An Exploratory study of reading comprehension strategies of EFL university students with different cognitive styles

Abstract

ABSTRACT Title: An exploratory study of reading comprehension strategies of EFL university students with different cognitive styles Author: Lena Manayeva Thesis Chairperson: Dr. Ruth A. Yontz, Bilkent University, MA TEFL Program Committee Members: Dr. Linda Laube, Dr. Dan J. Tannacito, Bilkent University, MA TEFL Program This study examined intermediate and advanced-level EFL university students' perceptual learning styles and their use of reading comprehension strategies. An attempt was made to understand the hypothetical relationship between students' perceptual style preferences and their reading performance. It was also hypothesized that a student's perceptual learning style as one of the dimensions of his/her general cognitive style affects the choice of reading comprehension strategies. Subjects were 66 freshmen and graduate students from two Turkish universities. The results of the Edmonds Learning Style Identification Exercise (ELSIE) suggest that two-thirds of the students do not have a strong preference for any of the following perceptual modalities: vizualization, listening, activity/feeling. Statistical analyses did not reveal significant differences between reading comprehension task scores of students with different perceptual modality preferences, indicating that the perceptual learning styles of EFL students with an average number of 9.5 years of previous English study do not have direct relationship to their reading achievement. To study the possible impact of cognitive style on the use of reading comprehension strategies, six students with a strong preference for a particular perceptual learning style were divided into proficient and less proficient comprehenders based on the results of the reading comprehension task first used by Carrell (1989) and the Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency (Form D). Reading comprehension strategies, explicitly mentioned by the participants during their think-alouds and extrapolated by the researcher from participants' protocols, were coded using a modified version of Block's (1986) strategy classification scheme and then compared across students' perceptual preferences and across their proficiency levels. The results of strategy use investigation show that all groups of EFL readers use similar strategies: rereading, monitoring their comprehension,summarizing. There appeared only one pattern of strategy use which distinguish EFL readers with different perceptual learning styles from each other. This pattern reflected their perceptual style preference. Proficient comprehenders with different perceptual learning styles differed from less proficient comprehenders in greater use of general (text-level) comprehension strategies and those of the local (word-based) strategies which are considered in research literature as effective. No evidence was found that would support the idea that the choice of reading comprehension strategies is affected by learners' cognitive styles.