Cognitive Style and Teaching Method: The Effect on Students’ Writing Performance

Teaching method and cognitive style are considered to involve in learners’ academic performance. This paper investigates the effect of cognitive style and teaching method on students’ writing performance. This experimental study involved 44 participants administered a Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) before applying the treatment. The GEFT scores was used to group them into experimental and control classes. The experimental and control classes were taught respectively metaphorming and discovery methods. After 10 meetings, the two groups were administered an essay writing post-test organized in 100 minutes. The data were analyzed statistically using two-way ANOVA at the significant level 0.05. The findings showed that the experimental group performed better in writing English essay than the control group for fieldindependent students. It implies that teaching methods can benefit students when aligning with their cognitive style dealing with essay writing skill.