THE CAN THO UNIVERSTIY ENGLISH MAJORED FRESHMEN’ LEARNING STYLES AND THEIR TEACHERS’ TEACHING STYLES

An Overview of learning styles and teaching styles ...6 Learning styles...6 Teaching styles...11 2.2 Related studies ...12 2.2.1 Congruence between learning styles and teaching style

CAN THO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

Student’s Code: 7062944 Class: NN0652A2

Course: 32

Can Tho, April 2010

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements……… i

Abstracts……….ii

List of tables ……… iii

List of figures……… v

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

1.1 General statement of the problem 1

1.2 Statement of research questions 3

1.2.1 Research aim 3

1.2.2 Research question 3

1.2.3 Research hypotheses 3

1.3 Definition of terms 3

1.3.1 Learning styles 3

1.3.2 Teaching styles 5

1.4 General organization and coverage of the study 5

Chapter 2: Literature Review 6

2.1 Related literature 6

2.1.1 An Overview of learning styles and teaching styles 6

Learning styles 6

Teaching styles 11

2.2 Related studies 12

2.2.1 Congruence between learning styles and teaching styles 12

The effects of match and mismatch between teaching styles and learning style on students’ learning 12

The researchers’ remarks on the effects of the match or mismatch between learning styles and teaching ones on students’ success in learning 13

Suggestion on overcoming of the mismatch between teaching styles and

learning styles 15

2.3 Justification of the present study 17

Chapter 3: Research Methodology 19

3.1 Research design 19

3.2 Description of subjects, instruments, and materials 19

3.2.1 Subjects 19

3.2.2 Research instruments 19

3.2.3 Questionnaires 20

3.2.4 Interviews 20

3.2.5 Pilot the questionnaire 21

3.3 Research Procedures 21

3.3.1 Questionnaires 21

3.3.2 Interviews 22

3.4 Description of measures employed 22

3.4.1.Data Analysis 22

Chapter 4: Results 23

4.1 The results of learning styles and teaching styles 23

4.1.1 Learning styles 23

The visual learning style 25

The verbal learning style 26

The logical learning style 27

The physical learning style 28

The social learning style 29

The solitary learning style 30

The auditory-music learning style 31

4.1.2 Interview questions about learning styles 31

4.1.3 Teaching styles 32

The visual teaching style 33

The verbal teaching style 34

The logical teaching style 35

The physical teaching style 36

The social teaching style 37

The solitary teaching style 38

The auditory-music teaching style 38

4.1.4 Interview questions about teaching styles 39

4.2 Description of the results pertinent to research questions 40

4.3 Other findings 41

Chapter 5: Discussion, Implications and suggestion for further research and Conclusion 43

5.1 Discussion 43

5.2 Implications 44

5.3 Recommendations 45

5.4 Limitations and Suggestion for Further Research 46

5.4.1 Limitations 46

5.4.2 Suggestion for Further Researches 46

5.5 Conclusions 47

Appendices 48

Appendix 1 48

Appendix 2 54

References 59

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my appreciation to a number of people who helped

me to complete this study through their advice, encouragement, criticism and suggestion

I would like to offer my profound and greatest indebtedness to my thesis advisor, Mr Nguyen Thanh Tung, for his valuable comments, corrections and constant encouragement in completing my thesis Without his help, this study would have hardly been made possible

I am also thankful to my subjects, the teachers from English Departments and the freshmen of bachelor of English Education, class 01 and 02, the freshmen of bachelor of English Studies, classes 01, 02, 03, and 04 Without their help during the data collection process, the research will never be finished

Last but not least, I would like to show my deepest appreciation to my family and my close friends, whose support and encouragement made me overcome all difficulties in carrying out the thesis

ABSTRACT

This study “the Can Tho University English-majored freshmen’s learning styles and

their teachers’ teaching styles” aims at identifying the most favorite learning styles

of the Can Tho University English-majored freshmen, the most favorite teaching styles of their teachers, and the match or mismatch between the learning and teaching styles The subjects include 153 English majors at Can Tho University and

10 teachers who teach these classes (teach writing, speaking and listening, and reading) The data were gathered from the questionnaires and interview questions

It was found that the most favorite learning styles are the music-auditory, social and verbal learning style, and the most favorite teaching styles are the social, logical and solitary teaching style Actually, the students and teachers all have the match between the five teaching and learning styles including visual, verbal, physical, logical and social style The solitary and auditory –music style have the mismatch between learning and teaching styles, in fact, this mismatch does not cause a big problem As a result, the Can Tho University English- majored freshmen’s learning styles match with their teachers’ teaching styles However, the mismatch (between auditory-musical and solitary teaching and learning styles) needs to be considered

TÓM LƯỢC

Bài nghiên cứu- sự phù hợp hoặc không phù hợp giữa phong cách học và phong cách dạy của sinh viên chuyên Anh văn năm nhất và giáo viên dạy các sinh viên ñó Bài nghiên cứu này nhằm khảo sát phong cách học sinh viên ủng hộ nhiều nhất và phong cách dạy mà giáo viên ủng hộ nhiều nhất Dựa trên kết quả nghiên cứu thu ñược, bài nghiên cứu còn tìm ra sự phù hợp không phù hợp giữa phong cách dạy và học của giáo viên và sinh viên ðối tượng nghiên cứu là 153 sinh viên năm nhất khóa 35 chuyên ngành Anh Văn tại ðại Học Cần Thơ và những giáo viên dạy viết, nghe-nói, và ñọc hiểu cho các lớp ñó Người nghiên cứu ñã sử dụng bản câu hỏi lựa chọn và những câu hỏi phỏng vấn ñể thực hiện nghiên cứu Kết quả cho thấy, phong cách học sinh viên ủng hộ nhiều nhất là phong cách âm nhạc- sự lắng nghe (music-auditory), xã hội (social) và ngôn ngữ học (verbal) Phong cách dạy giáo viên sử dụng nhiều nhất là các phong cách xã hội (social), theo logic (logical) and ñộc lập (solitary) Kết quả cho thấy mức ñộ ñồng ý ủng hộ các phong cách visual, ngôn ngữ (verbal), thuộc hoạt ñộng cơ thể (physical), theo logic (logical) và xã hội (social) giữa giáo viên và sinh viên nhìn chung là tương ñương nhau, chỉ có phong cách ñộc lập (solitary) và âm nhạc- sự lắng nghe (music-auditory), là mức ñộ ñồng ý sử dụng không phù hợp với nhau Tuy nhiên sự không phù hợp này cũng không quá lớn Do

