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

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

References

  • Alharbi, M.A. (2015). Reading strategies, learning styles and reading comprehension: a correlation study. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 6(6), 1257-1268.
  • Angela, C. & Rochford, R.A. (2007). An analysis of freshmen learning styles and their relationship to academic achievement. College Quarterly, 10(2).
  • Battle, C. (1982). A Pilot study of learning instructional styles as a predictor of educational outcomes in Principles of Accounting I at Broward Community College. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Florida Atlantic University.
  • Behabadi, F. & Behfrouz, B. (2013). Learning styles and characteristics of good language learners in the Iranian context (A study on IELTS participants). International Journal on New Trends in Education and Their Implications 4 (2), 41-49.
  • Braio, A. (1995). Effects of incrementally introducing learning style strategies on special education and low-achieving general education intermediate students’ structural analysis and attitude test scores, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, New York City: St. John’s University.
  • Carbo, M., Dunn, R., & Dunn, K. (1998). Teaching students to read through their individual learning styles. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
  • Campbell, B. W. (1989). A study of the relationship between teachers’ and students’ learning styles and students’ achievement in business communications. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
  • Charkins, R. J., D. M. O’Toole, & J. N. Wetzel. (1985). Linking teacher and student learning styles with student achievement and attitudes. Journal of Economic Education 16:111-120.
  • Claxton, C., & Ralston, Y. (1978). Learning styles: Their impact on teaching and administration. AAHE-ERIC/ Higher Education Research Report No. 10 Washington, DC: American Association for the study of higher Education, 1-77.
  • Drysdale, M. T. B., Ross, J. L. & Schulz, R. A. (2001). Cognitive styles and academic performance in 19 first-year university courses: Successful students versus students at risk. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 6(3), 271-289.
  • Duke, N.K. & Carlisle, J. (2011). The development of comprehension. In M. L. Kamil, P. D. Pearson, E. B. Moje, & P. Afflerbach (Eds.), Handbook of reading research. 4, 199-228. New York: Routledge.
  • Erginer, E. (2014). A Study of the correlation between primary school students’ reading comprehension performance and the learning styles based on memory modeling. Journal of Education and Science, 39(173), 66-81.
  • Freed, E. M., Stephan, T. & Long, D. L. (2017). Comprehension in proficient readers: The nature of individual variation. Journal of Memory and Language. 97, 135-153.
  • Gilakjani A.P. (2012). Visual, Auditory, kinaesthetic learning styles and their impacts on English language teaching. Journal of Studies in Education 2(1), 104-113.
  • Guinta, S. F. (1984). Administrative considerations concerning learning style, its relationship to teaching style, and the influence of instructor/student congruence on high schoolers’ achievement and educators’ perceived stress (Doctoral dissertation, St. John’s University). Dissertation Abstracts International, 45, 32A.
  • Hunter, W. E. (1979). Relationships between learning styles, grades, and student rating of instruction. Columbia: Department of Higher and Adult Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED181974). Isemonger, I., & Sheppard, C. (2003). Learning Styles. RELC Journal 34(2), 195-222. Jhaish, M.A. (2010). The relationship among learning styles, language learning strategies, and the academic achievement among the English majors at Al-Aqsa University (Unpublished master’s thesis). The Islamic University.
  • Joubert I., Bester, E., & Meyer M., (2008). Literacy in the foundation phase, Van Schaik, Pretoria. Komarraju, M., Karau, S. J., Schmeck R. R., & Avdic A. (2011). The big five personality traits, learning styles, and academic achievement. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 472- 477. Lyons, J. A. (1991). Relationships among teaching style, learning styles, and adult learning in microcomputer word processing course. Unpublished master’s thesis, Washington State University.
  • Meyer B.J. & Freedle R.O. (1984). The effects of different discourse types on recall. American Educational Research Journal (21): 121.
  • Miglietti, C. L. (1994). The relationship of teaching styles, expectations of classroom environments, and learning styles of adult students at a two-year college. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, Ohio.
