Learning Styles

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III. Methods

In this study, a quantitative descriptive methodology was used. Data about learning styles was gathered from Reid's perceptual learning style preference questionnaire (Reid, 1995) .The data collection was flexible and completed over a period of 8 weeks.

1. Participants

The research was carried out at ALIS. It is located 686 Le Trong Tan street, Binh Hung Hoa ward, Binh Tan district, Ho Chi Minh city, Viet Nam. The school includes ten teachers. The total number of the students is six hundred. Before collecting the data, students were invited to participate in this research. The study utilized six classes including one hundred students. The students’ level is various from Solutions 6 to American English File 4. The students are in ages from fifteen to thirty including sixty teenagers and forty adults. The research was done within 2 months, from November to December 2013. The participants of the survey were distributed the questionnaire that consisted of thirty questions. They were also informed about the purpose of the research and later on about the results.

3. Questionnaire

The data was gathered from questionnaire. One hundred students will be requested to utilize Perceptual learning styles preference questionnaire (Reid, 1995). The questionnaire composed of thirty statements covered Reid’ six learning style preferences. The survey was conducted in printed (sent 100) formats. There was no need for the electronic format. With 100% valid responses received, the study achieved an excellent response rate for this type of research. These responses were collected, encoded and analyzed.

5. Data Analysis

Quantitative scores were calculated for all questionnaire data in order to find out the students' learning styles. With these instruments learners can identify the way they learn best and how they prefer to learn. The questionnaire is composed of thirty statements that covered Reid's six learning style preferences, with a rating scale from one to five for each one of them. Students answered them, as applied to their study of English, using a five point scale (5 - Strongly agree; 4 - Agree; 3 - Undecided; 2 - Disagree; and 1 - Strongly Disagree). Reid (1995) classified learning styles as Major, Minor or Negligible. Major is a preferred learning style, Minor is one in which learners can still function well, and Negligible is the one that makes the learning process more difficult. When the numerical value was assigned to the corresponding learning style, the numbers were added to obtain a total score and then it was multiplied by 2 determining the major, minor or negligible learning style.

6. Results

The overall findings of all participants included in this study.

Research Question: What are the students' learning styles at ALIS?

Of the 100 students that participated in this research, 28 (28%) preferred the group learning style, 24 (24%) preferred the auditory learning style, 19 (19%) preferred the visual learning style, 13 (13%) preferred the tactile learning style, 10 (10%) preferred the kinesthetic learning style, and only 6 (6%) preferred the individual learning style. While the group learning style accounted for 28% of whole sample and ranked first in terms of the most preferred learning style, the individual learning style for 6% of the whole group and ranked last as the least preferred learning style among the participants. However, it should be noted that students did show wide variation in their attitudes toward their preferred learning styles, especially between the group and individual modality.

Learning Styles

Frequency

Percentage

Group

28

28%

Auditory

24

24%

Visual

19

19%

Tactile

13

13%

Kinesthetic

10

10%

Individual

6

6%

IV. Discussion

Educators and researchers have developed several instruments to assess students´ learning styles, but literature regarding this topic is full of unresolved issues; both theoretical and practical (Wilson, 1998). The results of the PLSPQ in this study revealed an interesting point that is worth highlighting. The tactile modality was the most preferred modality of the whole group. Another generally interesting fact revealed by the quantitative results of this study is the discovery that the individual style of learning was the least preferred choice. Although many authors have done researches on this topic, the result of my study will be unexpected. Students’ learning styles and teachers’ teaching styles at ALIS have differences with ones in other universities. This is a basic for forming new learning and teaching models that benefit students’ learning and facilitate teachers work and especially in which these styles can work together. It can be concluded that determining students learning styles will help and contribute a lot to the learning process. In order to provide suitable learning atmosphere and provide better teaching procedure it is necessary to adjust the questionnaire based on the PLSP. Matching learning and teaching styles is required in order to approach to the problem. Therefore, language instructors should define students' profiles and define their learning style, as well as create learning environment which includes and appreciate students learning styles.

References

- Evans, C., Harkins, M.J., & Young, J.D. (2008). Exploring teaching styles and cognitive styles: evidence from school teachers in Canada. North American Journal of Psychology, 10(3), 567-582.

- Felder, R.M. (1995). Learning and teaching styles in foreign