VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN NAM THIÊN HƯƠNG A SURVEY ON THE FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS’ ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING STYLE PREFERENCES AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY (Khảo sát phong cách học tiếng Anh được yêu thích của sinh viên năm thứ nhất trường Đại học Kinh doanh và Công Nghệ Hà Nội) MA. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 Hanoi, 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN NAM THIÊN HƯƠNG A SURVEY ON THE FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS’ ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING STYLE PREFERENCES AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY (Khảo sát phong cách học tiếng Anh được yêu thích của sinh viên năm thứ nhất trường Đại học Kinh doanh và Công Nghệ Hà Nội) MA. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 Supervisor: NGUYỄN THỤY PHƯƠNG LAN, MA. Hanoi, 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration ………………………………………………………………….
i Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………… ii Abstract ……………………………………………………………………. iii Table of contents …………………………………………………………… iv List of graphs and table …………………………………………………… vi PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Aims of the study ………………………………………………………. Significance of the study ……………………………………………………… 2 5.
Scope of the study ………………………………………………………. Organization of the study ………………………………………………. 4 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Definition of learning style ………………………………………………….
The origins of human‟s learning style preference ……………………. Background history – Categorization of learning styles ……………… …… 6 1. Categorization of learning styles …………………………………. Students‟ learning style preferences ………………………………….
Mismatch between students‟ and teachers‟ perception of learning style …. Methods of the study …………………………………………………. Methodology and procedures ………………………………………………. Instrument ………………………………………………………… 16 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Data collection procedure ………………………………………… 18 2. Data analysis procedure …………………………………………. 18 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS 3. Students‟ interest in learning English ……………………………………….
Perceiving and processing information in real life and in classroom ………. Perceiving and processing information in real life ………………. Perceiving and processing information in classroom ……………. Students‟ preferred classroom activities ………………….
Classroom activity frequency ……………………………………. Feedback and error correction ……………………………………………. The importance of learning style …………………………………………… 32 CHAPTER 4: SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLES 4. Suggestions for teaching visual style learners ……………………………… 33 4.
Suggestions for teaching kinesthetic style learners ………………………… 34 4. Suggestions for teaching read/write style learners …………………………. Suggestions for teaching auditory style learners …………………………… 35 PART C: CONCLUSION 1. Contribution of the study ……………………………………………….
Suggestions for further studies ……………………. 39 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF GRAPHS AND TABLES GRAPHS: Graph 1: Students‟ interest in learning English Graph 2: Students' and teachers' perceiving style preferences in real life Graph 3: Students' perceiving information style preferences by age Graph 4: Students‟ and teachers‟ view on Perceiving style preferences in classroom Graph 5: Students‟ perceiving style preferences by age and gender Graph 6: Students' and teachers' view on learning mode Graph 7: Students‟ view on learning mode by age and gender Graph 8: Students and teachers‟ view on new words learning Graph 9: Students‟ view on new words learning by age and gender Graph 10: Students and teachers‟ view on learning aids Graph 11: Students‟ view on learning aids by age and gender Graph 12: Students and teachers‟ view on classroom activities Graph 13: Students‟ view on classroom activities by age and gender Graph 14: Students and teachers‟ view on getting feedback Graph 15: Students and teachers‟ view on error correction TABLE: Table 1: Students‟ characteristic of age and gender vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION In this first part, the author states the rationale for the study. Afterward, the aims, research questions, significance, scope of the study are discussed. The chapter ends with an overview of the thesis structure.
Rationale Today's employers expect employees to have varied skills to be able to adapt to different situations and to communicate with different people from different cultural backgrounds. Therefore, teaching students how to communicate effectively, cooperate with others and learn independently has become the basics of education. That is the reason for the appearance of the new textbook set since 2006 in Vietnam, which mainly based on the learner- centered approach and communicative language teaching. These approaches require educators to pay more attention to individual learners to help them expand and improve their communicative competence.
Hence, understanding students including understanding learning styles preferences plays an important role to educational improvement and success. According to Reid (1987), the ways in which an individual characteristically acquires, retains, and retrieves information are collectively termed the individual‟s learning styles. Learning styles reflect our preferred manner of acquiring, using and thinking about knowledge. We do not have just one learning styles, but a profile of styles.
Even though, our ability may be identical to someone else‟s, our learning styles might be quite different. The students, for instance, learn in many ways – by seeing and hearing; reflecting and acting; memorizing and visualizing; some students prefer working individually, others learn a lot from group work. While some students like learning through games and activities, others can get much from presentations. Some students never mind being immediately corrected in front of the class, other students easy to lose face being corrected.
Furthermore, teachers do not apply the same method of teaching. Felder and Henriques (1995: 21) noted that “teaching methods also vary. Some instructors lecture, others demonstrate or discuss; some teachers focus on rules and others on examples; some teachers emphasize memory and other understanding”. Serious mismatches will occur when teachers ignore or are not aware of their students‟ learning style preferences.
