论基于中职学生语言学习风格的英语教学对策

本文采用问卷调查的形式,探索中职学生的英语学习风格偏好。结果表明中职生的英语学习风格偏向于视觉型、听觉型、外向型、严谨型、整体型、分析型的学习风格,在感知学习风格、个性学习风格、感知学习风格三个大组中,属于混合风格的学生比例都较小。年级变化是影响学习风格分布的最大变量,男女学生在严谨/随意型学习风格构成有显著性差异。研究结果能敦促中职英语教师基于中职学生的学习风格改变教学策略,从而促进英语语言学习的成功。     

Do students' style preferences differ by grade level,orientation toward college,and academic major?

Students' preferences for learning styles as well as their preferences for communication styles of their teachers are examined to determine if those preferences are related to gender, grade level, and major in college. A total of 327 adolescents in grades eight through twelve completed questionnaires measuring their preferred learning styles (Dependent, Independent, Competitive, Collaborative, and Participative) and their preferences for teacher communicator styles (Open, Attentive, Relaxes, Precise, Impression Leaving, Dramatic, Friendly, Animated, Contentious, and Dominant). Also, 235 college students in various majors were measured. The rank ordering of preferences was generally stable across all grade levels in the adolescent sample. However, the college students exhibited several important differences in preferences from the adolescents and across majors.     

Kolb's learning styles and learning preferences: is there a linkage?

Much has been written about the relationships between learning styles and learning preferences with the aim of tailoring teaching methods to the ways that students prefer to learn. This study used a sample of 201 management undergraduates to examine the relationships between Kolb's four learning styles and four learning types, and 12 different learning preferences. Only three significant relationships were found. It is suggested that large individual differences in learning preferences within each style and type, and small differences in learning preference mean scores show that, overall, there are weak linkages between learning styles and learning preferences. It is recommended that researchers control for Type I error rates and present effect sizes when statistically significant relationships are found to prevent chance and trivial findings from influencing educators. It is recommended that educators use a variety of learning methods and encourage students to be receptive to different learning methods rather than try to link specific learning methods to specific learning styles.     

Learning style preferences of external degree students

Thirty learning style preferences are profiled for a group of adult male students enrolled in an external degree program. The Canfield Learning Style Inventory was used to assess the adult students' learning styles. These external degree students had eleven significantly different learning preferences compared to Canfield's norm group. Correlations between learning styles and traditional learning environments also were examined. Implications of the results, strengths and limitations in the research are discussed.     

Relating Pre-Service Teachers' Approaches to Learning and Preferences for Constructivist Learning Environments

Within two Flemish institutes of pre-service and inservice teacher education, the relationship between the learning styles and preferences for learning environments of pre-service teachers were examined. Results indicate that some components of pre-service teachers' learning approaches (learning conceptions, learning strategies and learning orientations) are predictors for preferences for constructivist learning environments. Differences in learning approaches and preferences for learning environments are also related to the type of teacher education that pre-service teachers followed.     

A study of the relationship between learning styles and cognitive abilities in engineering students

Learning preferences have been indirectly linked to student success in engineering programmes, without a significant body of research to connect learning preferences with cognitive abilities. A better understanding of the relationship between learning styles and cognitive abilities will allow educators to optimise the classroom experience for students. The goal of this study was to determine whether relationships exist between student learning styles, as determined by the Felder-Soloman Inventory of Learning Styles (FSILS), and their cognitive performance. Three tests were used to assess student's cognitive abilities: a matrix reasoning task, a Tower of London task, and a mental rotation task. Statistical t-tests and correlation coefficients were used to quantify the results. Results indicated that the global–sequential, active–referential, and visual–verbal FSILS learning styles scales are related to performance on cognitive tasks. Most of these relationships were found in response times, not accuracy. Differences in task performance between gender groups (male and female) were more notable than differences between learning styles groups.     

Strategies for accommodating individuals' styles and preferences in flexible learning programmes

There has been a considerable growth in the use of flexible methods of delivery for workplace learning and development. However, in designing programmes of flexible learning there is often the assumption that learners will exhibit uniformity in the ways in which they process and organise information (cognitive style), in their predispositions towards particular learning formats and media (instructional preferences) and the conscious actions they employ to deal with the demands of specific learning situations (learning strategies). In adopting such a stance one runs the risk of ignoring important aspects of individual differences in styles, preferences and strategies. Our purpose in this paper will be to: (i) consider some aspects of individual difference that are pertinent to the delivery of flexible learning in the workplace; (ii) identify some of the challenges that extant differences in styles and preferences between individuals may raise for instructional designers and learning facilitators; (iii) suggest ways in which models of flexible learning design and delivery may acknowledge and accommodate individual differences in styles and preferences through the use of an appropriate range of instructional design, learning and support strategies.     

