A Study Of Non-English Majors' Learning Style Preference Under The Environment Of Web-based Autonomous Learning

Since the 1970s, research interest in EFL/ESL has shifted from teachers'teaching to students'learning, thus much attention has been focused on individual differences. Learning style, as one of the important components of individual differences, has attracted more and more attention from researchers home and abroad. Learning style researches are categorized into the following aspects: inventories of learning style, the related factors in forming learning style, the link between learning style and learning strategies, learning style and teaching style, and learning style and language acquisition.Previous studies of learning style put their emphasis on identifying students'learning styles in the traditional teacher-centered and face-to-face instruction model. The present study mainly focuses on the distribution of learning style preference under the web-based autonomous learning model.With the implementation of College English Pedagogical Reform, the web-based autonomous learning model has been widely adopted at many universities. In the year of 2008, web-based autonomous learning model is only adopted on Slender West Lake Campus of Yangzhou University as tentative implementation. Since 2009, all the non-English majors of Yangzhou University have begun to incorporate the network technologies into the teaching process, in which Integrated Reading Classes of College English are moved from the classroom to the self-access English learning centers. All the learning tasks are presented on the Internet and finished by students themselves, with the teachers working as a guide and facilitator.The present paper reports an empirical study on the effect of web-based autonomous learning model on non-English major students'learning style preference and related factors such as gender and major. It aims to explore the general distribution of learning style preference of non-English majors; the change of learning style preference based on genders and majors before and after the implementation of web-based autonomous learning model.The research questions addressed in the thesis are: (1) What is the overall pattern of non-English majors'learning style preference before and after the implementation of web-based autonomous learning? (2) What are the gender differences of learning style preference respectively before and after the implementation of web-based autonomous learning model? (3) What is the effect of web-based autonomous learning on learning style preference within and across three disciplines?The study consists of two parts: quantitative and qualitative research.The quantitative research includes one learning style questionnaire done before and after first-year students receive one-term web-based autonomous learning. The subjects involve 230 non-English major freshmen from School of Arts, School of Science and School of Engineering at Yangzhou University. The questionnaire mainly covers five dimensions with 15 items of learning styles: (1) Information gathering dimension—Visual, Auditory and Hand-on; (2) Information organizing dimension—Analytic, Global, Intuitive and Sequential; (3) Information applying dimension—Impulsive and Reflective; (4) Task approaching—Open-oriented and Closure-oriented; (5) Social dimension—Group-oriented, Individual-oriented, Teacher-dependent and Teacher-independent.The qualitative research is an interview with six students, half of whom are males. They are from School of Arts, School of Science and School of Engineering. The interviews are tape-recorded and transcribed later. The transcriptions of the interviews are synthesized and categorized.Detailed analysis of quantitative and qualitative research yields the final findings as follows:1. Before students receive the web-based autonomous learning model, Sequential learning style is their favorite style while Impulsive learning style is the least preferred. While after one-term practice of web-based autonomous learning, Reflective learning style has become the most employed style among non-English majors and Impulsive learning style is still the last choice.Web-based autonomous learning model has a great effect on students'information gathering process, task approaching process and social dimension. In web-based autonomous learning process, Visual and Hand-on learning styles in information gathering dimension are less preferred while Auditory learning style begin to be widely adopted. In task approaching process, students become more open-oriented under web-based autonomous learning environment. They become more Individual-oriented and Teacher-independent. 2. There are significant gender differences of learning style preference in two surveys undertaken before and after the implementation of web-based autonomous learning model. However, gender difference among non-English majors is enlarged under the environment of web-based autonomous learning. Before receiving web-based autonomous learning, males and females show different preferences for Visual learning style in information gathering dimension and Closure-oriented learning style in task approaching dimension. After one term web-based autonomous learning, gender differences are found in learning styles of Visual and Auditory in information gathering dimension, Impulsive learning style in information applying dimension, Open-oriented learning style in task approaching dimension and Individual-oriented learning style and Teaching-independent learning style in social dimension.3. Generally speaking, it is found that after one-term web-based autonomous learning, Arts students have demonstrated the biggest changes of their learning style preferences—Visual learning style and Auditory learning style in information gathering dimension, Intuitive learning style in information organizing dimension, Open-oriented learning style in task approaching dimension and learning styles of Group-oriented, Teacher-dependent, and Teacher-independent in social dimension. Whereas, Science students demonstrate changes of learning style preference mainly in Group-oriented learning style, Individual learning style and Teacher-independent learning style in social dimension. Engineering students'learning style preferences have changed in the following aspects: Global learning style in information organizing dimension and learning styles of Group-oriented, Individual-oriented and Teacher-independent in social dimension. The most obvious changes among students of Arts, Science and Engineering have taken place in social dimension.4. Major differences are found between Arts and Science students, and between Arts and Engineering students. No significant differences are found between Science and Engineering students. Arts students tend to show greater preference for Global learning style, Sequential learning style and Individual-oriented learning style. Students in Science prefer learning styles of Auditory and Impulsive. Engineering students employ Hand-on learning style and Impulsive learning style more frequently. Arts students, compared with Engineering students, are more individual-oriented under web-based autonomous learning model.The implications from the findings of the study are as follows: (1) Knowledge of one's own learning style is fundamental in"learning to learn". Students can truly benefit from knowledge about individual's learning style preference. It's necessary for non-English majors to know more about their own learning styles. (2) As for teachers, there is much to be done in order to make students identify their own learning style preference and benefit from the transformation of new learning model. Teachers should be aware of matching their teaching style with student's diverse learning styles according to gender difference and major difference.