The Impact of Learning Style Preferences on Foreign Language Achievement: A Case Study of Iranian EFL Students

Abstract

In this study we sought to shed more lights on learning style preferences of EFL learners, and aimed to explore whether these styles of learning—as measured by the Kolb's learning style inventory (version 3.1) could have an impact on students’ foreign language achievement. While there are ample studies conducted on learning style preferences and academic achievement at university and/or college level, there are limited recent studies in Iran on learning style preferences of EFL learners at the institute level with learners from diverse educational backgrounds. The sample of the study was 123 Iranian female EFL learners at Zaban Saraa language institute who were selected by means of cluster random sampling method. The learners’ dominant learning style preference was converging (62.60%), followed by assimilating (17.89%), accommodating (11.38%) and diverging (8.13%). Moreover, the results from conducting a one-way ANOVA to compare variance in students’ final term scores between the four learning style categories showed no statistically significant difference: F (2, 432) = .876, p = .456. Finally, the findings of the study were discussed and some educational implications were given.

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