PROJECT PAPER IDENTIFYING LEARNERS

LEARNING STYLES

Introduction
This paper explores a spectrum of problems and challenges students face while learning
second language. Many educators and researchers have claimed that learning styles are
insignificant component in the learning process. However, the study points out the significance
of learning the students learning style preference. The purpose of the study is to determine
thelearning styles of students at University of Selangor. The focus group was comprisedby 5
learners of B. Ed. (HONS) TESL final year of 2013/2014. There are different definitions of
learning. Learning is commonly defined as a process that bringstogether cognitive, emotional
and environmental influences and experiences for acquiring, enhancing,or making changes in
one's knowledge, skills, values, and world views (Illeris, 2004; Ormrod, 1995).Meanwhile, for
others learning is the lifelong process of transforming information and experience
intoknowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes. Many researchers worked on the way
individuals learn orunderstand, later adjust new information and their preferred methods for

learning. It has also been thefocus of a number of studies in the second language acquisition field
in recent years. It has beenclaimed that learning styles are insignificant component in the
learning process. Studies on learningstyles have provided different views of student learning and
the way to apply it in the classrooms andlives. Educators and researchers have developed several
instruments to assess students learning styles,but literature regarding this topic is full of
unresolved issues; both theoretical and practical (Wilson,1998, P.3). On the other hand, these
instruments have been a great help in identifying visual,kinesthetic, auditory, tactile, group and
individual styles as well as many other classifications ofstyles in students and also exploring
them with the aim of improving the learning and teachingprocesses. Therefore, it is obvious that
people learn in many different ways: people who learnprimarily with their eyes are called visual
learners; or with the ears - auditory learners; whereas somepeople prefer to learn by experience
and/or by "hands-on" tasks - kinesthetic or tactile learners; somepeople learn better when they
work alone while others prefer to learn in groups.

Background
Every learner has their own learning style. This is because, every student have their own
multiple intelligences, idea introduced by Howard Gardner which make every single learner of
L2 different. The reason why this study is conducted is because; we want to identify the best
learning style to be used to learn English language effectively. When the teacher already identify
each of the students learning style, the process of preparing the lesson plan, choosing appropriate
teaching aid become easy.

Objective of the study

The main objective of this research is to determine the learners learning style at
University of Selangor.

Description of the subjects

There are 5 respondents of B. Ed. (HONS) TESL final year of 2013/2014 students which
will contributed in this project paper. They will be given with questionnaire and need to answer.
After that, all of the finding will be documented to identify the most preferences learning style.
There are three females and two males would be my respondent.

Section B
Research Instruments

In this project paper, I will be using a set of questionnaire consist of 30 questions called
Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire (PLSPQ). PLSPQ was developed by Reid
(1987) and was used to access language learners preferred perceptual learning style. PLSPQ was
used in this research as this questionnaire is reported to be of high validity and reliability
(Riazi&Mansoorian, 2008; Peacock, 2001). This self-report questionnaire helps us identify the
ways in which learners learn best and prefer to learn. The 30 statements in the questionnaire
cover Reids six learning style preferences, with five statements for each preference. The six
learning style preferences are visual, auditory, tactile and kinesthetic preferences, and two social
aspects of learning like group, and individual preferences (Reid, 1987). The questionnaire uses a
likert scale with strongly agree (5 points), agree (4 points), undecided (3points), disagree
(2points) and strongly disagree (1 point).

Reid (1987) describes visual learners as those that learn best with pictures, images
andgraphs while studying and retaining information. Such learners perform well when they
acquiremessages from videos, mind maps or powerpoints slides in ESL classroom whereas
auditorylearners are comfortable with listening to a lecture, discussing information or expressing
verballywhat he or she learns. Kinesthetic learners prefer physical participation like drama and
role play.
Thus, this group of people would become actively involved in classroom activities as they
learnbest by experiences. Tactile learners like hands-on activities like using materials or taking
notesduring the learning process. For example, these learners write notes during lectures or
engagephysically in classroom activity to retain the information they have learned. Group
learners learnand understand new information well when they study with others. They feel
comfortable with group discussions, class interactions or any other activity that involves
communication withother learners. However, individual learners learn the other way round. They
acquire knowledgewhen they study alone. Individual learners learn best when they work or
handle projectsindependently.Reid (1987) also classified learning styles preferences into major,
minor and negligencecategories. Major learning style preferences reveal that a learner could
acquire information welland is able to perform the best. Minor learning style preferences indicate
performance andacquisition at an average level whereas negative learning style preferences
indicate that anindividual has difficulty learning in that style. Thus, it is essential for educators to
lead theirstudents towards their preferred learning style to be successful.

