PE 14

Relationship between visual / Auditory learning styles and preferred language learning strategies of Iranian EFL students

كارشناسي ارشد

آموزش زبان انگليسي

91/11/05

فريدون وحداني

عبدالرضا تحريري

learning style , Visual and Auditory learning styles , Language learning strategies , Direct strategies , Indirect strategies , EFL

وحداني،فريدون , تحريري،عبدالرضا

This study aims to identify the learning styles and strategy preferences of EFL learners to investigate whether there is a relationship between their dominant learning styles (visual vs auditory) and their strategy preferences (direct and indirect). A total of 86 from 100 EFL female freshmen majoring in English translation participated in this study. The Oxford Placement Test (Edwards, 2007) was administered to identify the students’ level of proficiency which is intermediate in order to have a homogeneous sample. To gather the data, participants were asked to complete two questionnaires. The VAK learning style questionnaire (Chislet & Chapman, 2005) was used to determine students’ dominant learning style and the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL, Oxford, 1990) was used to identify participating students’ learning strategy preferences. The participants’ responses to the first questionnaire indicated that their dominant learning style was auditory and the descriptive analysis of the second questionnaire (SILL) showed their greater use of meta-cognitive strategies. To find the relationship between these variables (learning style and language learning strategies) Phi and Cramer’s V test was run through SPSS. The statistical analysis revealed that at p<0.05 level, no significant relationship was found between participants’ learning style and direct strategies (memory, cognitive, compensation). As a result, the first null hypothesis can not be rejected, but there was a statistically meaningful relationship between their learning style and choice of indirect strategies (meta-cognitive, affective and social) rejecting second null hypothesis. It is suggested that learners’ awareness of their dominant learning style and strategy preferences help them to be autonomous learners to take control of their learning.

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