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The effect of cognitive style on learning to write a letter of complaint
Author(s) -
Munro John,
Howes David
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
british journal of educational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.557
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 2044-8279
pISSN - 0007-0998
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8279.1998.tb01287.x
Subject(s) - cognitive style , psychology , complaint , style (visual arts) , cognition , preference , learning styles , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , social psychology , literature , art , neuroscience , political science , law , economics , microeconomics
Background . Cognitive style has been shown to influence several areas of academic learning. Aims . This study examines the influence of one aspect of cognitive style, the verbal‐imagery dimension, on the ability to learn to write a specific type of text, the letter of complaint, taught using genre‐based teaching procedures. Samples . A group of 41 post‐compulsory secondary school students (23 females and 18 males) aged between 15 years 6 months and 16 years 9 months. Methods . The study employed a time series design in which the influence of cognitive style on acquiring components of the text type was monitored during learning. Students wrote letters of complaint under six conditions that matched genre‐based teaching procedures; pre‐ and immediately post exposure to teaching, retention and transfer with and without access to exemplary models of the genre. Prior to involvement, students were assessed as displaying either a verbal, imagery or medial cognitive preference. Results . Cognitive style influenced learning the text type only when there was access to models of it; verbal preferrers used these models better than the imagery preferrers. This influence was greatest for the components of the letter associated with a knowledge of verbal conventions. As well, its influence was greater during the initial learning than on its long term retention. Conclusions . The findings suggest that, in learning to write a genre, cognitive style has a greater influence on the processing of the information presented during teaching than on its long term retention.