Analysis of Data & Result

Based on the result, 5 learners questionnaire results were collected and will be presented
in the graph form. All of result and biodata of the subjects are confidential to make the subjects
feel comfortable and confidence to participate in this project paper. This project paper is focusing
on 6 learning style references which are visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, group and last but
not least individual. From the PLSPQ by Reid suggested that:

Major Learning Style Preference

38-50 (Blue in colour)

Minor Learning Style Preference

25-37 (Green in colour)

Negligible

0-24 (Red in colour)

All of the results from each of the learners are presented as below:

Learner 1

Learner 1
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Visual

Auditory

Kinesthetic

Tactile

Group

Individual

Based on the graph shown above, I can conclude that this learner is a tactile kind of
person. Tactile kind of learner will enjoy hand-on kind of activity inside the classroom. While,

kinesthetic will be this learner minor learning style preference. Learner with kinesthetic learning
style enjoy by being involved physically in classroom experiences. This kind of learner will
remember well when participate in classroom activity. The negligible learning style would be in
group. This language learner does not prefer to sit in group to discuss any topic or task to be
completed.

Learner 2

Learner 2
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Visual

Auditory

Kinesthetic

Tactile

Group

Individual

Based on the finding, I can conclude that, this is kinesthetic type of language learner.
Kinesthetic type of learner learns best by experience, by being involved physically in classroom

experiences. A combination of stimuli-for example, an audio tape combined with an activity-will

help he or she understand new material. The minor learning style preference of this learner
would be individually study. I could say that, this is interpersonal kind of person. This student
comfortable and learn language effectively by individually. The negligible learning style would
be visual. This learner will not enjoy learning language through visual aids.

Learner 3

Learner 3
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Visual

Auditory

Kinesthetic

Tactile

Group

Individual

Based on the finding, this is interpersonal type of leaner. This kind of person enjoy learn
language all alone and not prefer to sit even in a small group of people. This student has two

minor learning style preferences which are kinesthetic and tactile. Kinesthetic type of person
enjoy learn language when actively participate in activities, field trips, and role-playing in the
classroom. While, tactile type of person learn best when they have the opportunity to do handson experiences with materials. That is, working on experiments in a laboratory, handling and
building models, and touching and working with materials provided. Auditory is the negligible
learning style.

Learner 4

Learner 4
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Visual

Auditory

Kinesthetic

Tactile

Group

Individual

Based on the graph presented, this language learner has two major learning
style preferences which are visual and individual. He or she will enjoy learning through visual

aids for example videos, pictures but by individually. Individual type of person thinks well when
he or she study alone, and remember information he or she learn by her or himself. While,
auditory would be this minor learning style preference and does not interested study in a group or
to complete particular task.

Learner 5

Learner 5
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Visual

Auditory

Kinesthetic

Tactile

Group

Individual

Based on finding, I can conclude that, this fifth learner are auditory and group type of
language learner. Students with auditory characteristic learn from hearing words spoken and from

oral explanations. He or she may remember information by reading aloud or moving his or her
lips as his or her read, especially when he or she is learning new material. While for the group
characteristic, this kind of person will benefit and gain new language, skill and information when
sit in a group rather than being isolated. For the minor learning style preference, this learner is
tactile type of person. Writing notes or instructions can help this type of learner remember
information, and physical involvement in class related activities may help him or her to
understand new information. This fifth learner will not enjoy learning through visual aids as this
is his or her negligible learning style.

Suggestions

As the suggestion, there are two parties that I could say, must cooperatively work together
in ensuring the successfulness of the teaching and learning process. They are the educators or
teachers and the learners itself. Here, I would like to make some suggestions on how both parties
can take part actively in this matter.

1. Teachers or educators
As Felder (1993) states, the alignment between students learning styles and instructors
teaching styles leads to better recall and understanding as well as to more positive postcourse attitudes. From this statement, it is clearly stated that teachers play an important
role in helping the learners to have better understanding about the lesson. So, the teachers
themselves need to identify the learners learning styles preference so that will be easier

for them to prepare a lesson which can be accepted by the learners. Furthermore, by
knowing the learning styles preference of their learners, this will help the teachers in
preparing variety of teaching aids. This is important in order to attract the learners
attention towards the lesson.

