scholarly journals The Relationship between Learning Style Preferences and Reading Strategy Use in English as a Foreign Language

Author(s):  
Elżbieta Danuta Lesiak-Bielawska

The study explored the relationship between learning style preferences and the use of reading strategies triggered during the performance of a reading comprehension assignment in English as a foreign language (EFL). The research conducted drew on the hypothesis that the type of language task activates a battery of strategies that reflect the subject's learning style preferences and the task requirements.

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 39-52
Author(s):  
Saraswati Dawadi

There has been a steady interest in investigating the relationship between strategy use and English as a foreign language (EFL) test performance. Despite numerous studies on strategy use, the relationship between the two is still not clear. This paper reports on a study that investigated the use of reading strategies in the Secondary Education Examination English reading test and the relationship between reading strategy use and the test performance. A sample of 312 EFL learners studying at Grade 10 in Nepal participated in this study. They were asked to take the test and then respond to a reading strategy questionnaire. The quantitative software SPSS (version 20) was used to analyze the data. The results indicated that participants were active strategy users, and they used cognitive strategies more frequently than metacognitive strategies. A significant relationship was identified between reading strategy use and EFL proficiency; high-proficiency learners reported significantly higher use of reading strategies than moderate-proficiency learners, who in turn reported higher use of those strategies than their low-proficiency peers. Implications of these findings for EFL teaching and recommendations for further research are discussed.Journal of NELTA ,  Vol. 22, No. 1-2, 2017 December, Page: 39-52


SAGE Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824401880940 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Derakhshan ◽  
Farzaneh Shakki

It is also hypothesized that proficiency level may have a voice with respect to learning styles. Therefore, to throw light on this issue, the present investigation targeted the relationship between Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ learning styles and their levels of proficiency at Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran. To this end, 120 EFL learners majoring in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) and English Literature were randomly selected based on the Rubrics of Common European Framework of Reference (A1-C2) to participate in this study. They were then divided into low-proficient (A2-B1) and high-proficient (B2-C1) learners. The instruments used in this study were an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Mock exam through which the participants’ levels of proficiency were determined and Reid’s Perceptual Learning Style Questionnaire to identify learners’ perceptual learning style preferences. The questionnaire enclosed 30 statements allocated to each modality based on a five point Likert scale, ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The results of independent samples t-test and Spearman correlation coefficient revealed that there existed some significant relationships between students’ learning style preferences and levels of proficiency. It was found that learners with high levels of proficiency favored Kinesthetic and Tactile learning styles more than other preferences, namely, Auditory, Visual, Group, and Individual learning style preferences. In addition, the low-level students were much inclined toward Visual and Group styles. Regarding the necessity of understanding learners’ different styles, the implications of the study are discussed to consider the importance of individual differences.


2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 17-34
Author(s):  
Seyed Hassan Talebi ◽  
Behnaz Seifallahpur

According to Oxford (1990), different learner variables affect the choice of learning strategy. It was also found that effective L2 readers know how to use strategies to foster reading comprehension and ineffective readers have little awareness of strategies to read effectively (Yang, 2002). This study investigates the contribution of three relatively important variables and their components (namely, the cognitive domain or awareness and use of strategies, the linguistic domain or general English proficiency level, and the affective domain or attitude toward reading in L2), to reading strategy use in English. The second purpose of the study is to find out the effect of reading strategy use on reading comprehension. For these purposes, 100 undergraduate Iranian EFL students participated in this study. They were given Language Proficiency Test, Test of reading comprehension in English, Reading Strategy Awareness and Use Questionnaire, and finallvy a questionnaire on attitude toward Reading. The obtained data were analysed using descriptive statistic (means, standard deviations), Pearson correlation procedure, regression analysis, ANOVA, and Scheffe post-hoc multiple range test. Analysis of data showed the three aforementioned variables, namely awareness and use of reading strategies, linguistic proficiency, and attitude toward reading had significant contributions to strategy use. However, strategy awareness showed to have the most contribution to strategy use. In addition, among the subgroups of strategy awareness, the metacognitive component showed to contribute more to strategy use. In this study it was also found students with higher strategy use gain better scores on the reading test. It is concluded that as degree of strategy use affects reading performance, in order to improve effective use of reading strategies teachers and learners should pay more attention to the development of awareness of reading strategies, especially the metacognitive component in order to have a good use of reading strategies for efficient reading.


2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-100
Author(s):  
Dyah Lestari Widaningrum ◽  
Hwi Chie Ho

The gap between organizational demands on employee competence and actual employee competence gives new challenges to the education industry to continually increase the readiness of its graduates. Teaching models are developed to produce graduates that are in accordance to the demands of the global competition. However in practice, educational staff often use the same model to all of their students (Blau, 2012), setting aside the importance of congruent concept in an effective pedagogical process (Akin-Little & Little, 2009). The current study is aimed to test the learning style of university engineering students based on the Felder-Silverman model and its role on academic performance. Results showed that engineering students in this study have the following learning style preferences: Active–Sensing–Visual–Global, which can be used as a base to design teaching methods, which will hopefully be able to provide better support to students‟ academic performance. Furthermore, a significant relationship between learning style for Active–Reflective dimension and academic performance was found, as indicated by their GPA.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-58
Author(s):  
Rumana Rafique

The paper aims at discovering the language learning style preferences of the ELT graduate students of the English Department of the University of Dhaka. The paper explores the students’ learning style preferences based on Reid’s (1984) six perceptual learning style categories such as visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, group and individual style preferences. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected using a questionnaire and interview of the ELT students of a public university in Bangladesh. The results revealed that the ELT students are more or less aware of their own learning styles and the way they learn better. It was found out from the study that majority of the students preferred the auditory style of learning while individual style is the least preferred. The study also brings students’ opinions regarding learning styles in the field of learning ESL (English as a Second Language) or EFL (English as a Foreign Language) to light. The paper then discusses the implications of the findings and offers some recommendations regarding the need to identify students’ learning styles in Bangladeshi classroom.  


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