A Study On The Perceptual Learning Styles Of Secondary Vocational School Students

Before 1960s, much of the research of second language acquisition put emphasis on finding better teaching methods but with little consideration of individual differences. It was not until 1960s that many researchers realized the role of the learner. Then researchers began to shift their attention from teachers' teaching process to students' learning process. It is well recognized that in the learning process learning style is an important component of individual learner differences and it affects the students' second language acquisition. A learning style is often referred to as an individual's habitual and preferred ways of absorbing, processing and retaining new information and skills and there is a much greater variation in the range of learning style preferences to be considered. Therefore, it is significant for educators to understand what learning style preferences are, and how to address them when preparing instructional materials for students.Through investigation, it is obvious that most of the students in Secondary Vocational Schools are not aware of their learning styles and are not clear about how to process or use information from textbooks, teachers and other resources. Normally, they are lack of theoretical directions to adjust and stretch their modalities to meeting their learning needs. And we have to admit that at present, less attention and cares are given to them from society and educators. However, as one of the main sources of technological workers in China, the SVSS are important to Chinese economy and their learning and problem-solving ability can even affect the whole quality of our country's working forces directly. It is true that many researchers at home have carried out studies on learning styles of English majors, college students and high school students, but little has been done on the SVSS. Therefore, there is a significant need to carry out study in this area.The present study aims to investigate the general perceptual learning styles of students in Secondary Vocational Schools. The participants are 4 teachers and 405 students from 3 different Secondary Vocational Schools in Jinan. The 4 teachers and 10 students among them are interviewed respectively. In the study, the questionnaire is designed according to Joy Reid's model (1984). The questions for the interview are...