learning style

The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of students' learning styles on their performance in various question types of the listening section of IELTS examination as well as their strategy selection. To this aim, 90 Iranian IELTS candidates from IELTS courses of an English language institute in Tehran, took part in the study as the sampling method was based on availability. The participants of the study comprised of 35 males and 55 females, and they mostly aged between 20 to 27 years old. The researcher first used Kolb's questionnaire to recognize the individual learning styles of candidates, which were accordingly categorized into four classes as activists, theorists, pragmatists, and reflectors. The results obtained from the one-way ANOVA showed that the dissimilarity of the style groups causes different performance in some question types of the listening test. In the note completion, multiple choice, and matching question types, the findings indicated a statistically significant difference. Therefore, it could generally be argued that in these three types of questions in the listening comprehension module of the IELTS examination, variation in different learning styles groups causes variation of performance in different question types. The results of the present study also reveal that the style preferences affect the individual differences in selecting the learning strategies

Language learning platforms or channels have always been a challenge and source of inspiration for the respective SLA researchers. The two widely used channels are learning exercises and tasks, which have received much research but which is more effective in developing language skills (listening here), is still controversial. Additionally, learners' features, including their learning styles, might be either an effective or an affected factor in applying either channel. To shed light on both problems, this experimental research employing 55 conveniently sampled Iranian intermediate EFL learners categorized into experimental and control groups was conducted. The experimental groups exposed to both pre-and post-tests received task- and exercise-based listening instructions separately for ten sessions. Their perceptual learning styles were also measured after the interventions. The respective parametric statistical analysis (i.e., independent-samples t-test) showed that both groups performed roughly equally in the post-test, and there was statistically no significant difference between intervention types. ANCOVA was run concerning each sub-style to address the status of the learning styles. Similarly, the relationship between listening ability and method type showed no statistically significant differences, regardless of whether the effectiveness of either treatment was natural. Both listening activities worked efficiently to enhance learners' listening comprehension abilities. Statistically speaking, the results confirmed the non-significantly differentiating effects of both independent variables on developing listening skills and modifying learning styles. The findings are more challenging rather than concluding, which, while bearing specific pedagogical insights, motivates further research.