFERENCES OF STUDENTS OF TECHNOLOGY AND INFORMATICS PROGRAM IN SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST Ardita Devolli 1* , Behlul Brestovci 2 1 Assist. Prof. Dr., University of Pristina, KOSOVO, logopedet@gmail.com 2 Regular Prof. Dr., University of Zagreb, CROATIA, bebrest@gmail.com *Corresponding author Abstract The aim of this research is to analyze the gender differences of 51 students of Technology and Informatics program in sentence completion test. From the total number of tested students, 25 of them were girls, while 26 were boys. All students were in the third year of studies at the Faculty of Education in Pristina. Initially, the frequencies and percentages of results of the tested students were analyzed, then the basic statistical parameters: arithmetic mean ( ), standard deviation (σ), standard deviation of arithmetic mean ( σ), as well as minimum scores (Min) and maximum scores (Max) were calculated for all applied variables in this research. Differences between students according to gender were obtained through the analysis of canonical discrimination and the t-test. In addition, through Pearson correlation coefficient, the connection between all applied variables was assessed for the tested students. Statistical data obtained through the analysis of canonical discrimination show that there are significant statistical differences between genders of students. Results of the t-test prove that there are no differences between genders of students in the variables of the total number of words, the correct number of words divided by sentences and the total number of logical sentences, while there are significant differences in the variables of the total number of correct words in favor of the girls compared to the boys. The data obtained through this research also show that the degree of correlation between the four applied variables is high for both genders of tested students. It is recommended to continue with further research in the area of sentence completion skills in order to assess specific learning difficulties of students in higher education. Keywords: specific learning difficulties, success in higher education, sentence completion skills. 1. INTRODUCTION Offering a variety of assessment methods is often recommended as good practice in response to numerous critiques of the over-reliance on traditional examinations and their shortcomings (Craddock et al., 2009, p. 128). According to Hernéndez (2012, p. 490) among other things, assessment is about grading and reporting student achievements and about supporting students in their learning; and continuous assessment often does both of those things. Therefore, continuous assessment practices generally have a formative function for learning and a summative function for certification. Linked to this Crisp (2012, cited in Ito, 2014, p. 146), stressed that formative assessment is designed primarily to improve learning and summative assessment to judge learning. The types of assessments include; assessment for learning, assessment of learning, and assessment as learning. Assessment for learning can be equated to formative assessment in learning. Assessment of learning is equivalent to summative assessment when it is used in the learning process. Assessment as learning involves students making self-assessment on themselves (Matovu 2014, p. 176-177). According to Cartwright et al. (2009, cited in Chalchisa, 2014, p. 158), outcome-based assessment in higher education has three stages: (1) defining the most important goals for students to achieve as a result of participating in an academic experience (outcomes); (2) evaluating how well students are actually achieving those goals (assessment); and (3) using the results for improving the academic experience. x x