Who Can Guess Better? The Relationship Between Word Class and Learners’ Style

The present study investigated the relationship between words’ part of speech (noun, verb, adjectives), guessing ability, and learners’ style of field independence/ dependence. One hundred thirty two subjects participated in the study. The participants were required to guess the meaning of non-sense words belonging to certain word categories. The results of the study showed that a word’s part speech will influence the ease with which its meaning is guessed. In addition, the study found that there is a positive relationship between the cognitive style of field independence and the learners’ guessing ability.