Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Department of Foreign Languages, Shahid Bahonar University, Kerman, Iran

Abstract

The present study sought to find if reading comprehension can be enhanced through the employment of cognitive organizers in comparison to text-only condition. It further investigated whether visual and verbal intelligences can predict learners’ performance on different types of input modes. A total of 71 English as foreign language undergraduates (both male and female) at two state-run universities in Iran took part in the present research. Three sets of instruments were employed: (1) an actual TOEFL (ETS, 2004), (2) cognitive organizers package (Katayama & Robinson, 2000), and (3) the multiple intelligence inventory (Mckenzie, 1999). Each participating intact class was randomly divided into two groups of text-only (receiving a text twice) and cognitive organizers (receiving the outline of the text). The results showed that (a) outlines (input type) significantly enhanced reading comprehension in comparison to text-only condition, (b) visual intelligence was the significant predicator of outline group’s performance, and (c) verbal intelligence predicted neither of text-only and outline groups’ performance.

Keywords

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