It is the teachers‟ unawareness of students‟ learning style preferences that negatively affects the quality of 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com students‟ learning, their attitudes toward the class and the subject, the atmosphere and the outcome. Aims of the study The survey on the first-year students‟ English language learning style preferences at Hanoi University of Business and Technology aims at certain points. Firstly, the study aims at investigating the first-year students‟ learning style preferences at Hanoi University of Business and Technology. These preferences are going to be defined basing on two major criteria: the preferred style of acquiring knowledge and information in real life; and the preferred style of acquiring knowledge and information in classroom in terms of learning mode, perceiving and processing information, vocabulary, class activities, teaching aids, error correction and feedback.
Secondly, the survey intends to discover the teachers‟ learning style preferences and their awareness of their students‟ learning style preferences through their answers in the questionnaires. Consequently, the author wants to check out whether teachers‟ awareness of students‟ learning style preferences can be influenced by their own preferences. Finally, the study examines the effect of some elements such as age and gender to the students‟ learning style preferences. Research questions The survey intends to investigate the English language learning style preferences of the first-year students at Hanoi University of Business and Technology and the extent of teachers‟ awareness of them.
Particularly, the study seeks answers to the following questions: 2 What are the students‟ learning style preferences at Hanoi University of Business and technology? 3 What is the gap between teachers‟ awareness of students‟ leaning style preferences and the real one? 4. Significance of the study Learning style is a personal factor, which means that each has preferred ways of learning, approaches that work best for us. In addition, our success is not just independent on whether we can learn, but on how we learn. However, in the same way that each of us has preferred learning styles; instructors have their own styles of teaching.
Teachers may not even 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com be aware of them, but their learning styles have an important impact on the way they teach. Instructors who assign frequent activities involving oral presentations and demonstrations might be indicating that their learning style is somewhat auditory. On the other hand, instructors whose assignments consist of frequent written work may have a more visual style. So, what if students‟ learning styles are mismatched with learning and teaching styles of their instructors? According to Oxford (2003) cited in Le Sa‟s (2010), if there is a harmony between students‟ learning styles and given instructional methodology, the students are likely to perform well, fell confident and experience low anxiety.
If clashes happen, serious breakdowns in teacher-student interaction will occur. These conflicts even result in the dispirited students‟ rejection of the teaching methodology, the teacher and the subject matter. Consequently, finding out the students‟ learning style preferences is an important step to create the harmony between teachers and students. The results gained from this survey can derive an overview of students‟ learning style preferences at Hanoi University of Business and Technology, as well as the extent to which teachers are aware of their students‟ learning style preferences.
The teachers can also find out their own learning styles and check out whether they impose their own one on their students. The awareness of students‟ real language learning styles preferences is the basic for teachers to not only find out teaching methods that suit the best to them, but also make their lessons more attractive, effective and practical. As a result, the atmosphere in the class, the outcomes, and the teacher-student interactions can be improved significantly. The study‟s results can certainly improve the language learning and teaching at Hanoi University of Business and Technology.
Such information is also significant to other teachers from other universities in similar teaching context. Scope of the study The study examines students‟ English language learning style preferences at Hanoi University of Business and Technology. About 227 students from 10 classes randomly selected and 10 teachers teaching in these classes are invited to participate in the study. This number of students is hoped to be sufficient to provide valid and reliable information, the contribution of which is vital to the success of this modest research.
Students‟ and teachers‟ answers in the 20- item questionnaires on two major criteria: the preferred style of acquiring knowledge and information in real life; and the preferred style of acquiring knowledge and information in 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com classroom help find out the answer to the question on students‟ English language learning styles preferences. Moreover, the study can help to check out whether teacher are aware of students‟ learning style preferences; and figure out the relationship between age and gender to the students‟ learning style preferences. Organization of the study The survey is divided into three main parts In the first part-Introduction- the rationale, aims, research questions, significance, scope and the organization of the study are presented. The second part-Development- consists of three chapters.
Chapter 1, Literature review, deals with definitions of terms, the origin, background history and categorization of learning styles, students‟ learning preferences, mismatches between students‟ learning styles and teachers‟ awareness of them. The methods of the study adopted as well as justifications for the chosen instruments, participations, data collection and analysis procedure are discussed in chapter 2-Methodology. In the third chapter, the data on two major criteria: the preferred style of acquiring knowledge and information in real life; and the preferred style of acquiring knowledge and information in classroom in terms of learning mode, perceiving and processing information, vocabulary, class activities, teaching aids, error correction and feedback are presented. This chapter points out the results combined with critical interpretation and analysis, from which major findings are revealed and discussed.
In the last part namely Conclusion, the author focuses on some major finding and contributions of the study. Limitations and suggestions for further research are also mentioned. To sum up, this chapter has presented the rationale, aims, research questions, significance, scope of the study. The chapter ends with an overview of study‟s design.
Such information acts as the guideline or orientation for the development of the later parts of the thesis.