A STUDY ON THE MISMATCH BETWEEN PREFERRED LEARNING STYLES AND DOMINANT LEARNING STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT FOR ENGLISH STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PEOPLE

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A STUDY ON THE MISMATCH BETWEEN PREFERRED
LEARNING STYLES AND DOMINANT LEARNING STRATEGIES
TO ENHANCE THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT FOR ENGLISH
STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PEOPLES SECURITY 
LE THI NGUYET, M.A UNIVERSITY OF PEOPLES SECURITY
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IntroductionSuccess or failure in learning a
foreign language is due to a variety of factors,
among which learning strategies and styles play
very significant roles in helping learners
develop their language competence.? building and
matching suitable learning styles and strategies
are important
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LANGUAGE LEARNING STYLES
Learning styles are tendencies for approaching
learning tasks and processing information in
particular ways.
Akiba and Alkins (2010, p.64) Learning style are
the ways in which an individual
characteristically acquires, retains and
retrieves information.
Felder and Henriques (1995, p.21)
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LANGUAGE LEARNING STYLES
1. visual learning read explanations,
instructions, pre-read new lessons, extra
materials, newspapers, stories, movie
subtitles 2. auditory learning listen to
instructions, lectures, news, movies, songs,
tapes, pronunciation of new words, group
discussions, content of lessons 3. kinaesthetic
learning take part in class activities games,
role plays, interviews, speaking clubs, present
ideas in front of the class
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LANGUAGE LEARNING STYLES
4. tactile learning do assignments, draw sth, use
body language, make real objects, write new
words, write letters or reports or learning
diary 5. group learning take part in group
activities, do homework with friends, ask for
help from friends, practice speaking with group
members 6. individual learning answer or present
ideas individually, do homework alone, learn
online by themselves, self-study
Reid (1987)
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Learning strategy is the implementation of a set
of procedures for accomplishing something and a
sequence of procedures for accomplishing
learning Schemeck (1988, p.5) Learning
strategies are defined as the techniques or
devices, which a learner may use to acquire
knowledge Rubin (1975, p.43) Learning
strategies as specific actions taken by the
learner to make learning easier, faster, more
enjoyable, more self-directed and more
transferable to new situations. Oxford
(1990, p.8)
LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES
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2 broad categories1. Strategies that directly
affect learning, such as clarification/verificatio
n, monitoring, memorisation, guessing/inductive
reasoning, deductive reasoning and practice.2.
Strategies that indirectly affect learning, such
as creating opportunities to use and practice the
language, and using production tricks such as
communication strategies. Rubin (1981)
LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES
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Direct strategies1. Memory strategies
2. Cognitive strategies 3. Compensation
strategies Indirect strategies 1.
Metacognitive strategies2. Affective strategies
3. Social strategies (Oxford, 1990, p.17)

LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES
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The authors classifications of her students
learning strategies1. reading-based2.
listening-based3. physically movement-based4.
hands-on learning-based5. group
learning-based6. individual learning-based
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Learning goals Learning stylesLearning
strategiesAcademic achievements
Correllation between language learning styles,
learning strategies and academic achievements
matched
matched
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- identify their learning aims know what they
want to learn and how to learn- become much more
satisfied with the environment they interact
with- apply different ways to better their
learning?autonomously take the responsibility
for their own learning ? make learning more
efficient and effective (Oxford and Crookall
(1989)
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Hypothesis1. Learning styles and learning
strategies have a close correlation with each
other and with academic achievements in English
learning.2. There is a mismatch between
preferred learning styles and dominant learning
strategies of pre-intermediate English students
at the University of Peoples Security.
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Research Questions1. What are preferred
learning styles and dominant learning strategies
of pre-intermediate English students at the
University of Peoples Security?2. Is there a
mismatch between preferred learning styles and
dominant learning strategies of those English
students?3. What are some corollaries of that
mismatch?4. What pedagogical implications
should be provided to enhance the academic
achievements for English students at the
University of Peoples Security? 
