A study on the learning style preferences with different academic backgrounds-taking Tujia EFL learners as examples

Abstract

The present study hopes to explore the learning style preferences with different academic backgrounds of Tujia EFL learners offer some suggestions for improving effectiveness of College English teaching in Tujia-Miao regions. The study adopts a multidimensional learning-styles instrument. The specific research questions involved in this study are as follows: 1. Do the learning styles of Tujia college students vary with literal arts and science and technology majors? (1) If they do, what are the contributing factors affecting their learning style preferences? 2. How can the distributions of learning styles affect the methods of Tujia EFL classroom teaching?The subjects of this study are 146 Tujia students from 6 different departments of Jishou University in in Tujia-Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Xiangxi. Both the quantitative and qualitative researches are applied in this study.The quantitative research indicates minority students from different academic backgrounds have various learning styles. The results of the qualitative study indicated that most of the Tujia students and their teachers know little about "learning styles" and some teachers thought the research of "Tujia EFL learners' learning styles" is useless. The significant inharmony between teachers' teaching styles and students' learning styles was also discovered. © 2013 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured in Finland.