MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ NGUYEN THI THANH XUAN AN INVESTIGATION INTO ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING STYLES OF STUDENTS IN HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY MA THESIS IN EDUCATION HUE, 2010 i MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ NGUYEN THI THANH XUAN AN INVESTIGATION INTO ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING STYLES OF STUDENTS IN HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY FIELD OF STUDY: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.10 MA THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: PHAM THI HONG NHUNG, D. HUE, 2010 ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby declare that this study is the result of my own research. The information given in this thesis is true and correct and I certify that all the material which is not my own has been identified. Author Nguyễn Thị Thanh Xuân iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to express her deepest gratitude to Dr.
Phạm Thị Hồng Nhung, her supervisor for encouragement and guidance throughout the research. Without her well-designed plan and meticulous review of the draft, this thesis would have been impossible. Also many thanks to all the lecturers of the TESOL M.A program at Hue College of Foreign Languages for their generous support and helpful instructions during the course from year 2007 to 2010. The author would also like to acknowledge and express her appreciation for the advice of her classmates and colleagues, especially Mr.
Nguyễn Văn Định, for his great assistance in SPSS to analyze the data. Besides, the author is indebted to the HUI teachers and students for their assistance in collecting the data for this study. Most of all, the author would like to express her special gratitude to her dear parents and her husband for their understanding and support. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Pages SUB COVER PAGE i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ii ACKOWLEDGEMENTS iii TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 4 LIST OF TABLES 5 LIST OF CHARTS 6 ABSTRACT 7 CHAP TER I-INTRODUCTION .1 Rationale of the study .2 Statement of problem.3 Reasons for doing the research .5 Significance of the research .6 Scope of the research .7 Definition of key terms .7 Perceptual learning styles .8 The organization of the thesis.
14 1 CHAP TER II-LITERATURE REVIEW .1 Definition of learning styles.2 Classification of learning styles.1 Cognitive learning styles .2 Sensory learning styles .1 Perceptual learning styles .2 Environmental learning styles.3 Personality (Psychological) learning styles.3 Learning preferences and learning styles .1 Learning preferences and behavior .2 Learning preferences and personality .3 Learning preferences and intelligence .4 Learning preferences and teaching styles .5 Learning preferences and learning environment .4 Learners‟ learning style preferences .5 Comparing students‟ and teachers‟ perception of learning style .6 Influential learning styles models .1 Kolb experiential learning model .2 Gregorc learning style model (Gregorc, 1985).3 The VARK model (Fleming, 2001).4 Felder-Silverman Learning/Teaching style model.5 The Index of Learning Styles (ILS).6 Dunn and Dunn learning style model .7 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (Myers-Briggs, 1998).8 Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire (PLSPQ). 38 2 CHAP TER III-METHODOLOGY OF THE RESEARCH .1 Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire .4 Data collection procedure.5 Data analysis method:. 46 CHAP TER IV-ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. Results of Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire.2 Results of Brindley‟s questionnaire.3 Results of Interview and Observation.
76 CHAP TER V-CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS .1 Implications from the result of PLSPQ.2 Implications from the result of Brindley‟s questionnaire.3 Limitation of the study.88 APPENDICES 3 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 1. HUI: Ho Chi Minh city University of Industry 2. EFL: English as Foreign language 3. ESL: English as Second language 4.
PLSPQ: Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire 5. ESP: English for Special Purposes 6. SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Sciences 4 LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: List of some learning style definitions Table 4.1: Descriptive Statistics of Total Mean Scores of Learning Style Preference Table 4.2: Student‟s Visual Learning Style Preference Table 4.3: Student‟s Kinesthetic Learning Style Preference Table 4.4: Student‟s Tactile Learning Style Preference Table 4.5: Student‟s Auditory Learning Style Preference Table 4.6: Student‟s Group Learning Style Preference Table 4.7: Student‟s Individual Learning Style Preference Table 4.8: Satisfaction with Achievement Table 4.9: Learning mode Table 4.10: Preference for Homework Table 4.11: Time Allocation for Homework Table 4.12: Learning Inside/Outside Classroom Table 4.13: Ways of Learning Table 4.14: Vocabulary Learning Table 4.15: Error Correction Table 4.16: Peer Correction Table 4.17: Media Preference Table 4.18: Learning Activities Table 4.19: Assessment of Language Performance Table 4.20: Expression of Satisfaction in Progress 5 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: Student‟s Learning Style Preferences Figure 4.2: The correlation between teachers' and students‟ responses to the achievement.3: The correlation between teachers' and students‟ responses to the learning mode.4: Preference for homework Figure 4.5: The correlation between teachers‟ and students‟ responses to inside/outside classroom Figure 4.6: The correlation between teachers‟ and students‟ responses to ways of learning Figure 4.7: The correlation between teachers‟ and students‟ responses to vocabulary learning Figure 4.8: The correlation between teachers‟ and students‟ responses to media Figure 4.9: The correlation between teachers‟ and students‟ responses to learning activities Figure 4.10: The correlation between teachers‟ and students‟ responses to the satisfaction in progress. 6 ABSTRACT One of the most serious challenges that English educators face today is improving the level of student satisfaction with the curriculum and learning environment.
