Demystifying Perceptual Learning Style Preferences of Vietnamese University Freshmen in English Academic Achievement

Abstract

Learning styles play an important role in teaching and learning, especially in second language acquisition. This study aims to investigate the perceptual language learning style preference of 385 first-year university students in Vietnam. Adapting Reid’s (1984) learning style questionnaire is used as a data gathering tool in which it was responded and retrieved via students’ emails incorporated with Google form. The results revealed that freshmen were active learners since they mostly belonged to 4 major learning styles, namely Tactile, Auditory, Group, and Kinesthetic learners, and 2 minor learning styles, i.e. Visual and Individual learners. In addition, the study did not find the differences between gender as well as major and non-major English students in comparison with learning styles. Besides, freshmen’s English academic achievement was highly influenced by their learning styles. The research findings contribute resourceful references to the formation of stakeholders’ policies on English language teaching and learning, teachers of English, and future studies.