ñó, có thể kết luận rằng phong cách dạy và học của giáo viên và học sinh tương ñối phù hợp với nhau mặc dầu sự không phù hợp (phong cách âm nhạc- sự lắng nghe và phong cách ñộc lập của giáo viên và học sinh) khá nhỏ nhưng cũng cần ñược chú ý

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of learning style

Table 2: Descriptive statistic of visual learning style

Table 3: Descriptive Statistics of the verbal learning style

Table 4: Descriptive Statistics of the logical learning style

Table 5: Descriptive Statistics of the physical learning style

Table 6: Descriptive Statistics the of social learning style

Table 7: Descriptive Statistics of the solitary learning style

Table 8: Descriptive Statistics of the music- auditory learning style Table 1’: Descriptive Statistics of teaching styles

Table 2’: Descriptive statistic of visual teaching style

Table 3’: Descriptive Statistics of the verbal teaching style

Table 4’: Descriptive Statistics of the logical teaching style

Table 5’: Descriptive Statistics of the physical teaching style

Table 6’: Descriptive Statistics the of social teaching style

Table 7’: Descriptive Statistics of the solitary teaching style

Table 8’: Descriptive Statistics of the music- auditory teaching style Table 9: The comparison between teaching and learning styles

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: the chart of the learning styles

Figure 2: the chart of the teaching styles

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

In this part, the general statement of the problem will be first addressed Then, statement of the research questions, definition of terms, and general organization and coverage will be presented

1 1 General statement of the problem

Each language learner has his or her own ways of learning and understanding new information that the teachers give him or her Moreover, each of them prefers different methods for learning And, the methods are often originated from their habits, their schools or their families In fact, the ways or methods of individuals have been gradually subjected to a great deal of attention Since Reid’s research on the topic of learning styles was published in 1987, more and more researchers have paid much attention to learning styles and discovered aspects related to ones, especially there are

a lot of studies about second language on this topic

The studies on learning styles indicate that it is very helpful as well as useful for teachers and students to take a different view of learning Therefore, teachers can use knowledge of learning styles in these studies for their classes Among the researchers, there are some famous ones such as Reid (1987), Rita and Dunn (1993), and Felder (1995), Peacock (2001) and Zhenhui (2001)

In general, the teaching practices nowadays seem to have idealized view from pedagogical aspects; however, the truth is that most of teachers are hardly aware of their students’ learning styles The teachers just focus on the way of giving lectures to their students Although establishing and identifying learning styles play an important role in teaching, the teachers seldom identify how the students get their lessons, and what ways they use to get knowledge from their lectures Therefore, their unawareness

of learning styles causes some unanticipated consequences in students’ learning

In general, students’ learning styles are considered as an insignificant factor in teaching However, without an evaluation, experienced teachers may misinterpret students’ behaviors such as hyperactivity or inattentiveness Hence, it’s very necessary

to obviously assess learning styles of students to accommodate different learners

According to Felder (1996), when students learn in class, they partially prove their abilities In addition, they show their learning styles quite clearly when studying Besides, the results of their studying often indicate the learning styles as well as the lecturers’ teaching styles For many years, the researchers have studied the relationship between teaching and learning styles They have proved the effects of match and mismatch between the teaching and learning styles on students’ learning Among the researchers who had views regarding this aspect, Peacock (2001) determines that a mismatch causes learning frustration, failure and demotivation In a class where a mismatch occurs, the students get bored and inattentive Thus, they do not get good results on the tests, and they even quit the course Furthermore, the teachers may feel disappointed with their students, and may suppose that they do not have good ability in teaching (Oxford et al, 1991) Besides, other researchers have claimed that matching teaching and learning style improves learning, attitudes, behavior, and motivation (Willing 1980; Reid 1987, Spolsky 1989; Hyland 1993; Felder 1995; Oxford et al 1991; Kinsella 1995; Nelson 1995; Tudor 1996 and Jones 1997) For some research above, the researchers partly showed the consequences or effect of mismatch between students’ learning styles and teachers’ teaching styles To conclude, the mismatch and match between teaching and learning styles play an important role to determine students’ learning success

The educators have paid lots of attention to the relationship of teaching and learning styles However, except for some researchers such as Peacock (2001), Maria and Mahela (2007), for many research about learning styles, the majority of researchers such as Almasa, Parilah and Fauziah (1985), or Almasa, Parilah Mohd and Fauziah (2009) principally focus on the students’ learning styles, and investigate the origin of learning styles titled Perceptual of Learning Style of ESL Students Also, Reid (1987) did a research named The Learning Style Preferences of ELS Students The limitation of these studies above was that they didn’t mention the match between teaching and learning styles meanwhile the match plays an important role to decide the students’ results of studying

Can Tho University has recently applied the credit-based curriculum With this system, the students are considered to be centered in their learning process Thus, they need to find out their good points, that is, what styles belong to them Especially, if the first- year students can find out and know their own learning styles at the beginning of their course, the teachers can base on students’ learning styles to apply

suitable teaching methods and motivate students to learn As a result, the mismatch

between teaching and learning styles can be avoided, so we can also stay away from

some bad results that the mismatch causes

For those reasons above, the researcher would like to conduct a research on the

learning styles, teaching styles and the match between them And I name my research

as “The CTU English-majored freshmen’s learning styles and their teachers’

teaching styles”

1.2 Statement of research questions

1 2.1 Research aims

In this research, I want to investigate (1) learning styles that are mostly

favored by the CTU English-majored freshmen, and (2) teaching styles that are mostly

favored by their teachers Also, I want to answer the question (3) Do the CTU

English-majored freshmen’s learning styles match or mismatch with their teachers’

- Do the CTU English-majored freshmen’s learning styles match or mismatch

with their teachers’ teaching styles?

