INSIGHTS INTO LEARNING STYLES PREFERENCE OF ENGINEERING UNDERGRADUATES: IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

Background and Purpose: Education at higher institutions prepares graduates for the real world. To develop and maintain quality, the focus must not only be on what institutions can offer but also on the learning needs and styles of learners. Despite many studies on engineering learners’ learning styles, limited research has been conducted to compare the learning styles of Engineering and Engineering Education learners. This study was conducted to ascertain the learning style preferences of first-year undergraduates from both groups in a science and technology-driven university in Malaysia. Methodology: This descriptive study consisted of 40 Engineering and 40 Engineering Education learners who attended an English language course at the university. Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire was adopted as the survey instrument. The data were analysed using self-scoring sheet and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Findings: While both groups chose Kinaesthetic as a major learning style preference, the Engineering Education learners also chose Group, Tactile, and Auditory learning styles as their other major preferences. Both groups chose Visual and Individual as their minor preferences. Contributions: The findings extend research demonstrating the significant role of specific disciplines in Engineering to determine the learning style preferences of learners. The findings also provide useful insights that suggest implications for practice and policy. Keywords: Engineering, engineering education, English language, learning styles, teaching and learning. Cite as: Ismail, N. N. A., Abdullah, T., & Abdul Raof, A. H. (2022). Insights into learning styles preference of engineering undergraduates: Implications for teaching and learning. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 7(1) 390-409. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol7iss1pp390-409

Mobile Learning in Business English its Effect to South American Students’ Learning Styles in the COVID 19 Pandemic Era: Its Economic Implications

The adoption of M-learning and perceptual learning style preferences of South American EFL learners in a business English course were studied empirically. A descriptive correlational research design was used in this study. Data were gathered from 125 South American EFL students who were carefully sampled among a total of 184 students with mobile phones enrolled in a business English classes of selected South American university. The Mobile Learning Questionnaire (MLQ) and Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire were used in the study (PLSPQ). The data revealed that students in a business English course have a high level of M-learning adoption. It was discovered that respondents favor visual learning, group learning, individual learning, tactile learning, and auditory learning, with kinesthetic learning receiving the least attention. When students are grouped by gender and age, test results show that male respondents had stronger appeal to the utility, acceptability, enjoyment, facilitating conditions, and behavioral intention of M-learning than female respondents. Regardless of their age, respondents acknowledged the benefits of using M-learning in their business English course. Similarly, when the respondents are grouped by gender, no significant differences in learning style preferences are detected. However, the younger respondents prefer group learning, whilst the older respondents prefer individual learning. Finally, a link was discovered between M-learning usage and students' preferred learning styles. The positive link implies that the more M-learning students use, the more learning style preferences they have for group, tactile, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and group learning tasks. This paper discusses the theoretical and educational consequences.

Effect of preferred learning styles on academic achievements: A cross sectional descriptive study.

Objective: This study aims to find out the preferred mode of study for undergraduate Physiology students and effect of learning style preferences on academic achievements. Study Design: Cross Sectional, Descriptive study. Setting: Fatima Jinnah Medical University, Lahore. Period: December 2018 to June 19. Material & Methods: Total 170 undergraduate’s 2nd year MBBS Physiology students were included. The VARK questionnaire (Version 7.1) designed by Fleming was administered to 170 students after taking consent. This questionnaire is a valid tool to assess the learning style preferences of students. It consists of 16 questions having four options each and a scoring chart at the end, for the students to calculate their own scores. The aggregate percentage of periodic assessments throughout the academic year was defined as academic achievement. It was matched with their learning style preferences. A relationship between the learning style preferences and academic achievement was studied. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 23.0. Results: Out of a total of 170 students, 73 (43%) preferred kinesthetic while 51(30%) preferred aural mode of learning. However, no association between learning style preferences and academic achievements could be found. Conclusion: The study concluded that the most preferred learning style among the M.B.B.S 2nd year Physiology students was kinesthetic. No significant association was found between the learning style preferences and academic achievement. Teaching modalities can be improved and incorporated according to students’ preferences.

Native-like Performance of Pragmatic Features: Speech Acts in Spanish

This study had as its goal to investigate how nonnative speakers (NNSs) of Spanish were able to perform pragmatics which in various ways resembled that of native speakers (NSs). The study focused on three advanced NNSs of Spanish who had contributed data six years earlier to a corpus of NS and NNS speech acts of complimenting, apologizing and refusing. The purpose was to do a contrastive analysis comparing the pragmatic performance of NNSs and NSs in order to capture both similarities and areas where highly competent NNSs displayed knowledge gaps, however subtle. The subjects responded to a language background questionnaire regarding their learning of Spanish and also completed a learning style preference survey. They were then asked to revisit their earlier performance in pragmatics from the corpus data and to describe the strategies that they used to produce their highly-rated performance in Spanish pragmatics at that time. The findings revealed ways in which the three subjects differentially imitated NS behavior, and provided insights as to how they arrived at native-like behavior in their facial expressions, use of clicks, physical contact practices, colloquial language, and cursing. The subjects’ reported learning style preferences appeared to be generally consistent with the strategies that they reported using for dealing with the pragmatic features of interest, such as the way that they dealt with cursing.