2. Students or learners
This study can also benefits the students where it helps to increase the students awareness
of their learning style preferences, so that they can modify their learning styles and
develop additional ones in order to enhance their learning achievement. Once the students
have identified their own PLS, they can start practising it in their study, to ensure the
maximum achievement.

As the conclusion, both educators and learners need to have the awareness on the
importance of identifying the perceptual learning styles preferences of individuals since it can
benefit both parties. All the learning styles discussed above have their own strengths, so it will be
the individuals responsibility to enhance theirs for more effective learning and better
achievement.

Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire

(Copyright 1984, by Joy Reid.Explanation of learning styles was adapted from the C.I.T.E.
Learning Styles Instrument, Murdoch Teacher Center, Wichita, Kansas 67208 )

Directions:

People learn in many different ways. For example, some people learn primarily with
their eyes (visual learners) or with their ears (auditory learners); some people prefer
to learn by experience and /or by hands-on tasks (kinesthetic or tactile learners);
some people learn better when they work alone while others prefer to learn in
groups.

This questionnaire has been designed to help you identify the way(s) you learn best
the way(s) you prefer to learn.

Decide whether you agree or disagree with each statement. And then indicate
whether you:
Strongly Agree (SA)
Agree (A)
Undecided (U)
Disagree (D)
Strongly Disagree (SD)

Please respond to each statement quickly, without too much thought. Try not to
change your responses after you choose them. Please answer all the questions.

PERCEPTUAL LEARNING STYLE PREFERENCE

QUESTIONNAIRE

SA
1. When the teacher tells me the
instructions I understand better.
2. I prefer to learn by doing something in
class.
3. I get more work done when I work with
others.
4. I learn more when I study with a group.

5. In class, I learn best when I work with

others.
6. I learn better by reading what the
teacher writes on the chalkboard.
7. When someone tells me how to do
something in class, I learn it better.
8. When I do things in class, I learn
better.
9. I remember things I have heard in
class better than things I have read.
10.When I read instructions, I remember
them better.
11.I learn more when I can make a model
of something.

SD

12.I understand better when I read

instructions.
13.When I study alone, I remember things
better.
14.I learn more when I make something
for a class project.
15.I enjoy learning in class by doing
experiments.
16.I learn better when I make drawings as
I study.
17.I learn better in class when the teacher
gives a lecture.

18.When I work alone, I learn better.

19.I understand things better in class
when I participate in role-playing.
20.I learn better in class when I listen to
someone.
21.I enjoy working on an assignment with
two or three classmates.
22.When I build something, I remember
what I have learned better.
23.I prefer to study with others.
24.I learn better by reading than by
listening to someone.
25.I enjoy making something for a class
project.

26.I learn best in class when I can

participate in related activities.
27.In class, I work better when I work
alone.
28.I prefer working on projects by myself.
29.I learn more by reading textbooks than
by listening to lectures.
30.I prefer to work by myself.

SELF SCORING SHEET

Instructions
There are 5 questions for each learning category in this questionnaire. The questions are grouped below
according to each learning style. Each question you answer has a numerical value:

SA

SD

Fill in the blanks below with the numerical value of each answer. For example, if you answered Strongly
Agree (SA) for question 6 (a visual question), write a number 5 (SA) on the blank next to question 6
below.

Visual
6 - __ 5__

When you have completed all the numerical values for Visual, add the numbers. Multiply the answer by
2, and put the total in the appropriate blank.

Follow this process for each of the learning style categories. When you are finished, look at the scale at
the bottom of the page; it will help you determine your major learning style preference(s), your minor
learning style preference(s), and those learning style(s) that are negligible.

VISUAL

TACTILE

6 - _____

11 - _____

10 - _____

14 - _____

12 - _____

16 - _____

24 - _____

22 - _____

29 - _____

25 - _____

Total_____ x 2 = _____(Score)

AUDITORY

Total_____ x 2 = _____(Score)

GROUP

1 - _____

3 - _____

7 - _____

4 - _____

9 - _____

5 - _____

17 - _____

21 - _____

20 - _____

23 - _____

Total_____ x 2 = _____(Score)

Total_____ x 2 = _____(Score)

KINESTHETIC

INDIVIDUAL

2 - _____

13 - _____

8 - _____

18 - _____

15 - _____

27 - _____

19 - _____

28 - _____

26 - _____

30 - _____

Total_____ x 2 = _____(Score)

Total_____ x 2 = _____(Score)

Major Learning Style Preference

38-50

Minor Learning Style Preference

25-37

Negligible

0-24