The relationship between language learning strategies and thinking styles of Iranian EFL learners

Abstract

Educators can design better subject materials and distinguish students’ characteristics if they comprehend learners thinking and learning styles. Therefore, this study aimed at substantiating the relationship between Iranian EFL learners’ thinking styles and their language learning strategies. To this end, measures of the language learning strategies of 251 non-randomly chosen Iranian EFL learners (169 female and 82 male) studying English at Urmia and Tabriz Islamic Azad universities were obtained using questionnaire on language learning strategies. Additionally, the Thinking Styles Inventory, a self-report test, was used to evaluate participants’ thinking styles. The Pearson product-moment correlation analysis indicated a statistically significant relationship between the two sets of measures (r= 0.6, p ≤ 0.05). Further analysis demonstrated that thinking styles and language learning strategies have positive correlation with gender. The result of the independent t-test revealed that there was a significant difference between male and female in their language learning strategies in favor of males. Implications mention that teaching methods and materials should be adjusted to the learning and thinking styles of students.