The Relationship between Perceptual Learning Styles and Language Learners’ Success in Reading Tests

Year 2018, Volume: 24 Issue: 96, 173 - 190, 06.11.2018

Safiye Çiftlikli

https://doi.org/10.22559/folklor.310

Abstract

 Learning and teaching styles in learning and teaching foreign languages are two 

interrelated areas. A study in one of these fields sheds light on the other. Therefore, 

interest in how people learn and how they prefer learning has increased over the years 

due to an extensive amount of literature available pertaining to both learning styles and 

teaching styles. Thus, this research is grounded in clarifying the relationship between 

ENG 101 1 students’ preferred perceptual learning styles and their success in a reading 

test. In this regard, this paper is concerned with identifying the preferred perceptual 

learning styles of university students (N= 154) considering their age, gender and 

countries to determine if relationships exist between students’ success in an IELTS 

reading test and preferred perceptual learning style. This study is significant as the 

number of studies based on examining the relationships between success in reading 

skills and perceptual learning styles is limited.  Data were gathered from Reid’s PLSPQ 

to determine the focused participants’ preferred perceptual learning styles and an IELTS 

reading test to investigate the relationship between individuals’ preferred perceptual 

learning styles and their success in the reading test. In the analysis of the data, a t-test 

and ANOVA were applied. Thus, this survey is both qualitative and quantitative. The results show there was a statistical difference between students’ success in the IELTS 

reading test and preferred perceptual learning style as kinaesthetic learners significantly 

outperformed other learner groups.

Keywords

preferred perceptual learning styles; reading comprehension

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