Bridging the Gap between Teaching Styles and Students’ Learning Styles in a Second Language Classroom

There has been a paradigm shift in the teaching of second language from instructional approach to a more learner-oriented approach. By understanding the learners’ preferred learning styles, teachers would be able to provide activities that match the ways learners learn language. Most teachers however are not aware of the ways their learners learn language even though understanding the learners’ way of learning is important to achieve the desired learning outcomes. This study therefore aimed at investigating the preferred learning styles of second language learners’ in a higher learning institution. A set of questionnaires were disseminated to Foundation (semester 1) students to get an insight on their preferred learning styles. A total of three hundred forty-one foundation students studying various engineering and technology courses were the respondents in this study. Reid’s Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire (PLSPQ, 1987) was employed to help learners identify the way they learn best and prefer to learn. The 30-item questionnaire covers six learning styles preference which are visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, group and individual. This paper will first discuss the importance of identifying learners’ learning styles as it helps the teachers to match their teaching styles in the classroom to ensure learning takes place. Appropriate pedagogical activities will be proposed and discussed compatible to the learning styles preferred by the students as indicated by the results in this study.