The Contributions of Input Enhancement of Collocations to the Reading Comprehension Performance of Iranian Field-Dependent and Field-Independent Learners

The present study aimed at examining the possible impact of input enhancement of collocations on the reading comprehension among Iranian Field-Dependent (FD) and Field-Independent (FI) students. Firstly, ۱۲۰ intermediate female EFL learners took a Nelson proficiency test and the results were used to select ۹۰ students who were given Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) to distinguish the FD learners from the FI ones. Ultimately, ۲۸ FD and ۲۸ FI learners were left. These learners were classified into four groups, two of which consisted of ۱۴ FD, and the other two comprised ۱۴ FI learners. One FD and one FI group served as the experimental groups while the other two were control groups. A reading pretest was given to all groups and the researchers incorporated techniques of input enhancement of collocations in the texts covered in the experimental groups. In control groups, the same materials with no enhancement were administered. Having finished the eight treatment sessions, the researchers gave all four groups the reading comprehension posttest whose results were used to examine the research questions. Since the two independent variables of the current study were categorical, and the dependent variable and covariate were continuous, ANCOVA was employed to do the data analysis. Based on the statistical analysis outcome, input enhancement of collocations had a significant impact on the reading comprehension performance of Iranian field-dependent learners. Yet, it had no significant effect on the Iranian FI learners’ reading comprehension performance. Finally, the findings showed that input enhancement of collocations had a significant effect on the reading comprehension performance of Iranian FD and FI EFL learners differently; that is, FD learners outperformed the FI ones. The findings of the study imply that teacher training courses should include some training on input enhancement techniques and cognitive styles so that teachers’ awareness regarding input enhancement and their cognitive styles were raised.

Keywords:

input enhancement , collocations , reading comprehension , Field Dependence/ Independence