MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY _____________ DO HOANG LE VY AN INVESTIGATION INTO LEARNING STYLE PREFERENCES OF EFL PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 8140111 Supervisor: Vo Duy Duc, Ph.D BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN _____________ ĐỖ HOÀNG LÊ VY NGHIÊN CỨU SỞ THÍCH VỀ PHONG CÁCH HỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH TIỂU HỌC Ngành: Lý luận và phương pháp dạy học bộ môn Tiếng Anh Mã số: 8140111 Người hướng dẫn: TS. Võ Duy Đức i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true and have not been published elsewhere. Quy Nhon, 2023 Do Hoang Le Vy ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The completion of my master’s thesis is due not only to my own efforts, but also to the aid of organizations and people to whom I express my deepest appreciation.
I take this chance to express my deepest thanks to them for their support. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr. Võ Duy Đức, for his continuous support, expert guidance, and patience throughout the study. He provided me with assistance at every stage of the process and always expressed his faith in me.
I am gratefully indebted for his very valuable comments on this thesis. I would also like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the headmaster at Australian Languages Center in Quy Nhon City and to the teachers who devoted their time to supporting me to complete this thesis. I was also thankful to my colleagues for their support during my study time. I am also grateful to Quy Nhon University, Post-graduate Department, and the Foreign Languages Department for the administrative assistance.
Last but not least, special thanks from the bottom of my heart to my parents who took care of my mental and physical health with unconditional affection. I could not have finished this thesis without their continued support and encouragement which gave me strength and confidence to fulfill my dream. iii ABSTRACT Students use different styles or ways of receiving and managing information during learning. Identifying learning styles among different students can help students try to strengthen their preferred learning style and improve other nonpreferred learning styles.
This study aims to examine the preferred sensory modality and the learning preferences of EFL primary school students at a language center in Quy Nhon city and the correlation between gender and learning style preferences. The participants of the study were 89 primary school students studying English at Australian Languages Center. The data was gathered through then use of the VARK Questionnaire for Younger People developed by 2022 and interview. The findings show that, for the unimodal learning styles, kinesthetic is most prevalent in male and female students.
The study also reveals that multimodal learning styles were found at all bimodal, trimodal, and quad-modal combinations. The more blend of learning style, hence the frequency of determination of student learning style even less. Also, no statistically significant differences were observed between male and female students concerning their learning preferences. Despite the limitations of a small-scale study and time shortage, the researcher does hope that the findings would shed more light on the whole picture of learning style preferences.
iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Aims and Objectives of the Study. Scope of the study. Significance of the Study.
Organization of the Study. 5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Learning Style Preferences.
Gender differences in learning style preferences. 24 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. 34 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Learning style preferences of primary school students.
Learning style preferences by gender. Findings from Questionnaire. Findings from Interviews .1 Summary of the key findings. Suggestions for further research.
61 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1 VARK Learning Style by Gender p. 40 Table 2 Multimodal Learning Style Based on Gender p. 41 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Overall Learning Style Preferences distribution p. 37 Figure 2 Students’ Learning Style Preferences Frequency p.
38 Percentage Figure 3 Determination of Unimodal VARK Learning Style by p. 40 Gender Figure 4 Determination of Multimodal VARK Learning Style p. 41 by Gender Figure 5 Specific Learning Style Preferences distribution in p. 42 males Figure 6 Specific Learning Style Preferences distribution in p.
43 females 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter introduces the rationale, the objectives, the scope, and the research questions of the study. Besides, the significance and the outline of the study are also mentioned. Rationale Second language is a socially dominant language needed for education, employment, and other basic purposes. Second language also calls a foreign language, which is might be used for cross-cultural communication situations or studied as a curricular requirement (Troike, 2006).
Nowadays, learning foreign language earlier is important, because learning foreign language can make children who learn it become more proficient in their native language and will be able to communicate with a foreigner. There are great uses of English as a foreign language in the modern world, especially in education. Psycholinguistic study shows that childhood is considered as the golden age for a young learner to learn the foreign language. That’s why in this modern era, parents are looking for a school that provides an English lesson for their children.
In fact, in 21st century learning, students must have the ability to solve problems, think critically, find and evaluate information and can productively collaborate and communicate with other students. Throughout their educational journeys, individual pupils employ various learning methods and get knowledge from a variety of sources. An individual's natural, ingrained, and preferred method of taking in, processing, and remembering new knowledge and abilities can be referred to as their learning style. Distinct pupils have distinct learning preferences, with a preference for a certain sensory mode to receive and process that learned information.