1.2.3 Hypotheses

In this study, I hypothesize that (1) social learning style, physical learning style

and visual learning style are mostly favored by the CTU English- majored freshmen,

(2) social teaching style, physical learning styles and solitary teaching style are mostly

favored by the CTU majored freshmen’s teachers, and (3) the CTU

English-majored freshmen’s learning styles match with their teachers’ teaching styles

1.3 Definition of terms

1.3.1 Learning styles

There are numerous definitions about “learning styles” According to Reid (1995) cited in Maria (2007), learning style is said to be internally based characteristics of individuals for intake of understanding of new information

In other words, each language learner has his or her own peculiarity when he or she studies The peculiarity relates to the learning process that he or she acquired from time to time Perhaps, this person prefer visual presentation while that person likes to take part in role-plays or do experiments to study, even others tend to work in groups

to discuss or work individually to study Although they all have different learning styles, they all expect to get good results for their studying Besides, Reid (1995) also cited in Peacock (2001) that learning styles are a student’s natural, habitual, and preferred way(s) of absorbing, processing, and retaining new information and skills This definition is the most common one during the time This definition indicates that the origin of learning styles, habits, natural available features and preferred ways were incorporated during the studying process

According to Arthur (1993), learning styles are mental processes and instructional settings that every student uses effectively when he or she learns He mentioned that learning styles were the mental processes and instructional settings which helped students gain good effects on studying Besides, Irvinc & York(1995)

cited in Suleiman, Mahmoud (1996) that the term learning styles was a generic term

that included three distinct styles or substyles: cognitive, affective, and physiological

According to Adey, Fairbrother et al (1999) cited in Cheng-Yi (2004), learning

styles were thoughts of as persistent learning strategies which were operated across all subjects’ areas

Moreover, Keffe (1979), Willing (1988) and Spolsky (1989) once stated that:

Learning styles were cognitive and affective traits that were relatively stable indicators of how learners perceived, interacted with, and responded to the learning environment; learning styles are natural, habitual, and preferred ways of learning Learning styles are a clear, comprehensible and coherent set of likes and dislikes; learning styles were identifiable individual approaches to learning situations

In other words, learning styles are the cognitive and affective ways that students have from nature or their habit or even preferred ways; and they are also the ways that they found approach to their studying

Learning styles, defined by researchers, are the students’ preferred ways originated from their habit or characteristics Also, learning styles are the preferred ways which are suitable for students or their ability Hence, the students themselves get lessons easily with their own ways when studying

For those definitions above, it is noted that all definitions of learning styles are equally significant in meeting the unique demands of the learning/teaching situation

If teachers are aware of the variables affecting learning, it is useful for educators and teachers

1.3.2 Teaching styles

There are some definitions related to teaching styles

According to Galton et al (1980), teaching styles are a set of teaching tactics

Similarly, Seidentop (1991) defines that teaching styles are instructional format

Physical Education also states that teaching styles are the general pattern created by using a particular set of strategies (from Teaching Styles in Physical Education and Mosston’s Spectrum, retrieved 15:43, 111 August 2007 (MEST) It is obvious that these definitions of teaching styles are slightly different in the way they are stated, but not the nature itself Therefore, it can be concluded that teaching style refers to teaching styles as a set of teaching tactics

Thanks to the researchers’ ideas, teaching styles can be understood as follows Teaching styles depend on teachers, each of whom has his own teaching styles that he experienced from the way he learned best, or he believes he can help their students get lessons well

1.4 General organization and coverage of the study

This thesis consists of five chapters

Chapter 1 covers the general statement of the problem, the research aims, the research questions and the hypotheses as well as the organization of the thesis

Chapter 2 presents related readings, related literature, related studies, and justification of the present study

Chapter 3 provides the research design, subjects, research instruments, and procedures of the study description of measures employed

Chapter 4 addresses the analysis and synthesis collected from the instruments Chapter 5 includes discussions, limitations, pedagogical implications, recommendations, suggestions for further research, and conclusions

to learn through their strengths, they may get successful in learning all subjects even

“basic skills”

Actually, this theory was originally designed for Multiple Intelligences in humans generally not in a classroom application However, it not only was supported

by a lot of educators but also got large adaptation in educational settings

In general, each student has his or her own strengths and weaknesses in the classroom Gardner’s research enabled to point out that and helped to improve students’ ability in any given intelligence On the basis of his theory, many schools have documented the use of MI (i.e., Multiple Intelligences) in their instructional design to adapt their lesson plans and classroom activities to accommodate these various styles One specific school is the Key Learning Community, formerly known

as the Key School, a part of the Indianapolis Public School Gardner (1983) was regarded for his theory of different learning styles He developed a theory on the different ways that individuals learned and processed information According to his theory of Multiple Intelligences, students may show stronger learning skills in any of

well-seven different style categories Besides, some people have strengths in several areas, while others may find that they learn predominantly through a single style

In combination with Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Memletic Learning Styles Inventory has been prepared in Memletics Accelerated Learning Manual book by Sean Whiteley published by advanogy.com 2003) It also differentiates seven learning styles according to the types of the theory of multiple intelligences including visual (spatial), aural (auditory-musical), verbal (linguistic), physical (kinesthetic), logical (mathematical), social (interpersonal) and solitary (intrapersonal)

