The Role of Personality Types in Explicit Teaching of Metacognitive Strategies: A Case of Collocations

Abstract

The present study investigates the effect of metacognitive vocabulary learning strategy instruction on the recall of collocations. To this end, 75 extravert and introvert students were selected. The participants, then, were randomly assigned to two control and two experimental groups based on the TOEFL test score at upper intermediate level and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). Both experimental and control groups (each group containing two extravert and introvert sub-groups that totally form four groups) received the same type of collocation instruction, but the experimental group, in addition, received the metacognitive explicit strategy instruction. Meanwhile, our control groups received placebo. A pretest measuring the subjects’ knowledge of collocations was administered. During the first parts of sessions, the class time was allocated to teaching collocations. The last thirty minutes of each session was dedicated to metacognitive strategy instruction in the experimental group. Treatment continued for eight weeks. At the end, a two-way ANOVA was run to compare the two groups plus the effect of personality on such performance. The results indicated that treatment did have an effect on the recall of collocations and also the extravert students enjoyed better performance compared to their introvert counterparts.