The Impact Of Learning Styles On Learning Strategy Preferences

This study is designed to explore the impact of learning styles on learning strategy preferences. The aim of the study is to make an investigation about the participants' learning style preferences and their use of learning strategies, analyze the impact of learning styles on learning strategy preferences quantitatively so as to provide further statistical support in this area, and present some suggestions for strategy training.Data were collected from two major sources: the literature and questionnaires. The participants were 120 juniors majoring in English from Qufu Normal University and Liaocheng Teacher's University. Two questionnaires were used in the study for data collection: one is Oxford's (1990) Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) including memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective and social strategies; and the other is Reid's (1984) Perceptual Learning Style Preference Survey (PLSPS) which consists of visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic, individual and group styles. SPSS was used for data analysis from three aspects: (1) the participants' learning style preferences; (2) their use of learning strategies; and (3) the relationship between their learning styles and learning strategies.The study reveals the following three major findings. First, the participants use more memory and cognitive strategies than compensation, metacognitive, affective, and social strategies. Second, the major learning styles of the participants are visual, auditory, tactile, and individual. Their minor style is kinestheticand their negative style is group. And third, learning styles have strong impact on learning strategy preferences. Students of all kinds of styles prefer memory and cognitive strategies (0.67≤r ≤0.82). Visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic learners do not prefer compensation, metacognitive, and affective strategies (0.26≤r≤0.48). Group learners prefer compensation and social strategies (r=0.81, 0.82 respectively), but they do not prefer metacognitive and affective strategies (r=0.29, 0.38 respectively). Individual learners have negative use of compensation and social strategies (r=-0.82, -0.80 respectively).The findings of the study show that learning style is an important factor to be considered in terms of strategy training. Based on the major findings, suggestions for strategy training are made.First, teachers should make language learners aware of their own learning style preferences (i.e. their major styles, minor styles and negligible styles) and understand the advantages and disadvantages of different learning styles so as to maximize their initiatives in learning.Second, teachers should make language learners aware of their own learning strategy preferences in order to develop their learning autonomy by using suitable strategies for specific activities, andThird, teachers should, pay attention to students' learning styles in strategy training. Specifically speaking, language teachers may use Styles-and Strategies-Based Instruction (SSBI) in their practice.Needless to say, there is limitation in this research. For instance, the participants are only from Shandong province, thenumber of them is not very large either. Besides, it is insufficient to study the impact of learning styles on learning strategy preferences only through questionnaires. Perhaps a case study is much better. In the case study, the researcher can see the result of learning strategy training based on learning styles through the comparison between the experimental group and the comparison group. But the results in this research here can still prove the relationship between learning style and learning strategy preferences to some extent. It is hoped that this study can benefit language teachers and students to a certain extent and can spark more research in this area in the future.