To understand clearly about these learning styles, the researcher give a small summary of learning styles by basing on the theory of these learning styles from theory of Multiple Intelligences

(1) Visual/spatial: learners of this style prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding These learners are able to acquire maps, reading, charts, drawing, mazes, puzzles, imagining things and visualization well Therefore, they prefer drawing, building, and designing, creating and looking at pictures They learn best through working with pictures and colors, visualizing, using the mind’s eye and drawing Legos, videos, movies, slides, art, imagination games, mazes, puzzles, and illustrated books are required to help these learners study well

(2) Verbal/linguistic: learners of this style prefer using words both in speech and writing These learners are able to acquire lessons by writing, reading, memorizing dates, thinking in words, telling stories well Therefore, they prefer writing, reading, telling stories, talking, memorizing, and working at solving puzzles Besides, they learn best through hearing and seeing words, speaking, reading, and writing, discussing and debating Books, tapes, paper diaries, writing tools, dialogues, discussion, debate, and stories are necessitated to help these learners study well

(3) Auditory/musical: learners of this style prefer using sound and music These learners are able to acquire sounds, melodies, rhythms and songs, lectures Therefore, they prefer singing, playing an instrument, listening to music Besides, they learn best through rhythm, singing, melody, listening to music and melodies Moreover, they tend to listen in classes, they learn best through listening to the instructions from teachers These learners need songs, lectures, and instructions to study well

(4) Logical/mathematical: learners of this style prefer using logic, reasoning and systems These learners are able to acquire lessons well through math, logic, problem-solving, reasons, and patterns Therefore, they prefer questioning, working with numbers, experimenting and solving problems Besides, they learn best through working with relationships and patterns, classifying, categorizing, and working with the abstract They demand for things to think about and explore such as science materials, manipulative and so on

(5) Bodily/kinesthetic: learners of this style prefer to use body language, hands and sense of touch These learners are able to acquire lessons well by acting, taking part in activities such as role-plays, dramas Therefore, they prefer moving around, touching, talking and using body language Besides, they learn best through touching, moving, knowledge through bodily sensations, processing Role-plays, dramas, movement, sports and physical games, tactile experiences, and hands-on learning are required to help them study well

(6) Social/interpersonal: learners of this style prefer to learn in groups These learners are able to lead, organize, understand people, communicate and resolve conflicts Therefore, they like to talk to people, have friends, and join in groups Besides, they learn best through comparing, relating, sharing, interviewing and cooperating Group work, group games, social gatherings, community events, clubs, mentors/apprenticeship are necessitated to help them study well

(7) Solitary/intrapersonal: learners of this style prefer to work alone and use self- study These learners are able to recognize their own strengths and weaknesses, set goals and understand themselves Therefore, they prefer working alone, pursue interests Besides, they learn best through working alone, having space, reflecting, doing self-paced projects They need secret places, time alone, self-paced projects, and choices to help them study

According to Reid (1987), learning styles are of six types:

(1) Visual learners prefer seeing words or ideas in writing, e.g reading handouts or from the board or in workbook It is better for them to understand information and instructions by reading them These learners don’t need as much oral explanation as auditory learners, and they can learn by themselves with their books Taking notes of lectures and oral directions is helpful for them to remember information

(2) Auditory learners prefer listening, that is, oral explanation, discussions, or debates They may read aloud to remember information, especially when they learn new materials They learn best through hearing audio tapes, lectures, discussing and making tapes to listen to, and conversing with their teachers

(3) Kinesthetic learners prefer active participation/experiences; that is, dramas and role-plays They learn best through classroom experiences When they actively take part in activities such as role- plays or dramas in the classroom, they can remember information well A combination of stimuli helps them learn better For example, an audiotape combined with an activity will help them understand new materials

(4) Tactile learners prefer hands-on work; that is, handling materials or taking notes They can learn best through hands-on experiences with materials They can show their strengths when working on experiments in a laboratory, handling and building models, touching and working with materials Besides, they can remember information better by writing notes or instructions Moreover, making something for class projects, building something and involving in related activities help them understand new information

(5) Group learners prefer studying with others Group interactions help them learn better They learn more easily when they study with at least one other student, and they learn best through working with others They value both group interaction and class work with other students

(6) Individual learners prefer studying alone, that is, self-directed study or independent reading and study They learn best through working alone The successful learning situations for them are to think and work by themselves They understand information and make better progress in learning when they work by themselves

According to Felder and Silverman, there are eight learning styles: sensory, intuitive, visual, verbal, active, reflective, sequential and global

(1) Sensory learners prefer concrete, practical, and procedural information They look for the facts

(2) Intuitive learners prefer conceptual, innovative, and theoretical information They look for the meanings

(3) Visual learners prefer graphs, pictures, and diagrams They look for visual representations of information

(4) Verbal learners prefer to hear or read information They look for explanation with words

(5) Active learners prefer to manipulate objects, do physical experiments, and learn by trying They enjoy working in groups to figure out problems

(6) Reflective learners prefer to think things through, to evaluate options, and learn by analysis They enjoy figuring out a problem on their own

(7) Sequential learners prefer to have information presented linearly and in and orderly manner They tend to put together the details in order to understand the big picture emerges

(8) Global learners prefer a holistic and systematic approach They see the big pictures first and then fill in the details

