EFL Learning Styles

Over the last years, there has been growing interest on learning styles and their relationship with EFL learning. There is a general belief that learning styles can help students become better learners (Nunan, 1988, 1995a,b). It is also believed that learners who have developed skills in learning-how-to-learn will be better able to use classroom learning opportunities effectively, and are more interested in language learning outside of the classroom. Increasingly, the focus of university level instruction is on learning-how-to-learn rather than cramming information. In a recent statement Professor Tsui Lap-Che, Vice Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong, and an eminent geneticist, stated that

Learning is not about cramming in information.

In these studies, learning styles and have been variously described and defined. ‘Styles’ is the more general term, being “an individual’s natural, habitual, and preferred way of absorbing, processing, and retaining new information and skills” (Kinsella, 1995, p. 171). These styles appear to be relatively stable and will be deployed by individuals regardless of the subject being studied or the skill being mastered. There are numerous ways of characterizing styles. Christison (2003) distinguishes between cognitive style (field dependent versus field independent, analytic versus global, reflective versus impulsive); sensory style (visual versus auditory versus tactile versus kinesthetic) and personality styles (tolerance of ambiguity, right brain versus left brain