Learning styles and vocabulary learning by Iranian undergraduate EFL learners

Abstract

Each English as a foreign language (EFL) learner may have a particular learning style which may affect the mastering of new language skills and components, one of which is vocabulary. The current study aims to find out the preferred learning style(s) of Iranian undergraduate EFL learners and their achievement in the vocabulary test. Forty-four undergraduate students took part in the study. visual, auditory, reading/writing and kinaesthetic learning style questionnaires and the teacher developed test of vocabulary were used in this study. The validity and reliability of the learning style questionnaire and the teacher developed test of vocabulary were determined. The data were collected and analysed using appropriate statistical analyses including descriptive statistics and one way analysis of variance. The results indicated that the participants were mainly auditory learners. Moreover, it was found that visual and multimodal learners had the best performances on the vocabulary test.   Keywords: Learning style, vocabulary learning, undergraduate EFL learners.