Towards Inclusive Teacher Education: Sensitising individuals to how they learn

Higher education has struggled to acknowledge and translate into better teaching and learning practices that sizeable literature base suggesting a link between cognitive style, learning preferences, and performance. Research is reported in which 80 undergraduate students on a primary education degree were studied to examine the relationship between their cognitive style, their learning preferences, and perceived impact on their teaching practices. All students completed the CSA measure of cognitive style, the ASSIST, two further questionnaires exploring learning preferences and perception of good teaching during the course, and an evaluation at the end of the teaching unit. Significant differences were found between the three cognitive styles investigated: wholist, intermediate, and analytic. In terms of learning preferences, using ANOVA statistically significant differences were found between the three styles with wholists being most concerned about speed of delivery and least liking computer‐assisted learning. In addition, wholists preferred less structure than analytics in their teaching and claimed to use more images while analytics claimed to use more speech in their teaching. Intermediates demonstrated a greater preference for tangential approaches to teaching and were least happy with the nature of the teaching they had received while at university. Many of the differences reported in the literature between the different cognitive styles were not evident in this study. However, the interpersonal and intrapersonal characteristics of wholists and analytics, respectively, were evident and perceived to impact on planning and delivery in the classroom. While further school‐based research involving greater numbers is required, interest in learning styles remains especially relevant if one intends to offer a truly inclusive education for all learners.     

Trait emotional intelligence and learning styles: the case of Iranian English for Academic Purposes learners

Although a large body of research has been dedicated to examining emotional intelligence (EI) and learning styles in relation to different factors in academic setting, the relationship between these two variables still necessitates more exploration and deeper study, especially in the Iranian context. To this end, 60 English for Academic Purposes (EAP) learners were recruited to fill out the Farsi version of Emotional Intelligence Scale (FEIS-41) and Paragon Learning Styles Inventory (PLSI). The results revealed that the participants achieved the highest score in Optimism/Mood Regulation sub-scale of the FEIS-41. With respect to the four dimensions of PLSI, Sensing, Feeling, Judging and Extrovert were the participants’ preferred learning styles, respectively. Besides, analysis of data illustrated that gender did not affect their EI and learning styles preferences. Furthermore, the significance of 9 out of 12 computed correlations between three sub-skills of FEIS-41 and four dimensions of PLSI indicated the existence of correlation between EI and learning styles preferences of Iranian EAP learners.     

A Statistical Prediction of High-School Success for Purpose of Educational Guidance

ABSTRACT

In the learning environment, teacher–student interaction plays a major role in influencing the cognitive and affective development of students. Teacher–student interaction is also an important parameter of educational quality. Teachers’ and students’ preferences of teacher interpersonal behavior are linked to their individual characteristics and styles. The author examined students’ and teachers’ thinking styles and their preferences for teacher–student interpersonal behaviors. A total of 325 students and 146 teachers from 2 secondary schools were involved in this study. The results show that there were divergences between students’ and teachers’ thinking styles and their preferences of teacher interpersonal behavior. Convergences between students and teachers were also found, as both had preferences for cooperative teacher interpersonal behavior.     

‘Learning Style’: frameworks and instruments

In both education and training an important aspect of the design, development and delivery of learning is the role of individual differences between learners in terms of their ‘learning styles’. One may identify four broad categories of what have been termed ‘learning style’: (i) ‘cognitive personality elements’ (e.g. Witkin et al. 1977; Riding, 1991); (ii) ‘information‐processing style’ (e.g. Kolb, 1984; Honey & Mumford, 1992); (iii) ‘approaches to studying’ (e.g. Entwistle & Tait, 1994); (iv) ‘instructional preferences’ (e.g. Riechmann & Grasha, 1974). A study of 245 university undergraduates in business studies aimed to: (i) describe the range of individual differences present within the sample; (ii) investigate the relationship between learners’ cognitive styles, learning styles, approaches to studying and learning preferences; (iii) consider the implications of ‘learning style’ for teaching and learning in higher education. The present study suggested some overlap between the dimensions measured by the Learning Styles Questionnaire (Honey & Mumford, 1986; 1992) and the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory (Entwistle & Tait, 1994). No statistically significant correlations were found between cognitive style, as measured by the Cognitive Styles Analysis (Riding, 1991) and any of the other ‘style’ constructs used. Further research is required to investigate these relationships, as is a large‐scale factor analytical study of the Honey and Mumford and Kolb instruments. The notions of whole brain functioning, integra‐tive approaches to studying and degree of learning activity are discussed.     

ARE STUDENTS' LEARNING STYLES DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC?

