The Role of Students' Learning Styles in Enhancing Classroom Instruction

Abstract

EFL students usually feel lost in many courses because they come to university with their traditional learning habits, such as relying on the teacher's handouts and his explanations. However, since 2004, students have not been seen as recipients of knowledge and information. The LMD model has led to irrevocable changes, especially in the learner's role: the learner has become a real knowledge-seeker. To help these students to cope with English language classes and to achieve better, the present study employed a questionnaire to find answers to the question, "What kind/type of learners are you?" Our hypothesis starts from the assumption that an awareness of the learners' learning styles is very beneficial. This study singled out three categories of learning styles from a group of thirty (30) first year students. The analysis of the results enabled the researchers to elicit the respondents' reactions and feelings about the discovery of their categories as EFL learners. The results show that students really need to discover their learning styles so as to build their own learning strategies