Learning styles and their relationship with academic performance in English as a second language of students in a Mexican university

Abstract

Aim of this investigation was to determine if taking into consideration the learning styles according to Alonso, Gallego and Honey´s theory, learning English as a second language in a group of undergraduate students is supported with the objective of improving their academic performance. To accomplish it, a qualitative case study method approach was used. Eleven participants of a private university in southern Mexico City took part. Instruments included the CHAEA questionnaire, class observations and semi-structured interviews. Analysis strategy involved a coding and category identification process complemented with information triangulation. Results seem to indicate that the students of English as a second language manifested their learning style neither in their selection of electronic platform tasks nor in class activities. However, learning styles strategies improved the student´s concentration, establishing a proper relationship between the learning styles and improvement of academic performance in learning English as a second language