  • Namjoo, A. & Marzban, A. (2014). A new look at comprehension in EFL/ESL Reading Classes. Social and Behavioural Sciences, 3749-3753
  • Naseriah, F. & Anani Sarab, M. R. (2013). Perceptual learning style preferences among Iranian graduate students. System, 41, 122-133.
  • Nganwa-Bagumah, M. & Mwamwenda, T.S. (1991). Effects on reading comprehension tests of matching and mismatching students’ design preferences. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 72(3), 947-951. Nimmo, A. N. (2008). Effectiveness of skills – versus metacognitive strategy based approaches on reading comprehension of college developmental students. Miami, Florida, Florida International University.
  • Palabıyık, Y.P. (2014). Perceptual learning style preferences among Turkish junior high school students. Journal of Education and Future 6, 59-70.
  • Raines, R. H. (1978). A comparative analysis of learning styles and teaching styles of mathematics students and instructors. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Nova University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
  • Ramrathan, L. & Mzimelaj, J. (2016). Teaching reading in a multi-grade class: Teachers’ adaptive skills and teacher agency in teaching across grade R and grade 1. South African Journal of Childhood Education 6(2), a448, http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajce.v6i.448
  • Reid, J. M. (1987). The learning style preferences of ESL students. Tesol Quarterly, 21(1), 87-111.
  • Reid, J. M. (Ed.). (1995). Learning styles in the ESL/EFL classroom. USA: Heinle and Heinle Pulishers.
  • Scerba, J. R. (1979). Compatibility of teaching strategies and learning styles as a determinant of academic success. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, California. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. Ed171752).
  • Schiefele, U., Stutz, F. & Schaffner, E. (2016) Longitudinal relations between reading motivation and reading comprehension in the early elementary grades. Learning and Individual Differences 51, 49-58.
  • Shea, T.C. (1983). An investigation of the relationship among preferences for the learning style element of design, selected instructional environments, and reading achievement with ninth- grade students to improve administrative determinations concerning effective educational facilities, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, New York City: St. John’s University.
  • Spires, R.D. (1983). The effect of teacher in-service about learning styles on students’’ mathematics and reading achievement, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University.
  • Tight, D.G. (2010). Perceptual learning style matching and L2 vocabulary acquisition, Language Learning: A Journal of Research in Language Studies, 60(4), 792-833.
  • Van Vuren, S. K. (1992). The effect of matching learning style and instruction with academic achievement of students receiving an interactive learning experience in chemistry. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana State University.
  • Verhoeven, L., & Perfetti, C. A. (2008). Advances in text comprehension: Model, process and development. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 22, 293-301. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ acp/1417. Williams, J. (2010 ). Reading Comprehension, learning styles, and seventh grade students, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Lynchburg: Liberty University.
  • Willing, K. (1993). Learning styles in adult migrant education. Research Series Australia: Sydney NSW 2109.
  • Zippert, C. P. (1985). The effectiveness of adjusting teaching strategies to assessed learning styles of adult students. Doctoral dissertation. University of Alabama
  • Electronik sources:
  • Daggett, W. (2003). Achieving reading proficiency for all. Retrieved April 16th, 2015 from http:// www.leadered.com.pdf/Reading%20White%20Paper.pdf.
  • Hapci Ciftlikli, S. (2017). Adults as lifelong language learners. Journal of Educational and Instructional Studies in the World. 7(2), 93-100.
  • https://www.ielts-mentor.com/.../643-ielts-academic-reading-sample-50-a-neuroscienti... Klavas, A. (1994). In Greensboro, North Carolina: Learning style program boosts achievement and test scores. The Clearing House, 67(3), 149-151. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/ stable/30188776.
  • Kutner, M., Greenberg, E., Jin, Y., Boyle, B., Hsu, Y., & Dunleavy, E. (2007). Literacy in everyday life: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy. Retrieved July 28th 2015 from http://nces.ed.gov/Pubs2007/2007480.pdf.
  • Wallace, G. (2002). A study of the relationship between integrative studies freshmen learning styles and their instructors’ learning styles represented by students’ course achievement.
  • http://www.ncc.gmu.edu/faculty_resources/adina_abstract.pdf.

