The Impact of Task Type and Divergent Thinking on Reading Proficiency

Recent trends in pedagogy have focused on more effective ways of teaching reading for the impact it has on general language proficiency. In the present study, we aimed to explore the influence of the cognitive style, convergent/divergent thinking, on reading comprehension performance through convergent versus divergent task types. For this purpose, 93 Iranian EFL students who were 18-26 and studied at the B.S. level at University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences were selected. Being within the same range of reading performance, they were given the Torrance Divergent Thinking Test and were assigned to two groups so that there were roughly equal numbers of divergent and convergent thinkers in each. Next, the two groups took the Nelson’s reading comprehension test to ensure initial reading ability homogeneity. The experimental and the control groups then received treatment in the form of task-based instruction through either divergent or convergent tasks respectively over a period of one semester. To assess the reading comprehension gains of the participants at the end of the treatment, four types of reading multiple choice items, i.e. simple factual, referential, inferential, and multiple-response items, were used. The collected data were analyzed through Multivariate ANOVA, using SPSS software. Results indicated that the best results were achieved when divergent thinkers of the divergent task type group answer referential, and multiple-response items whereas the worst results were obtained when convergent thinkers in the convergent task group’s performance on multiple-response items was used as the criterion for reading assessment. Results also showed that a task-based course of instruction through convergent or divergent tasks causes the participants to have respectively lower or higher gains on the divergent thinking test.