Student Profiling as a Tool for Inclusive Instructional Design: A Case of a 3rd Year Biotechnology Class, University of Namibia

Massification of Higher Education (HE) has made it difficult for teachers to design instructional strategies that are responsive to the diverse student needs. We here argue that student profiling is a handy tool that the HE teacher can use for inclusive instructional design by thoughtfully selecting learning and teaching strategies, and materials and supports that will maximise student achievement. We designed a student-profiling instrument focusing on capturing students’ biographical information, learning preferences, anticipated learning outcomes, personality traits, and learning related skills-set and administered to students in a 3rd Year Biotechnology class at the University of Namibia. The data on learning style preferences was analysed using the VARK Questionnaire (version 8.01) while a Chi-square (?2) test of association (SPSS software version 24) was used to determine whether there was a relationship between students’ preferred learning styles and the other variables. Seventy-five percent (75%) of the students had multimodal learning preferences while 25% were unimodal for kinesthetic learning style. No students preferred visual or auditory learning alone. The ?2 test revealed no significant relationship between students’ preferred learning styles and any of the other variables including age, place of origin, home language, home setting, residence during school semester, pre-course anticipation, skills set, and personality traits (P > 0.05). We conclude that profiling students’ learning preferences prior to teaching and learning helps HE teachers to tailor their instructional strategies to students’ learning style preferences, maximises epistemological access, as well as enhance inclusivity, equality and equity.

EFFECT OF GENDER ON LEARNING STYLE PREFERENCES OF NURSING STUDENTS IN SOME INSTITUTIONS IN EDO STATE, NIGERIA

Nursing previously a female-dominated profession is beginning to see a handful of male entrants. Students often ask questions in class concerning their learning styles. This study investigated learning style preferences based on gender. A descriptive cross-sectional survey research design with the aid of a self-administered questionnaire was applied to investigate 206 nursing students from 2 institutions in Edo State, Nigeria. The instrument used for the study, the questionnaire was validated by extensive literature search based on study objectives and consultation with 2 experts; 1 in measurement and evaluation in educational studies and another in nursing science with expertise in mental health nursing. Reliability was through the use of an adapted instrument by Kolb. Data were analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 in tables and percentages. Chi-square statistical technique was used to analyse the non-parametric data at a significance level of 0.05. Findings revealed that 52(36.1%) of the respondents were female convergers while 12(27.1%) were male divergers. There are 8(16.7%) male assimilators and 28(19.4%) female accommodators respectively. The females scored more on concrete experience such as watching videos or fieldwork, with a mean and Standard Deviation of 40.15±5.80 while the males had 9.24±5.98, with a p-value of 0.026 indicating that this was statistically significant. The only concrete experience was significant while reflective observation, abstract conceptualization and active experimentation were not significant. The study concludes that students have their own preferred way to recognize, retain and retrieve information irrespective of gender. It, therefore, recommends the development of comprehensive, up-to-date resources for learning such as a departmental library with internet facilities and the use of blended learning by nurse lecturers.

Perceptual Learning Style Preferences of English Major Libyan University Students and their Correlations with Academic Achievement

Exploring perceptual learning style preferences and their relationships with academic achievement is important to success in teaching and learning language. The aim of this study, therefore, was to investigate the perceptual learning style preferences of Libyan EFL University students majoring in English at Omar Almukhtar University and to check whether there is a significant relationship between students’ perceptual learning style preferences and their academic achievement. A total of 75 fourth year English major students were participated in this study. A self-reporting learning style questionnaire developed by Kinsella (1994) was used to collect data and final semester examination scores were used to determine the average academic achievement for each participant. The findings showed that tactile style was the most dominant learning style among the students followed by auditory style while kinesthetic style was the least favoured learning style. The findings also revealed that there was a significant relationship between students’ learning style preferences and their academic achievement; the strongest correlation (r=0.30, P<.01) was found between the auditory learning style and academic achievement. The findings are discussed in this study with implication for university instructors to identify their students’ perceptual learning style and match them with their teaching style to influence students’ achievement, and deliver their lectures by using different approaches and techniques to ensure that the learning process is effective and efficient for a great number of their students. This study contributed to the EFL field in Libya by providing clear information on students’ learning style preferences and their correlation with academic achievement.