Language Learning Styles: An Investigation into Iranian Female EFL Learners’ Preferences and the Reasons that Lie behind their Preferences

Individual learners are assumed to be different in terms of their learning preferences. Differences in learners’ preferred styles may influence the extent to which they are successful in learning a foreign language. This studyaimed at investigating Iranian female EFL learners’ learning styles preferences as well as identifying thereasons that lie behind the learners’ preferences. To this end, a group of 30 female EFL learners, who sat for aproficiency test at the outset of the study and were recognized to be at intermediate level of language proficiency, were randomly selected from two language institutes in Ahvaz, Iran. The participants ranged between 18 to 30 years of age. A revised version of Willing s (1988) Learning Styles Preferences Questionnairewas administered to the participants. The reliability Cronbach’s Alpha of the scale was 0.84. The data was then analyzed descriptively by computing means and standard deviations of the four types of learning stylepreferences. The results indicated that communicative style was the preferred learning style by Iranian femaleEFL learners in the sample. Moreover, the findings implied that students’ preferred styles have a bearing onlearning outcomes and as such, for increased achievement, they need to be taken into consideration by botheducators and learners.

Keywords:

communicative , concrete , authority-oriented , analytic learning styles , EFL learners