In the study reported in this article, we examine the extent to which community college students' learning style preferences vary as a function of discipline. We were interested in knowing whether gender and academic performance play a role in student learning style preferences. The learning style preferences of 105 community college students (47 males and 58 females) were measured in four disciplines (i.e., English, mathematics, science, and social studies) using a modified version of the Kolb Learning Style Inventory IIa (Kolb, 1995), which was aimed at determining learning mode orientations: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. The results revealed significant differences in students' learning styles preferences across disciplines, but not for gender. In addition, student learning style preferences varied by academic performance as measured by GPA. These findings have important implications for community college teaching and research.     

Learning Style and Effectiveness of Online and Face-to-Face Instruction

In this study the investigator compared two sections of the same course-one section was online and asynchronous; the other was face-to-face-by examining gender, age, learning preferences and styles, media familiarity, effectiveness of tasks, course effectiveness, test grades, and final grades. The two sections were taught by the same instructor and used the same instructional materials. The results revealed no significant differences in test scores, assignments, participation grades, and final grades, although the online group's averages were slightly higher. Ninety-six percent of the online students found the course to be either as effective or more effective to their learning than their typical face-to-face course. There were no significant differences between learning preferences and styles and grades in either group. The study showed that equivalent learning activities can be equally effective for online and face-to-face learners.     

Do they learn differently? An investigation of the pre-service teachers from US and China

Based on the hypothesis that learning preferences tend to vary over cultures, this study compared and contrasted the learning approaches and learning styles between Chinese and American pre-service teachers in an attempt to know more about the learning/teaching landscapes in these two countries as “teachers teach the way they learned” [Dunn, R., & Dunn, K. (1979). Learning styles/teaching styles: Should they...can they...be matched? Educational Leadership, 36, 243, 238–244]. The results showed significant differences between the two groups in deep and surface-learning approaches as well as kinesthetic and visual learning styles. The underlying cultural backgrounds and social–economic factors accounting for the differences were discussed and the implications for teaching and learning enhancement in teacher education were explored.     

Diverse Approaches to the Diversity of Learning Styles in Teacher Education

The goal of this paper is to present the findings of a new research project on teacher candidates' learning style preferences and the implications thereof for their teaching styles. The researchers utilized two different learning‐style assessment instruments based on Dunn and Dunn's learning style model—one paper and pencil and one online learning style assessment instrument to identify course participants' learning styles. Within the same institution of higher education, the learning style concept was introduced and operationalized in two different ways. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches, teacher candidates' individual and group learning style profiles and their reflections on their own learning and teaching styles are discussed.     

Better Late than Never: Able Youths and Adults

Abstract

This article reports qualitative research which sought to contribute to the understanding of the importance of individual learning preferences, which is important in the light of the current shift in emphasis from teacher centred to learner centred learning in further and higher education. Analysis was made of the preferred teaching and learning styles of two sub groups — engineering and humanities. The research seeks to ascertain whether there is a relationship between the preferred teaching styles of teachers and the preferred learning styles of their learners. Teachers and learners completed Teaching Style Questionnaires (TSQ) and Learning Style Questionnaires (LSQ) which were analysed using four preferences — Honey and Mumford's (1986) activist, reflector, theorist and pragmatist. The relationship between the teachers’ and learners’ preferred styles was shown to be variable. The engineering sub group demonstrate the same level of preference in the reflector and pragmatist categories, but differences in the other two. The humanities teachers and learners had minor differences in preference in all four categories.     

Mining students' learning patterns and performance in Web-based instruction: a cognitive style approach

Personalization has been widely used in Web-based instruction (WBI). To deliver effective personalization, there is a need to understand different preferences of each student. Cognitive style has been identified as one of the most pertinent factors that affect students' learning preferences. Therefore, it is essential to investigate how learners with different cognitive styles interact with WBI programs. This paper presents an empirical study, which examines the effects of cognitive styles on students' learning patterns and the effects of learning patterns on their learning performances. Riding's cognitive style analysis was used to identify the students' cognitive styles. Data mining, especially a clustering technique, was used to analyze the results. It was found that field independent students frequently used an alphabetical index whereas field dependent students often chose a hierarchical map. Such learning patterns also have great effects on their performance, especially for field dependent students.     

Designing Teaching and Assessment Methods for Diverse Student Populations

The American student population is becoming increasingly diverse in terms of race and culture. To address this pluralism, a study of learning style preferences was developed for purposes of designing more relevant teaching and assessment methods. Different theories of learning styles were incorporated into a survey that was administered to 483 students at four major universities. This survey compared learning style preferences according to ethnic and socio‐economic categories. Although it initially focused on students in Art and Design, it was eventually expanded to other disciplines for more inclusive reliability. The statistical analyses of this study are presented with corresponding recommendations for more effective teaching and assessment practices.