Language Teeaching and Learning Styles

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of homogeneous versus heterogeneous reading-style grouping on EFL students' non-preferred reading style and reading comprehension. The study used a pretest-posttest experimental design. The original subjects of the study (N=86) were Egyptian English major senior students during the 2005/2006 academic year. At the beginning of this academic year, the Analytic/Global Reading Styles Inventory (AGRSI) was administered to these subjects to measure each student's analytic and global reading styles. Based on their scores on the inventory, strongly analytic and strongly global subjects (N=62) were randomly assigned to homogeneous and heterogeneous groups. Afterwards, both groups were tested to measure each student's reading comprehension before treatment using the Reading Comprehension Test developed by the researcher. Each group was then randomly assigned to pairs. During treatment, the members of each pair alternatively exhibited their reading behaviors by thinking aloud while reading and sharing answers to post-passage questions after reading. The study lasted for 28 weeks, one ninety-minute session per week. After treatment, the AGRSI and the Reading Comprehension Test were re-administered to both groups to measure each student's non-preferred reading style and reading comprehension. The differences in the pre-to-posttest improvement between the two groups were then analyzed for significance using ANCOVA. The results indicated that the heterogeneous group students demonstrated significantly greater pre to- posttest improvement in both their non-preferred reading style and reading comprehension than the homogeneous group students [f (1, 59)=60.33, p less than 0.001; f (1, 59)=43.18, p less than 0.001, respectively]. Based on these findings, the researcher concludes that the non-preferred reading style can be developed when students learn with and from others with different reading styles and that reading comprehension is neither a bottom-up nor a top-down process but an interaction between the two. Therefore, it demands the development and integration of both the left and right hemisphere functions of the brain. The study concludes with suggestions for further research.

Keywords: Reading Comprehension; Cognitive Style; Brain Hemisphere; Reading Comprehension; Cognitive Style; Brain Hemisphere

Knowledge of learning theory often helps in improving their
academic performance and thus helps in mastering the
professional skills. The present study was undertaken to determine
the learning styles preference of the post graduate medical
students of our college to see whether any alteration in the present
method of teaching is required or not. The survey was conducted
at Mamata Medical College, Khammam in March 2013. Learning
styles of the students were determined by Fleming’s VAK
questionnaire. Total 233 students participated the survey out of
which 136 were male and 97 were female. In the present study,
there was no statistically significant preference for learning styles
amongst the unimodal learners. Whereas, less number of students
preferred the kinesthetic learning style than the visual and auditory
styles. Fifty percent of students preferred to learn by multiple
sensory modalities in our study.