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

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

References

  • Alharbi, M.A. (2015). Reading strategies, learning styles and reading comprehension: a correlation study. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 6(6), 1257-1268.
  • Angela, C. & Rochford, R.A. (2007). An analysis of freshmen learning styles and their relationship to academic achievement. College Quarterly, 10(2).
  • Battle, C. (1982). A Pilot study of learning instructional styles as a predictor of educational outcomes in Principles of Accounting I at Broward Community College. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Florida Atlantic University.
  • Behabadi, F. & Behfrouz, B. (2013). Learning styles and characteristics of good language learners in the Iranian context (A study on IELTS participants). International Journal on New Trends in Education and Their Implications 4 (2), 41-49.
  • Braio, A. (1995). Effects of incrementally introducing learning style strategies on special education and low-achieving general education intermediate students’ structural analysis and attitude test scores, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, New York City: St. John’s University.
  • Carbo, M., Dunn, R., & Dunn, K. (1998). Teaching students to read through their individual learning styles. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
  • Campbell, B. W. (1989). A study of the relationship between teachers’ and students’ learning styles and students’ achievement in business communications. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
  • Charkins, R. J., D. M. O’Toole, & J. N. Wetzel. (1985). Linking teacher and student learning styles with student achievement and attitudes. Journal of Economic Education 16:111-120.
  • Claxton, C., & Ralston, Y. (1978). Learning styles: Their impact on teaching and administration. AAHE-ERIC/ Higher Education Research Report No. 10 Washington, DC: American Association for the study of higher Education, 1-77.
  • Drysdale, M. T. B., Ross, J. L. & Schulz, R. A. (2001). Cognitive styles and academic performance in 19 first-year university courses: Successful students versus students at risk. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 6(3), 271-289.
  • Duke, N.K. & Carlisle, J. (2011). The development of comprehension. In M. L. Kamil, P. D. Pearson, E. B. Moje, & P. Afflerbach (Eds.), Handbook of reading research. 4, 199-228. New York: Routledge.
  • Erginer, E. (2014). A Study of the correlation between primary school students’ reading comprehension performance and the learning styles based on memory modeling. Journal of Education and Science, 39(173), 66-81.
  • Freed, E. M., Stephan, T. & Long, D. L. (2017). Comprehension in proficient readers: The nature of individual variation. Journal of Memory and Language. 97, 135-153.
  • Gilakjani A.P. (2012). Visual, Auditory, kinaesthetic learning styles and their impacts on English language teaching. Journal of Studies in Education 2(1), 104-113.
  • Guinta, S. F. (1984). Administrative considerations concerning learning style, its relationship to teaching style, and the influence of instructor/student congruence on high schoolers’ achievement and educators’ perceived stress (Doctoral dissertation, St. John’s University). Dissertation Abstracts International, 45, 32A.
  • Hunter, W. E. (1979). Relationships between learning styles, grades, and student rating of instruction. Columbia: Department of Higher and Adult Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED181974). Isemonger, I., & Sheppard, C. (2003). Learning Styles. RELC Journal 34(2), 195-222. Jhaish, M.A. (2010). The relationship among learning styles, language learning strategies, and the academic achievement among the English majors at Al-Aqsa University (Unpublished master’s thesis). The Islamic University.
  • Joubert I., Bester, E., & Meyer M., (2008). Literacy in the foundation phase, Van Schaik, Pretoria. Komarraju, M., Karau, S. J., Schmeck R. R., & Avdic A. (2011). The big five personality traits, learning styles, and academic achievement. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 472- 477. Lyons, J. A. (1991). Relationships among teaching style, learning styles, and adult learning in microcomputer word processing course. Unpublished master’s thesis, Washington State University.
  • Meyer B.J. & Freedle R.O. (1984). The effects of different discourse types on recall. American Educational Research Journal (21): 121.
  • Miglietti, C. L. (1994). The relationship of teaching styles, expectations of classroom environments, and learning styles of adult students at a two-year college. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, Ohio.
  • Namjoo, A. & Marzban, A. (2014). A new look at comprehension in EFL/ESL Reading Classes. Social and Behavioural Sciences, 3749-3753
  • Naseriah, F. & Anani Sarab, M. R. (2013). Perceptual learning style preferences among Iranian graduate students. System, 41, 122-133.
  • Nganwa-Bagumah, M. & Mwamwenda, T.S. (1991). Effects on reading comprehension tests of matching and mismatching students’ design preferences. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 72(3), 947-951. Nimmo, A. N. (2008). Effectiveness of skills – versus metacognitive strategy based approaches on reading comprehension of college developmental students. Miami, Florida, Florida International University.
