The Relationship between Personality Types and the Cognitive - Metacognitive Strategies

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between the personality type and cognitive-metacognitive strategies utilized by test-takers in reading comprehension tests. One hundred undergraduate Iranian English Foreign Learning (EFL) students participated in a reading comprehension test followed by a questionnaire and the Myers & Briggs Type Inventory. The questionnaire consisted of 30 cognitive-metacognitive items (Phakiti, 2003). These questions inquired about the thought process that occurred while completing the test. The 93-item Myers-Brigs Type Indicator (MBTI) questionnaire is a tool that provides individuals with a personality type. The study employed a quantitative data analysis where the input data was analyzed in two ways. First, descriptive statistics were used to describe the sample characteristics, and then a two-way ANOVA was calculated to obtain a general view of the relationship between the variables. The data analysis resulted in the identification of 14 personality types along with three groups of readers distinguished by their reading comprehension test scores as highly successful, moderately successful, or unsuccessful. However, the results suggested that there were no significant relationships between personality types of test-takers and the cognitive-metacognitive strategies utilized during a reading comprehension test. Using a 90 percent Confidence Interval (CI), there was meaningful interaction between the personality traits (Extroversion/Introversion and Judging/Perceiving) of Iranian EFL test-takers and their use of cognitive-metacognitive strategies.