From the above theories, there are different researchers with various theories of

learning styles Gardner’s (1983) theory and Reid’s (1987) theory are similar to each

other Although they use the different terms for determining learning styles, both of them mentioned visual, auditory (musical), kinesthetic (bodily), individual (intrapersonal) and group (interpersonal) However, Gardner’s theory is more comprehensive than Reid’s because Gardner adds two more learning styles about logical (mathematical) and verbal (linguistic) Reid does not mention these learning styles In Reid’s theory about learning styles, she specifies tactile and kinesthetic learners as two types of learning styles, in fact, they are similar as one Actually, tactile and kinesthetic are also connected with the sense of touch; learners with these two learning styles all prefer active participation, experiences or hand on works Reid (1987) distinguishes learning styles into six types; however, they nearly include five types because the tactile and kinesthetic are as in one In general, both Reid and Gardner’ theories help students or learners identify their strengths or weaknesses to learn best In addition, the teachers can base on their learning styles to accommodate with teaching styles Nevertheless, Gardner’s theory is more comprehensive and idealized with 7 learning styles than Reid’s Felder and Silverman’s theory is rather strange; this theory is not as common as the two theories above

Teaching styles

Not all professors approach teaching in the same way Major differences exist depending upon academic discipline, class size, and on individual instructor preferences The Indiana State University Center for Teaching and Learning has identified four teaching styles:

a) Formal teachers are those who have a formal authority teaching style and tend to focus on content This style is generally teacher-centered, where the teacher feels responsible for providing and controlling the flow of the content and students are expected to receive the content Teachers of this style are not as concerned with building relationships with their students They don’t care that their students form relationships with other students These teachers do not usually require much students’ participation in class

b) Demonstrator teachers are those who tend to run teacher-centered classes with an emphasis on demonstrating and modeling Teachers of this type act as a role model by demonstrating skills and processing and then as a guide in helping students develop and apply these skills and knowledge Teachers with this teaching style are interested in encouraging students to participate in and adapt their presentation to include various learning

c) Facilitator teachers are those who have a facilitator model teaching style and tend to focus on activities This teaching style emphasizes on students-centered learning Teachers typically design group activities which necessitate active learning, student-to-student collaboration and problem solving These teachers often design learning situations and activities that certainly require students to process and apply in creative and origin ways

d) Delegator teachers are those who have a delegator teaching style and tend to place much control and responsibility for learning on individuals or groups of students They will give students a choice designing and implementing their own complex learning projects and act in a consultative role Students are often to ask to work independently or in groups And, they must be able to maintain motivation and focus for complex projects

However, the researchers have suggested that teachers often have their own teaching preference, influenced by their own learning style preference Both Reid (1995) and Willing (1988, p.6) cited in Peacock (2001) suggest that all teachers have

their own teaching styles, which can be identified On the origin of teaching styles, it has been proposed that teachers teach in the way they were taught and learned best (Chu et al (1997)) or emulate teachers they admired (Peacock (2001))

All in all, teaching styles depend on teachers, they has their own teaching styles that they experienced from the way they learned best, or they believe they can help their students get lesson well

2.2 Related studies

2.2.1 Congruence between learning styles and teaching styles

The effects of match and mismatch between teaching styles and learning styles on students’ learning

During times, the researchers have done a lot of studies to investigate the reasons of bad results in students’ studying For example, the tests are too difficult or the teachers give bad lectures or the study program is not suitable for the students' degrees Beside those reasons above,another reason found by other researchers is the match between learning and teaching styles This problem is quite strange and a little bit delicate because it related to the teachers’ teaching In fact, teachers have their own teaching styles They mostly believe that their teaching styles are useful for their students However, they do not suspect that their teaching styles may not match with their students’ learning styles The problem may arise when the mismatch between the teaching styles and learning styles occurs Thus, the effects of the match or mismatch between learning and teaching styles were indicated by some researchers

Among the authors that have done studies related to this topic are:

Peacock (2001) studied the correlation between learning and teaching styles based on Reid’s hypothesis Also, he found that learners favored kinesthetic and auditory and disfavored individual and group styles, while teachers favored kinesthetic, group and auditory styles Besides, Peacock (2001) is one of the significant and influential researchers who explored the match between teaching and learning styles in the real setting Especially, his study (2001) investigated whether the second of Reid’s hypothesis “a mismatch between teaching and learning styles causes learning failure, frustration, and demotivation” is right or not For his work, by using questionnaires combined with interviews, he proved this hypothesis to be right when investigating 206 EFL students and 46 EFL teachers at Hong Kong University He

determines that serious mismatches exist between students’ learning styles and lecturers’ teaching styles Moreover, his study was the basic foundation for other researchers when they studied about the effects of match or mismatch between learning and teaching styles

Zhenhui (2001) analyzed the matching teaching styles with learning styles in East Asian context For his study, he diagnosed learning styles and developed self-aware EFL learners Especially, he confirmed that if the teachers are aware of the students' needs, abilities, and their learning styles, they can base on the ways which students like to study and help them develop their strength by altering the teachings styles to have a teacher-student style matching Therefore, the effective matching between teaching and learning styles can be achieved

Maria and Mahela (2007) studied about the crossroad between learning and teaching styles For their study, they found that the learning styles of first level students matched with their teachers’ teaching styles in a private university in Colombia This match was investigated by using questionnaires to identify the learning and teaching styles, also other instruments They also showed that the match helped to motivate students’ process of learning

These research above studied the congruence between learning styles and teaching styles The effects of match and mismatch between the learning styles of students and the teaching styles of the instructors are also shown in these research To identify more about this point, the researcher can have a view of these following researchers’ remarks related to the effects of the match or mismatch between learning styles and teaching ones on students’ success in learning of other researchers

The researchers’ remarks on the effects of the match or mismatch between learning styles and teaching ones on students’ success in learning

Reid (1995) says that matching teaching styles with learning styles give all learners an equal chance in the classroom and build students’ self- awareness She also determines that when teachers can balance their teaching styles with students’ learning styles, students can get teachers’ methods suitable with their learning styles It means that teachers should provide students’ demands, and give an equal chance in classrooms

According to Oxford et al (1991), when mismatch occurs in class, students tend

to be bored and inattentive, do poorly on tests, and get discouraged about the course

