Vark Model
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The Reading Matrix Vol. 6, No. 2, September 2006
STUDENT WRITING, PERSONALITY TYPE OF THE STUDENT AND THE RATER: ANY INTERRELATIONSHIP? Fahimeh Marefat fmarefat@gmail.com
Abstract The way we learn is very much affected by our personality. Practitioners have proposed that an understanding of personality type can help teachers explain why students approach tasks differently: some are successful, while some fail to participate in class activities (Oxford & Ehrman, 1990; Wilz, 2000). MeyersBriggs’s theory, anchored in Jung’s work, introduces four different character types: Introvert/Extrovert, Sensitive/Intuitive, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging/Perceiving. The Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a 93-item paperand-pencil inventory, helps, as a reliable instrument, identify students’ personality types. The current study aims at discovering the relationship, if any, between learner personality type and his writing ability in the first place and then between rater personality and his rating procedure. Eighty-six male and female graduate and undergraduate EFL students and their teacher who rated their essays participated in this study. The average of each learner’s scores on two in-class writings, as well as midterm and final exams served as an index of his writing ability. The participants were also asked to fill out the MBTI questionnaire with two options for each item. Individuals were classified on the basis of their selfreported preferences. Analysis of data indicated that the only dimension showing significant impact across writing ability was the S/N preference. Surprisingly, a link was observed between rater personality and her rating procedure.
__________________
"We, ignorant of ourselves, Beg often our own harms.” (Shakespeare, Anthony & Cleopatra)
Why bother learning about personality types? People differ from one another depending on the way they perceive the world. In fact, our personality affects the way we learn. Practitioners have
The Reading Matrix Vol. 6, No. 2, September 2006
STUDENT WRITING, PERSONALITY TYPE OF THE STUDENT AND THE RATER: ANY INTERRELATIONSHIP? Fahimeh Marefat fmarefat@gmail.com
Abstract The way we learn is very much affected by our personality. Practitioners have proposed that an understanding of personality type can help teachers explain why students approach tasks differently: some are successful, while some fail to participate in class activities (Oxford & Ehrman, 1990; Wilz, 2000). MeyersBriggs’s theory, anchored in Jung’s work, introduces four different character types: Introvert/Extrovert, Sensitive/Intuitive, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging/Perceiving. The Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a 93-item paperand-pencil inventory, helps, as a reliable instrument, identify students’ personality types. The current study aims at discovering the relationship, if any, between learner personality type and his writing ability in the first place and then between rater personality and his rating procedure. Eighty-six male and female graduate and undergraduate EFL students and their teacher who rated their essays participated in this study. The average of each learner’s scores on two in-class writings, as well as midterm and final exams served as an index of his writing ability. The participants were also asked to fill out the MBTI questionnaire with two options for each item. Individuals were classified on the basis of their selfreported preferences. Analysis of data indicated that the only dimension showing significant impact across writing ability was the S/N preference. Surprisingly, a link was observed between rater personality and her rating procedure.
__________________
"We, ignorant of ourselves, Beg often our own harms.” (Shakespeare, Anthony & Cleopatra)
Why bother learning about personality types? People differ from one another depending on the way they perceive the world. In fact, our personality affects the way we learn. Practitioners have
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