A Study On The Learning Style Preferences Of Tibetan Efl Learners

The issue of English teaching to Tibetan undergraduates has become increasingly important with the enlargement of college enrollment and the growing of social demand for Tibetan personnel staffs excelling in English. But the fact is the difficulty of English teaching to Tibetan college students is beyond the imagination of anyone who has never undertaken the task of teaching English to Tibetans. No matter how hard the teachers try, there are always many students who show a tendency to be bored and inattentive in class and do poorly on tests. Consequently, many teachers give up trying, ignoring the needs of the Tibetan learners and some even begin to question their own competence as English teachers. Meanwhile, Tibetan learners work very hard, but their achievements always let them down. Confronted with the low efficiency of English learning and teaching, both the teachers and students complain of the difficult classroom learning materials, which seemingly attributes to the frustration and even failure in English class.However, they may not be aware that their frustration, to some degree, is related to learning styles. The education literature suggests that students who are actively engaged in the learning process will be more likely to succeed. A key to getting and keeping students actively involved in learning lies in understanding learning style preferences, which can positively or negatively influence a student's performance.A detailed literature review of the relevant researches in the field indicates that scholars both home and abroad have studied learning styles from a variety of angles and with subjects of many different levels. Despite these achievements, there is still much room for further studies. First, the inconsistency in the outcomes of previous researches as a result of taking a single or double dimensional approach to learning styles suggests that a multi-dimensional model is necessary. Second, teaching methods to help expand learners' learning styles and develop learner autonomy should be explored in order to put learning style theory into practical use. Third, so far as China is concerned, most researches in this field are confined only to theoretical discussions and empirical studies are rare. Last, but not the least, the blank of learning style study on Tibetans learners calls for attention to Tibetan learners so as to improve their learning performance. Considering the difficult situation of English teaching to Tibetan, learning style research on TibetanEFL learners who grow up in a bi-cultural background and learn English as a third language in foreign language learning environment would be especially significant and necessary.In an attempt to better the current knowledge about the learning style preferences of Tibetan EFL learners and improve effectiveness of English teaching to Tibetan learners at college level, the present thesis studies the learning styles of Tibetan learners from a multidimensional perspective. The samples are selected from Tibetan Nationalities Institute located in Xianyang, Shaanxi. The study is both quantitative and qualitative including a survey and an oral interview. The data obtained from the survey goes through statistical analysis and the major findings are as follows:Concerning the general distributions of Tibetan EFL learners, the data indicates hand-on, independent, reflective, individual-oriented, and serialist styles are the most preferred ones, while impulsive and auditory styles are the least preferred. The data also suggests significant differences exist between female and male Tibetan learners in some learning style modalities, i.e. dependent, individual-oriented and visual learning. In addition, it is also found that learning style preferences vary significantly among students from different academic fields in mainly four modalities out of the 13 examined in present study, namely, dependent, holistic, serialist, and random.The information gathered from the interview, on the one hand, further verifies the findings of the survey, and on the other hand shows that incongruence exist between learning and teaching styles. This incongruence results from the fact that both the instructors and learners learned little about their learning style preferences, to say nothing of matching learning styles in the classroom.Based on the major findings of the study, the present author finally ventures some suggestions on how to improve English teaching to Tibetan learners through addressing their learning styles. For effective matching of learning and instructional styles in EFL classroom the teachers and students should establish a harmonious and cooperative relationship in order to work jointly and make their classroom style-conscious. Assessment of learning style is another step to follow so as to make teachers aware of their learners' needs, capacities, potentials and learning style preferences and make learners aware of their learning strengths and weakness. Based on the awareness ofstudents' learning style preferences, it is important for teachers to create courses that incorporate style and strategy training and cultivate learners' autonomy. In classroom teaching, teachers can diversify their teaching methods and strategies to meet the style preferences of different student groups. Meanwhile, teachers can encourage and guide students gradually move out of their "stylistic comfort zone" and stretch their styles in different learning situations. In addition, teachers can also take the advantage of modern teaching technologies, such as computer, Internet, and CAI, etc. to extend their teaching. Being the first probe into learning style preference of Tibetan EFL learners in China, the study may provide some insights for further research in the field. Its findings may throw some light on the improvement of English teaching to Tibetan students. Most importantly, it may help to reveal the mystery of how Tibetans learn English as a third language in a foreign language environment.