On the Impacts of Perceptual Learning Style and Gender on Iranian Undergraduate EFL Learners’ Choice of Vocabulary Learning Strategies

Abstract

Students’ learning styles and vocabulary learning strategies are among the main factors that help determine how students learn second language vocabulary. This work examined the extent to which choice of vocabulary learning strategies is affected by students’ perceptual learning style. In this research, the participants were 54 EFL learners atTarbiatMoallemUniversity majoring in English literature, ranging in age from 20 to 22, and they consisted of both males and females. TOEFL test, Schmitt’s (1997) vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire including 5 categories (Determination, Social, Memory, Cognitive, Metacognitive), and Joy Reid’s (1987) perceptual learning style preference questionnaire were used in present study. After collecting the data, a number of descriptive and inferential analyses were conducted on the data. The findings of the study revealed there was a relationship between learners’ perceptual style and vocabulary learning strategies they use so that learners’ perceptual styles make statistically significant contribution to the prediction of vocabulary learning strategies. The results showed that specific learning styles correlated with specific vocabulary learning strategies. Descriptive statistical analyses showed that the most frequent learning style was visual style. Kinesthetic and auditory styles ranked the second and third styles. Also it was shown that group style with the average of 16.0741 was the least frequent. Moreover, it was indicated that the most preferred vocabulary learning strategy category of all was related to metacognitive strategies. Determination strategies ranked the second. Cognitive, memory and the social strategies ranked the third to the fifth. Concerning the gender differences in both vocabulary learning strategies, and perceptual learning styles of the participants, an independent samples t-test was conducted, and the results showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the vocabulary strategy preferences or learning styles of the two genders. The research emphasized assessing styles and vocabulary learning strategies in the L2 classroom, attuning L2 instruction and vocabulary learning strategy instruction to learners’ style preferences, and remembering that no single L2 instructional methodology fits all students.