Hence, teachers may conclude that their students are not good at the subjects of the course and they may want to give up teaching As a result, the mismatch influences students’ studying and teachers’ psychology According to Kumaravadivelu (1991; 98) cited in Zhenhui (2001), if the students have chances to have interpretation in class and the teachers try to pay attention to students’ desires, the results of students’ learning will be better In other words, there is a match between teachers and learners that leads to get expected outcomes in teaching and learning

Brown (1994) confirms that when students’ learning styles are matched with appropriate approaches in teaching, it’s helpful for students’ motivation in learning Therefore, the achievement will be increased Basing on the result of a meta-analysis

of 42 experimental studies, Dunn et al (1995) claims that students who were taught

by an approach compatible with their learning styles study better than those whose learning styles were not matched with teaching styles Students’ learning styles suitable to teaching styles have better results than those who have unsuitable styles If the students can be taught in manner they preferred, it is easier for them to get lessons

In a similar vein, Griggs and Dunn (1996) claimed that students get good results in

learning and have positive attitude towards learning if the methods were compatible with their preferred learning styles Similarly, Claudia and Regan (2008) stated that students learn best when they are taught in ways that matched their ways of learning (Stanberry & Azria, 2001; Mahlios, 2001; Ogden, 2003; Lovelace 2005) In brief, the match between teaching styles and learning styles helps students learn best and obtain better results To conclude, teaching styles approach to learning styles or the match between teaching and learning styles can motivate students in learning Also, students

will have positive attitude towards learning

Those remarks above are also a great deal of theoretical support for the idea “a mismatch between teaching and learning styles causes learning failure, frustration, and demotivation” (this is one of five Reid’s hypotheses (1987) It is also proved to be right in Peacock (2001) which is cited above

Besides, a number of authors propose that mismatches often occur and have bad effects on students’ learning and attitudes to the classes (Reid, 1987; Cortazzi, 1990); Felder, 1995; Ehrman, 1996; Jones, 1997) Felder adds that students get bored,

do poorly on the tests, get low grades and even may quit the course Many have also claimed that matching teaching and learning styles improves learning, attitudes,

behavior, and motivation (Willing, 1980; Spolsky, 1989); Felder, 1995); Reid, 1987) For all evidences above, the mismatch between teaching and learning styles not only effect students’ learning attitudes but also the learning results

Thanks to the researchers’ ideas, the effects of match and mismatch between teaching and learning styles can be understood as follows When mismatches exist between learning styles of most students in a class and the teaching styles of the professors, the students may become bored and inattentive in class The students may have bad results on their tests, get disappointed with the courses, and even want to quit the course because they do not find any motivation to study Furthermore, the professors would face students’ boredom, low grades and unresponsive or hostile classes, even dropouts and so on As a result, teachers may have poor expression on their students, or they also become bored and don’t want to pay attention on students’ learning They even begin to wonder if they are in the right profession, whether they have enough capability to teach Most seriously, society loses potentially excellent professionals For those evidences above, we can affirm that the mismatch can cause bad effects on students’ learning and their attitudes to the class, even the teachers also get the consequences of their psychology as well as the students’ results in studying

Suggestion on overcoming of the mismatch between teaching and learning styles

For many unexpected consequences of mismatch between teaching and learning styles, it’s very serious for the education generally if this situation continuously happens and doesn’t have any ways to solve However, some researchers also give methods to avoid the mismatch, and to overcome the effects of mismatch between learning styles and teaching styles on students’ success

According to Felder (1995: 27), one method for overcoming mismatch is a balanced teaching style It means that teachers should accommodate all learning styles If teachers identify the students’ learning styles and control their teaching methods or styles compatible with their students’ ones, the mismatch will be avoided (Reid, 1987:101; Melton, 1990; Oxford et al., 1992; Hyland, 1993; Chu et al., 1997) Also, to stay away from the conflicts between teachers and learners, Willing (1988: 88) agrees and asserts that teachers should balance teaching and try to give methods

approachable with learning styles On the other hand, Ehrman (1966:129) suggests

gradually building and increasing array of options for class and homework, the

teachers should encourage their students with array of options However, this option might follow the arrangement that suits the students’ abilities, not too difficult or not too easy to avoid students’ boredom or disregarding To do this, teachers need to identify the students’ learning styles and find the ways to match with them Will (1988: 23) warned that we had to respect teachers’ styles because adopting an unfamiliar style can reduce effectiveness Moreover, among many researchers, Reid (1987) represented the importance of assessing the students learning styles She affirmed that learning a second language or a foreign language requires time, it’s a meticulous process Knowledge is built up for a long time not in a short time Therefore, the lecturers should be careful or patient in teaching to improve attitude towards learning, and it’s very helpful for teachers to accommodate and encourage the learning styles The teachers should rely on their students' learning styles to apply to teach in order to help them learn best with their own styles Furthermore, the teachers’ responsibility is to create a favorable learning environment that will accommodate learners with different learning styles

Besides, Felder (1996) suggests the way to overcome the mismatch that professors should balance instructional methods (i.e., try to teach students exclusively according to his or her preferences) If there is the balance between teaching and learning, students can be satisfied with the preferred methods teachers partly taught, they will be motivated to study and get achievements However, if the students are taught partly in less preferred manner, they don't get the lesson well as the preferred one

In conclusion, the congruence is that when students and teacher styles are better matched, students are likely to work harder both in and outside the classroom and also to benefit much more from their EFL/ESL classes Such studies have proved that it’s necessary to match teaching styles of lecturers and learning styles of students

to increase competency of teaching and learning The importance of the relationship between teaching and learning is an active process, and they go hand in hand with each other It is realized that teachers themselves play an important role to be able to enhance their effectiveness and enable students to achieve their full potential (Forest (2004) Many researchers have studied the match between teaching and learning, they assert that the mismatch between teaching and learning are continuous and also exits

in the education and training nowadays, and that makes a large influence on students’ attitudes and motivation

