On the relationship among Iranian EFL Leaners’ Crystallized Intelligence, Fluid Intelligence, Creativity, and their Performances on Multiple-Choice and Constructed-Response Items

Abstract

Studies have been done on finding construct-irrelevant factors and cognitive processes involved in test taking. Previous studies have explored correlations between reading comprehension (RC) ability and psychological variables such as creativity and intelligence reporting significant relations. Many researchers trying to figure out the difference between diverse formats performance. The present study takes interest in investigating if each test format performance is affected by cognitive traits of test takers. It investigates the effects of three psychological variables including Fluid intelligence (Gf), Crystallized intelligence (gc), and creativity (C) on reading comprehension (RC) performance where Multiple-Choice (MC) and Constructed-Response (CR) formats are involved for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Learners. The relations among all five variables are examined applying Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) by hypothesizing a model related to the previous researches. The model goes through modifications twice and the final revision reports the relationships. Path analysis demonstrates direct significant effects in paths for Gc-MC, Gc-CR, Gf-CR and indirect significant effects in Gf-MC, creativity-MC, and creativity-CR. Therefore, CR items are the most affected format by those cognitive variables. The results are further discussed and concluded in more details.