To determine whether a particular teaching method might enhance student satisfaction with the learning process, this study aimed at investigating the language learning style preferences of HUI learners, and the degree of teachers‟ awareness of them. One hundred and twenty first- year students from different background and level of proficiency took part in the study. Furthermore, twenty teachers working with the same students were called for cooperation. The PLSPQ questionnaire (Reid, 1987) and Brindley‟s scale (1984) were employed to elicit information for the study.
The data obtained through the questionnaire were subjected to Chi-square tests in order to check the significance of the difference between the responses. Results showed the learning preferences of students in different areas. Results also indicated that teachers were aware of their students‟ learning preferences in some cases, but unaware in some others. Therefore, there needs to be a closer cooperation between teachers and students in some instances.
Furthermore, some pedagogical implications and suggested activities that may help meet the learners‟ learning styles preferences, on the one hand, and alter and stretch their less preferred modes, on the other hand, will be presented in this study.1 Rationale of the study Since Vietnam has carried out its open door policy towards regional and global integration, the English language has become significant. The government has stressed the importance of English, as it will play a crucial role in the country‟s drive to modernize. At the Central Party Committee meeting on education in December 1996, English was confirmed to be prioritized foreign language to be taught at schools in Vietnam. As a result, there has been an increasing demand for English language teaching and learning across the country.
In recent years, when Vietnam has become a member of WTO there has been a consequent increase in the country‟s contact and communication with other nations. To meet this need, the Ministry of Education and Training has boosted the shift of the focus of language instructions in Vietnam from the country‟s traditional, grammar- oriented style language teaching to the one that is more communication- oriented which encourages teacher- student and student- student interaction in EFL classroom activities. There are number of factors that influence the success of foreign language learning and teaching. However, understanding the way people learn is increasingly becoming crucially important and is the key to educational improvement.
For the last 3 decades, much research focusing on second language acquisition has shifted from teaching to learning and increasing studies have been done from learners‟ perspective. A lot of studies have paid much attention to the relationship between learners‟ achievement and their individual differences such as personality, motivation, aptitude, learning styles, learning strategies, gender and age, etc. Learners and learning come to the center of the research, the differences of learning and learners are highlighted. One of the learners‟ individual variables- learning styles, has been suggested as “an important factor affecting learners, academic 8 achievement, how learners learn, teachers teach, and learner-teacher interaction” (Garner, 1984, p.2 Statement of problem.
There is no doubt that students take in and comprehend information in different manners. Some like to see and others favor to hear. Some prefer to learn individually and independently from the others, while others enjoy interaction and relationship with their peers. Some researchers such as Reid (1987) and Celce- Murcia (2001) believed that the different ways of how a learner takes in and processes information are collectively referred to as learning styles or learning preferences.
To achieve a desired learning outcome, teachers should provide teaching interventions and activities that are compatible with the ways learners like to learn. When mismatches exist between learning styles of the learners in a class and the teaching style of the teacher, the students may become bored and inattentive in class, do poorly on tests, get discouraged about the courses, the curriculum, and themselves, and in some cases drop out of school (Felder, 1996). Nevertheless, most teachers are not aware of the ways their students prefer to learn the language, or even if they are, they pay little attention to them. Although most teachers believe that their students come to language classroom with different interests and preferences, they are still reluctant to consult learners in conducting language learning activities, hence, being unable to meet the learning needs of individual students.
Teachers, therefore, need to discover their students‟ preferred way of learning the language because it helps them prepare lessons based on their students‟ learning styles and avoid the one-size-fits-all mentality. Such information can also help material designers and syllabus planners to devise a language learning syllabus. And as Spratt (1999) argued those involved in syllabus, materials, and activity design predict what learners like or dislike on the basis of their own experience or by consulting the relevant literature. It has been proved that such an approach would have failed to capture many of the students‟ learning preferences, and how useful it is to consult learners and involve them in the teaching and learning design process.
Therefore, it is important to find out the ways through 9 which students prefer to learn the language, hoping that such information can help teachers of English, in general, and teachers in author‟s university, in particular, to be more effective in their career. While it is essential that teachers have a practical understanding of learning styles, it is equally important for students to understand their individual learning styles. Knowledge of one‟s own learning style is fundamental in “learning to learn”. Geiger (1992) says that each student comes with a unique blend of each learning style will help teachers “to capitalize on each student‟s particular strengths.so that each student will get as much as possible from the lesson” (p.
As students come to understand their learning styles, they may develop strategies to make up for their weaknesses. This helps teachers be more effective motivators. Paulus, Brantner- Artenie and Turton state: “Making students aware of their learning style preference increases student autonomy and motivation. Knowledge of their learning styles can help students develop strategies, which will help strengthen their weaker perceptual styles” (p.3 Reasons for doing the research During the researcher‟s teaching practice in Ho Chi Minh city University of Industry (HUI), she confronted many difficulties when dealing with problems that occurred in the classroom.
When the students enrolled in this university, their English level was beyond the requirements of the curriculum. In such a remote, poverty-stricken region, it is not uncommon that the majority enter the college with much lower marks than those of students in more developed regions.