Learning Styles of Independent Learning Centre Users

Abstract

Learning style research has been a significant field within language teaching and learning. There have been very few attempts, however, to seek possible links between independent learning and learning style preferences. This paper aims to identify the learning styles of students who use the Independent Learning Centre (ILC) on a regular basis at a state university in Turkey (n=102). The findings of the learning style analysis revealed that, contrary to expectations, most of the regular users of the centre were synoptic learners, which implies that these learners might not necessarily have conscious control over their own learning processes. An in-depth analysis of learning styles and recommendations to improve the services offered in the centre are also included in the paper.