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Research Methodology1. Research
Designdescriptive qualitative 2. Research
instrumentsa. Two sets of questionnaire to
English studentsb. Pocket interviews to English
teachersc. Class observationsd. One-month class
experiment
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2. Research instrumentsa. Two sets of
questionnaire to 104 English students- a set of
30-item questionnaire the Perceptual Learning
Style Preference Questionnaire designed by Joy
Reid (1984). ? find out what learning styles are
preferred by pre-intermediate English students at
the University of Peoples Security - a set of
37- item questionnaire the Strategy Inventory
for Language Learning designed by the author
herself and the questions were arranged into six
groups which were correlative to Reids learning
styles ? investigate what learning strategies
are mostly-used by those students at the
University of Peoples Security
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2. Research instrumentsb. Pocket interviews to
English teachers- conducted after 2 sets of
questionnaire were collected- participants 5
teachers of English at least 6 years of teaching
experience Masters degree in TESOL. - the
questions were asked directly to those teachers
one by one. - their answers were taken notes
carefully and then analysed to serve the study
purposes.
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2. Research instrumentsc. One-month class
experiment- conducted after identifying what
learning styles were preferred and what learning
strategies were mostly used by those students -
conducted in four GE classes four times in March
2013 to check whether students could increase
their frequency of using effective strategies
that matched their preferred learning styles or
not. - changed her teaching styles selected
activities designed materials combined
teaching methods/ approaches
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2. Research instrumentsd. Class observations
The experiment was observed and its results
were presented in a checklist after the some
class observations by the author. The results
were rated with a scale showing the frequency of
the students use of strategies after the
experiment 5- always 4- usually 3- sometimes
2- seldom 1-never
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FINDINGS DISCUSSIONS Of six learning styles
Reid (1995) classified, students prefered five
styles arranged in the following order of
preference auditory, kinaesthetic, group,
visual, and tactile, whereas their individual
style is negligible. ?students learning styles
match the learning goals which help students
improve their English skills, especially
communication skills.
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Table 2 Students learning style
preference
Styles Major learning Style Preference (Scores 38 - 50) Minor Learning Style Preference (Scores 25 - 37) Negligible (Scores (0 - 24)
Styles N 104 N 104 N 104
Visual 63 (60.58) 37 (35.58) 4 (3.85)
Auditory 71 (68.27) 25 (24.04) 8 (7.69)
Kinaesthetic 68 (65.38) 30 (28.85) 6 (5.77)
Tactile 60 (57.69) 35 (33.65) 9 (8.65)
Group 68 (65.38) 32 (30.77) 4 (3.85)
Individual 16 (15.38) 47 (45.19) 41 (39.42)
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Discussions Some of students learning
strategies didnt match their learning styles.
For example, with visual style, students learn
best when they do a lot of reading activities.
However, after the survey, many students seldom
or never read the content of new lessons in the
coursebooks before class. They didnt read extra
documents and reference books for wide-open
learning. They almost never read English written
newspapers, stories, magazines, etc. or English
subtitles of movies.
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Discussions With auditory style, students learn
best when they hear audiotapes, lectures, and
class discussion. However, a few students
listened to the content of the lessons in the
coursebooks after class to consoliadate what they
have learnt. Beside, they didnt usually listen
to the news on TV, internet or radio and listen
to the actors or actresses in international
movies to understand their meanings. With
kinaesthetic style, students learn best when they
can actively participate in activities, field
trips, and role-playing, etc. in the classroom.
However, they should have joined the class-level
or university-level English speaking clubs to
improve their speaking skills.
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DiscussionsWith tactile style, students learn
best when they have opportunities to do
hands-on experiences with new materials, for
example, working on experiments in
laboratory, handling and building models, and
touching and working with new materials. However,
they didnt use some practical activities to
better their English learning such as drawing
pictures, outline or diagrams related to the
lessons to remember the content more easily,
making flashcards, real objects, etc. to learn
new words, writing messages, letters or reports
in English and writing their own diaries of
learning English. Moreover, they didnt often use
gestures or facial expressions in speaking or
when they lacked vocabulary.