  • Palabıyık, Y.P. (2014). Perceptual learning style preferences among Turkish junior high school students. Journal of Education and Future 6, 59-70.
  • Raines, R. H. (1978). A comparative analysis of learning styles and teaching styles of mathematics students and instructors. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Nova University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
  • Ramrathan, L. & Mzimelaj, J. (2016). Teaching reading in a multi-grade class: Teachers’ adaptive skills and teacher agency in teaching across grade R and grade 1. South African Journal of Childhood Education 6(2), a448, http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajce.v6i.448
  • Reid, J. M. (1987). The learning style preferences of ESL students. Tesol Quarterly, 21(1), 87-111.
  • Reid, J. M. (Ed.). (1995). Learning styles in the ESL/EFL classroom. USA: Heinle and Heinle Pulishers.
  • Scerba, J. R. (1979). Compatibility of teaching strategies and learning styles as a determinant of academic success. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, California. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. Ed171752).
  • Schiefele, U., Stutz, F. & Schaffner, E. (2016) Longitudinal relations between reading motivation and reading comprehension in the early elementary grades. Learning and Individual Differences 51, 49-58.
  • Shea, T.C. (1983). An investigation of the relationship among preferences for the learning style element of design, selected instructional environments, and reading achievement with ninth- grade students to improve administrative determinations concerning effective educational facilities, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, New York City: St. John’s University.
  • Spires, R.D. (1983). The effect of teacher in-service about learning styles on students’’ mathematics and reading achievement, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University.
  • Tight, D.G. (2010). Perceptual learning style matching and L2 vocabulary acquisition, Language Learning: A Journal of Research in Language Studies, 60(4), 792-833.
  • Van Vuren, S. K. (1992). The effect of matching learning style and instruction with academic achievement of students receiving an interactive learning experience in chemistry. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana State University.
  • Verhoeven, L., & Perfetti, C. A. (2008). Advances in text comprehension: Model, process and development. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 22, 293-301. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ acp/1417. Williams, J. (2010 ). Reading Comprehension, learning styles, and seventh grade students, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Lynchburg: Liberty University.
  • Willing, K. (1993). Learning styles in adult migrant education. Research Series Australia: Sydney NSW 2109.
  • Zippert, C. P. (1985). The effectiveness of adjusting teaching strategies to assessed learning styles of adult students. Doctoral dissertation. University of Alabama
  • Electronik sources:
  • Daggett, W. (2003). Achieving reading proficiency for all. Retrieved April 16th, 2015 from http:// www.leadered.com.pdf/Reading%20White%20Paper.pdf.
  • Hapci Ciftlikli, S. (2017). Adults as lifelong language learners. Journal of Educational and Instructional Studies in the World. 7(2), 93-100.
  • https://www.ielts-mentor.com/.../643-ielts-academic-reading-sample-50-a-neuroscienti... Klavas, A. (1994). In Greensboro, North Carolina: Learning style program boosts achievement and test scores. The Clearing House, 67(3), 149-151. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/ stable/30188776.
  • Kutner, M., Greenberg, E., Jin, Y., Boyle, B., Hsu, Y., & Dunleavy, E. (2007). Literacy in everyday life: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy. Retrieved July 28th 2015 from http://nces.ed.gov/Pubs2007/2007480.pdf.
  • Wallace, G. (2002). A study of the relationship between integrative studies freshmen learning styles and their instructors’ learning styles represented by students’ course achievement.
  • http://www.ncc.gmu.edu/faculty_resources/adina_abstract.pdf.
There are 43 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Communication and Media Studies
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Safiye Çiftlikli This is me

Publication Date November 6, 2018
Published in Issue Year 2018 Volume: 24 Issue: 96

Cite

APA Çiftlikli, S. (2018). The Relationship between Perceptual Learning Styles and Language Learners’ Success in Reading Tests. Folklor/Edebiyat, 24(96), 173-190. https://doi.org/10.22559/folklor.310

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(Frankfurt University- birkalan-gedik@em.uni.frankfurt.de)
Prof. Dr. Arzu Öztürkmen
(Bosphorus University- ozturkme@boun.edu.tr)
Edebiyat-Literature
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Prof.Dr. Serpil Aygün Cengiz
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Dil-Dilbilim/Linguistics
Prof.Dr. Aysu Erden
(Maltepe University - aysuerden777@gmail.com)
Prof. Dr. V. Doğan Günay
(Dokuz Eylul University- dogan.gunay@deu.edu.tr)