A Match or a Mismatch between Student and Teacher Learning Style Preferences

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify the learning styles of the students enrolled in an American affiliated Lebanese university who are currently registered in intensive English courses and to investigate whether there is a match between students’ learning styles and teachers’ teaching styles. The participants in this study were 103 students and five ESL teachers. A modified version of the PLSPQ has been used as an assessment instrument to determine the learning styles of the students. The results showed that Lebanese students have a preference for multiple learning styles, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile and visual and that age, gender, discipline and time spent studying English are variables that affect the learning styles of the students. The findings showed that there was no match between the teaching and learning styles of the teachers and students. Implications are made for the classroom.