2.3 Justification of the present study

In my study, I want to find out the learning styles and teaching styles, and the

match between them To do this aim, I need to find out the learning styles and teaching styles which the students and teachers favored; therefore, I can get the match between them To do this, I have to base on one of these theories of learning styles above to get the learning styles as well as the teaching styles

In the theories above, there are lots of researchers with various theories of learning styles I choose the theory of Howard Gardner and Memletics Learning Styles Inventory of Sean Whiteley as well as the questionnaires based on both of them As mentioned above, this theory is quite comprehensive with seven learning styles Besides, Memletics Learning Styles Inventory based on Howard’ theory of MI used by over 4000 people in 85 countries It was used to help those people learn better With the comprehension and helpfulness, Howard Gardner’s theory and Memletic Learning Styles Inventory are also common and suitable for many countries such as Canada, Brazil, Europe and many other countries On the other hand, Reid’s theory with her own questionnaires is only suitable in USA She claims that the PLSPQ (Perceptual Learning Styles Preference questionnaires) and her theory about learning styles are only valid and reliable in USA, but in other countries, the validity and reliability are not assured On the other hand, the Multiple Intelligences Memletics Learning Styles Inventory and its questionnaires used to identify learning styles are widely used in a lot of countries They are both valid and reliable; over 4000 people in 85 countries used to help themselves identify their own learning styles to learn best In fact, I want to investigate the match or mismatch between teaching and learning styles, to do this aim, I just identify the learning styles and teaching styles first by basing on the theory of learning styles and its related questionnaires After that, I can rely on the collected data to conclude the match or mismatch between teaching styles and learning styles Therefore, the data need to be reliable and valid in order to prove the exact match between learning and teaching styles For those reasons cited above, I choose Howard Gardner’s MI theory as well as Memletics Inventory learning style to carry out my study

About teaching styles, for many types of teaching styles above, I agree with the ideas that teachers often have their own teaching preference, influenced by their own learning style preference and teachers teach in the way they were taught or learned best In my research, I define EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teaching styles

for the purpose of this study as natural, habitual, and preferred ways of teaching new information and skills in the classroom Also, I will adapt the learning styles questionnaires of Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence theory and Memletics Learning Styles Inventory to create teaching style questionnaires to collect the data on language teaching styles for my study Certainly, the teaching styles are also correlative with the learning styles In other words, teaching and learning styles have the same styles consisting of visual, verbal, logical, physical, solitary, social and musical-auditory

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In this section, I will present research design, description of subjects, instruments, and materials research procedures and description of measures employed

3.1 Research Design

This research follows a descriptive design in which the learning styles and teaching styles are surveyed by English majored freshmen and their teachers in English Department of Can Tho University Questionnaires and interviews are used to determine which learning styles and teaching styles belong to students and which

teaching styles belong to their teachers

3.2 Description of subjects, instruments, and materials

The second subject: there are 10 teachers who teach writing, reading, listening

and speaking doing the questionnaires for my study They are also from English Department of CTU Their ages are rather different from 28 to 45 The researcher chooses teachers of writing, reading and speaking and listening Since each skill is affected by each teacher, the researcher does not focus on only one subject to determine the learning styles

3.2.2 Research instruments

Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data for this research

3.2.3 Questionnaires

The two questionnaires (learning styles questionnaire and teaching styles questionnaire) were designed basing on the questionnaire of Memletics Learning Styles Inventory (2003), which includes 70 questions However, I get some of them and adapt in my questionnaires consisting of 35 questions In the two questionnaires, there were 35 items in each questionnaire arranged in random order Because there are

7 teaching styles and 7 learning styles, I design each questionnaire including 35 items, there are 5 items for each learning style For example, item 1, 13, 27, 22, 33 belong to

visual styles) Similarly, the teaching styles questionnaire is in the same order

A five-point scale (1 – strongly disagree, 2 - disagree, 3 - undecided, 4 – agree and 5 –strongly agree) was used to investigate which learning styles and teaching styles belong to students and their teachers All those items in the two questionnaires were categorized into 7 learning styles and 7 teaching styles They included visual, verbal, logical, physical, social, solitary and musical- auditory styles The learning styles questionnaire and the teaching styles questionnaire were categorized as follows

Visual ( item 1, 13, 22, 27, 33) Visual ( item 1, 13, 22, 27, 33)

Verbal (item 2, 21, 14, 15, 32) Verbal (item 2, 21, 14, 15, 32)

Logical ( item 3, 8, 18, 23, 30) Logical (item 3, 8, 18, 23, 30)

Physical( item 4, 9, 16, 24, 29) Physical (item 4, 9, 16, 24, 29)

Social ( item 6, 11, 19, 26, 31) Social ( item 6, 11, 19, 26, 31)

Solitary ( item 7, 12, 20, 28, 34) Solitary (item 7, 12, 20, 28, 34)

Musical-auditory(item10, 17, 25,5, 35) Musical-auditory(item10,17, 25, 5, 35)

3.2.4 Interviews

To ensure the results of the questionnaires’ reliability, interviews were used to check the answers in the questionnaires in order to avoid choosing roughly Therefore, the results may be not reliable There are two interview questions for learning styles and two ones for teaching style

3.2.5 Piloting the questionnaire:

The first version of the two questionnaires consists of 35 items for each questionnaire I chose reading classes and listening and speaking classes to deliver the questionnaires, the total of these two classes are 37 students and the two teachers from these classes The 37 learning style questionnaires were delivered and collected enough 37 ones, the two teaching style questionnaires for teachers were also collected After that, I continue to analyze the data by using SPSS to get the reliability of my questionnaires The result of the learning styles questionnaires showed that the Cronbach’s Alpha = 758, it’s considered to be acceptable and rather reliable However, the teaching styles questionnaires are not analyzed because there were only two questionnaires delivered

During piloting questionnaires, I got some ideas from the students and teachers There are some sentences difficult for students to understand because of new words and some general sentences

