Investigating the Learning Styles Preferences of ESL Learners: The Case of English Majors in Universiti Sains Malaysia

Abstract

Studies on learning styles are important as they can give educators new directions for making changes in their classrooms. With this in mind a study was conducted to investigate Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) English majors' learning styles. More specifically, the study aims to identify the type of information these students preferentially perceive, through which sensory channel external information is most effectively perceived, how they prefer to process information, and how they progress toward understanding. The Index of Learning Styles (ILS) questionnaire developed by Felder and Soloman (2004) was adopted. The ILS questionnaire was based on Felder and Silverman's (1988) model, reported to be valid, reliable and suitable in identifying learners' learning styles (Felder and Spurlin, 2005). The study findings indicated that USM English majors have certain learning styles that should be considered by USM staff members in preparing their materials, curriculum and teaching methods. Further, some pedagogical recommendations and guidelines 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 paper.