The Relationship between Iranian English Language Learners’ Learning Styles and Strategies

Abstract

The present study aimed at finding the degree of relationship between Iranian learners' learning styles and their preferences in using specific language learning strategies. The study was conducted on female EFL learners at the Iran Language Institute (ILI) in advanced levels and also university students of English teaching at Azad University of Mashhad. By employing such instrumentation as the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) and also Language Learning Style (LLS) questionnaire the investigator found a significant relationship between learning styles and learning strategies used by the learners. Based on the results it can be concluded that learners scoring higher on the SILL performed better on the LLS, leading to the conclusion that SILL has a significant impact on LLS. Based on the factor analysis it was found out that cognitive, metacognitive, and most of all affective strategies showed a great correlation with the auditory style of learning. Also, metacognitive and most of all memory and social strategies showed a great correlation with the kinesthetic style.