Abstract
This study was an attempt to investigate the effect of two types of learning, competitive and cooperative, on the reading comprehension of introvert and extrovert EFL learners. To this end, 120 learners studying at Marefat English Language Institute in Tehran, Iran were selected, after taking a Preliminary English Test (PET), to participate in this quasi-experimental research. The participants also answered the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) to categorize them into two personality types of introverts and extroverts. Therefore, there were four subgroups: 30 introverts and 30 extroverts undergoing the cooperative learning treatment, and 30 introverts and 30 extroverts experiencing the competitive learning treatment. The reading part of the PET was administered as the posttest of the study after each group was exposed to the treatment for 18 sessions in seven weeks. A two-way ANOVA was run on the collected data in the posttest of four groups. The results revealed that while learners generally outperformed in the competitive setting compared to the cooperative one, the extrovert was better off receiving cooperative instruction. Moreover, introverts excelled extroverts in the competitive group. However, there was no difference between the two personality groups in the cooperative situation.
Highlights
Reading is a later acquired skill among the other three skills
The first hypothesis of the study that there is no significant difference between the effect of competitive and cooperative learning on introvert EFL learners’ reading comprehension was rejected because introverts exposed to competitive learning modality outperformed significantly those exposed to cooperative learning modality
The second hypothesis which states that there is no significant difference between the effect of competitive learning and cooperative learning on extrovert EFL learners’ reading comprehension was rejected as the extroverts exposed to cooperative learning outperformed significantly those exposed to competitive learning
Summary
Reading is a later acquired skill among the other three skills. As Grabe (2002) stated, we were never born to read because human being invented reading only few thousand years ago. The aim of the study was to find out the effect of two learning types (cooperative vs competitive) and two personality types (introvert vs extrovert) on the reading comprehension of the learners. In this regard, the following nullhypotheses were formulated: H01: There is no significant difference between the effects of competitive and cooperative learning on introvert EFL learners’ reading comprehension. H02: There is no significant difference between the effects of competitive and cooperative learning on extrovert EFL learners’ reading comprehension. H03: Competitive learning does not have a significantly different effect on the introvert and extrovert EFL learners’ reading comprehension. H04: Cooperative learning does not have a significantly different effect on the introvert and extrovert EFL learners’ reading comprehension
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