As a result, it is crucial to determine each student's unique learning style in order to support that type and enhance other less favoured learning styles. 2 One of the challenges in the world of education lies in how to make students accustomed to critical and creative thinking in solving problems, so that educators are required to play an active role in the learning process. As a matter of fact, before deciding upon a definite teaching approach, educators should realize that every learner has his/her own way of learning. Students learn by seeing and hearing, reflecting and acting, reasoning logically and intuitively, analyzing and visualizing.
Teaching methods also vary. If the teaching style of the instructors doesn’t match with the students’ learning styles, the students may get bored and inattentive in class, do poorly on tests, and get discouraged about the courses, the curriculum, and themselves. In any case, the students’ learning styles should guide teachers and help to build the independent teaching style of the instructor. Within time, the instructor gains experience that is useful to determine the possible working teaching method according to the needs of the students.
A lot of teaching and learning ways and theories that can help to meet the needs of students to have interaction with somethings, friends, and environment around them. Howard Gardner defined learning styles as the manners in which a person handles a variety of activities. According to Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983, p. 8), "They have been classified in a number of different ways; they are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic, impulsive and contemplative, right brain and left brain, etc.
Gardner contends that the concept of learning styles lacks precise standards for what constitutes a learning style, from where it derives, and how to identify and evaluate it. He characterizes the notion of learning styles as "a hypothesis of how an individual approaches a range of materials" (Gardner, 1983, p. Dunn and Griggs (1998) defined learning style as the attitude, favorites, and conducts that learners utilize in their learning. Moreover, according to them, the learning method might have a lot or a bit of differences.
For instance, do 3 you remember the name of a person if you see it written down? If you prefer to learn it by seeing the written name you are a visual learner. Otherwise, if you prefer to learn it by listening you are an auditory one. In other side, Paul (2013) stated the “learning style” that teachers and parents should focus on is the universal learning style of the human mind and two characteristics of it in particular. First of all, students benefit from encountering information in multiple forms.
They learn more, for example, from flashcards that incorporate both text and images or charts, graphs, etc. than from cards that display text alone. Second, students’ interest is kept alive by novelty and variety, so regularly turning away from textbooks and blackboards is key. “As long as the new activity genuinely informs the students about the academic subject at hand, clapping a math lesson or sketching in science class, or acting during story time can help every student to learn better” (Paul, 2013, p.
2) Since learning styles are a property of each student and each one contributes a unique learning style to the classroom, they are significant in the teaching of learning processes. In order to give each student with the best teaching methods possible, a teacher must be able to recognize the different learning styles of their students. Learning style refers to how students receive and process the knowledge their teacher imparts to them in the classroom. Considering this, Candler and Joe (2009, p.
1) state "behaviors and attitudes are some factors used to identify learning styles and options to facilitate learning". Based on the aforementioned concepts, the author hopes to learn more about the English language learning preferences of the students in Australian Languages Center. Based on the discussion above, I want to conduct a research about pupils’ learning style preferences by the title “An investigation into learning style preferences of EFL primary school students”. Aims and Objectives of the Study 1.
Aims The study aims to investigate learning style preferences of primary school students in Quy Nhon city and to point out the correlation between learning style preferences and gender differences. Objectives Based on the aims previously mentioned, the objectives of the study are as follows: - To identify all the learning style preferences of EFL primary school students based on Theory of Multiple Intelligence. - To find out correlation between gender and learning style preferences. Research questions To achieve the above aims and objectives, the reseacher collected data and analyzed it to answer the following questions: 1.
What are EFL primary school students’ learning style preferences? 2. What is the correlation between learning style preferences and gender differences? 1. Scope of the study Although there are many theories about learning style preferences, this study focuses on Theory of Multiple Intelligences for young learners in primary school. Moreover, to make the research manageable, the subject to conduct this study merely concentrates on young learners in primary school.
There are 89 primary school EFL learners in a language center in Quy Nhon city. There are male and female students aged from 8 to 11. The pupils involved in this research are from varied educational background as well as taught by different English teachers and no pupils are excluded from the study. Significance of the Study The findings of this study will partly contribute to the benefits of learning English in our society.
Primary school students who are the launch of lifelong journey diving into this foreign language should have appropriate paths for learning the right way from the start. This research is expected to be beneficial for teachers to improve their creativity and competence with learners’ learning styles, especially for those who teach young learners. Organization of the Study This thesis is organized into five chapters.