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Discussions With group style, students learn
more easily when they study with at least one
other student, and they will be more successful
completing work well when they work with others.
In fact, students practiced speaking English with
other classmates, but this number should be
higher. There were many students who sometimes
or seldom asked for help from friends who were
better at English or asked their friends to
correct their English pronunciation because they
felt shy or afraid of losing their faces. Most of
students didnt do homework with other friends
after class though they said that they liked
group work.
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Discussions The only style that was negligible
was individual style. This style seems
ineffective in English learning because it
doesnt facilitate students interaction and
communication competence. However, many students
still did homework alone or didnt cooperate well
with other classmates to do class activities.
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As a result, the students could not learn best
when there was a mismatch between their learning
strategies and styles.
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CONCLUSIONS Recent research (Oxford Ehrman,
1988) suggests that learning style has a
significant influence on students choice of
learning strategies, and that both styles and
strategies affect learning outcomes.? Teachers
of English have to find different ways to create
a match between learners strategies and styles.
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Pedagogical implications - take over the role of
a researcher as well in order to identify
students current learning strategies and
learning styles. They can do this by using
quizzes, survey questionnaire, interviews, games,
etc. - encourage students to apply balanced
learning styles consisting of auditory,
kinaesthetic, group, visual, and tactile styles
to achieve their learning targets. - provide
some adaptation or adjustments in many aspects to
help students rebuild more suitable and effective
strategies in their learning. - get a deep
understanding of what learning styles and
learning strategies that can make their students
more successful, importantly, consider
differences in learners motivation, learning
styles, and other factors that affect learning
strategy choice and use.
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Pedagogical implications- find ways to enhance
students awareness of the importance of English
learning styles and learning strategies.
Awareness of their preferred learning styles and
mostly-used learning strategies may help to
explain why some aspects of language learning
seem to come easier than others or are more
enjoyable. - hold a discussion forum for some
students who use inappropriate strategies to
share and express their opinions about their
difficultites in their learning or raise any
queries related to their learning styles and
learning strategies. - have students report on
their use of the strategy outside of class.
Whenever teachers introduce a new material and
make assignments, teachers need to remind
students about using a learning strategy that
helps them get good outcomes.
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Pedagogical implications- teach the strategy in
conjunction with a typical class activity, such
as listening comprehension, pronunciation drills,
grammar practice, or reading and writing lessons.
Before asking students to use a strategy, they
have to describe, model and give examples of how
to use it effectively. - find ways to integrate
strategies into everyday class teaching,
explicitly and implicitly embedding them into the
language tasks to provide for contextualized
strategy practice. - show students how to
evaluate their successful or unsuccessful use of
the strategy, including suggestions for fixing up
or replacing the strategy.
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Pedagogical implications- combine technology in
English teaching to make class activites more
effective and more interesting, which can enhance
students motivation and attract their attention
in learning. For example, they can use
electronic textbooks, facebook groups, webquests
or online softwares to raise the effectiveness of
the teaching as well as to require students to
adopt suitable styles or strategies in their
learning.
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Pedagogical implications- use a variety of
teaching methods or techniques to adjust
students learning styles and strategies. For
example, to exploit the advantages of visual
style in reading class, teachers can use videos
and films with sub-titles, written materials with
lots of graphics, English newspapers, English
stories, etc. - adopt some principles of
checking homework. When students are asked to
read the content of the new lessons before class,
they will do that regularly if their teachers
have a check afterwards. - Along with checking,
provide careful instructions for all assignments.
If teachers want students to read more extra
materials, they ought to tell carefully about
what documents, books or websites that students
have to read, how students deal with their
reading, etc. - often carry out communicative
activities in English class to help students
enhance their English competence with their
hands-on learning-based, physically
movement-based and group learning-based
strategies.
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Pedagogical implications- change their teaching
strategies or techniques whenever they realize a
mismatch between students learning strategies
and learning styles or between students
strategies and learning targets. Thanks to that
change, the mismatch will disappear, which helps
to improve students learning achievements.
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