To avoid students’ misunderstanding, I revise the questionnaires by translating some new words in sentence 1 and explain more information in sentence 29 to help

students understand more clearly to do

3.3 Research Procedures

3.3.1 Questionnaires

In my study, the participants were students and teachers from English Department of CTU Therefore, it was easy for me to meet them and deliver questionnaires as well as interview I asked them the schedule that all English of Education and all English of Art study together After that, I delivered for them to finish the questionnaires, and if any students did not understand, I can directly answer and explain to them There are 153 papers delivered to 153 students from the six classes, 4 classes of English of art and 2 classes of English of education and 10 papers for their teachers Certainly, I can collect the papers of the students immediately after finishing For the teachers, because they were so busy I couldn’t collect the papers soon I collected enough students’ papers, but I only collected 9 papers from the teachers

3.3.2 Interviews

For the learning styles and teaching styles questionnaires, interview papers were used to check whether the learning styles and teaching styles found in the questionnaires are similar to what they answer in the interviews The students need to answer the questions about the activities they like to do in classes, and they learn best through what teacher’s techniques The teachers also answer the two main questions about the techniques and the activities they prefer to use for their teaching in classes

of Can Tho University of the first year students After finishing choosing the scale of the questions, the students and the teachers answer these questions in the interviews which help the researcher to check whether the learning styles found by choosing the scale similar to the learning style found by answering questions (they themselves write down the answers after finishing choosing the scales)

3.4 Description of measures employed

3.4.1 Data Analysis

I delivered 153 questionnaires with interview papers accompanied and collected 153 for students; however, I delivered 10 questionnaires for the teachers and collected 9 papers I use the SPSS (the statistical Package for the Social Sciences) version 11.5 and the Microsoft Excel 2003 to analyze the raw data For the analytical methods, the reliability test, the transform and the descriptive statistics test were used

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS

This section will be about the results of learning styles and teaching styles, description

of findings pertinent to each research question and other findings

4.1 The results of learning styles and teaching styles

4.1.1 Learning styles

Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of learning styles

In general, the students agreed with all seven learning styles including the visual style, verbal style, logical style, physical style, social style, solitary style, and musical – auditory style, the mean fluctuates from 3.06 to 3.894 However, the mean

of the solitary style was rather low; we can consider this mean as undecided scale On the one hand, most students did not like to study alone On the other hand, they had tendency to work in group of the social style with the mean of 3.860 Also, the musical- auditory styles were favored the most with the mean of 3.894 Therefore, I could infer that students like studying with music, and they want to hear the instructions told in classes by teachers The verbal style and physical style had the mean nearly equal, the verbal style with the mean of 3.76 and the physical style with

the mean of 3.75 The mean of the two learning styles showed that the students like studying with discussing, studying with word games and working at puzzle, they learn best through hearing and seeing words, speaking, reading, and writing, discussing and debating Because they are sensitive to the meaning and order of words, learners like using words both in speech and writing) and they enjoy taking part in hand-on activities like role- plays They tended to move not to sit silently while studying The logical and visual style were the less favorite than the verbal, physical, social, solitary and musical- auditory style, however, the mean did not differentiate much with 3.652

of the visual style and 3.664 of the logical style The mean of the visual style showed that the students also studied well through images, pictures, illustrated books and slides, they also preferred drawing, creating and looking at pictures With the mean of the logical style, the students also liked using logic, reasoning and systems to solve problems, and they learn best through working with relationships and patterns, classifying, categorizing, and working with the abstract The detailed statistic is presented in the following chart

Figure 1: the chart of the learning styles

Logi

cal s

tyles

Solitary

tyles

The visual learning style

Table 2: Descriptive Statistics of the visual learning style

For the five questions about visual styles, the results showed that studying with games, mazes, puzzles and illustrated books was mostly favored by students (M= 4.14, SD= 823) And, studying through art activities like painting was the least favorite (M=3.18, SD =1.020) This mean showed that students were undecided to choose this situation The second common was studying through visual presentation such as power point, demonstration, pictures, videos or movies, videotapes, colors to help students imagine well to study Visualizing objects, buildings, situations etc from plans or descriptions easily came as the fourth (M= 3.62, SD= 835) before studying by drawing or using illustrated books (M= 3.41, SD =1.017)

N=153 M(SD) Min-Max Q1 You can easily visualize objects, buildings,

situations etc from plans or descriptions

3.62( 835) 1-5

Q13 You like imagination games, mazes, puzzles

Q22 You like studying through arts activities like

painting or drawing on a notepad while they

think

3.18 (1.020) 1-5

Q27 You like studying through visual presentation

such as power point, demonstration,

pictures, videos or movies, videotapes,

colors to help Ss imagine well to study

3.91 (.846) 1-5

Q33 You like studying by using illustrated books 3.41 (1.017) 1-5

The verbal learning style

Table 3: Descriptive Statistics of the verbal learning style

The detailed statistic in Table 3 showed that reading books, newspapers, magazines etc was mostly favored by the students (M=4.03, SD= 949) Discussing, talking through issues, questions or possible solutions were also favored as the second

(M=3.76, SD =.841) It meant that the students like discussing and sharing ideas to

solve problems in classes Besides, studying by playing crosswords, scrabbles or other word games came as the third Both question 2 and question 32 came as the forth and

fifth having the similar mean (question 2, M= 3.65, SD=.921) and (question 32, M=3.63 SD=.864)

Q2 You prefer studying writing, using books, tapes and

paper diaries

3.65(.921) 1-5

Q14 You solve problems by “thinking aloud”- talking

through issues, questions, possible solutions, and you

like discussing or debating

3.76(.841) 2-5

Q15 You like to read everything Books, newspapers,

Q21 You enjoy studying by playing crosswords, scrabbles

Q32 You can easily get information through reading,

audiocassettes and lectures 3.63(.864) 1-5