Learning Styles of Indonesian EFL Students: Culture and Learning

Abstract

Learners' success in language learning is affected by many factors, including age, aptitude, and intelligence, cognitive style, attitudes, motivation, and personality. Besides, learning strategies and learning styles also help to succeed in language learning. This paper discusses the learning style preferences of the first-year students at English Department Universitas Brawijaya Malang, Indonesia. There were two problems that attempted to be answered; first, what are the learning styles used by the students, and second, how influential is culture to the students' learning. Barsch Learning Styles Inventory (BLSI) was employed as an instrument for 73 respondents. The results showed that more than 50% of respondents prefer visual mode, and the remaining were auditory learners, kinesthetic, and bimodal learners who combine visual and auditory modes in learning English. This might be affected by the culture of Indonesian learners that, in general, are accustomed to listening and reading instead of giving spaces to practice knowledge. Understanding the styles of learning can be very useful for the students to learn in the way they learn best through the activities. It will enable them to understand the course contents more comfortably so it can improve their motivation and language abilities, enjoy the learning process, decrease stress, and eventually get better achievement.

EFL Junior High School Students’ Learning Style

“…Visual learners use their eyes to process, acquire, comprehend information (Pashler et al, 2008). The result of the current study was in line with several previous studies who found that EFL students tend to prefer visual learning style (Manipuspika, 2020;Shuib & Azizan, 2015). By using different questionnaire of learning style, Prystiananta (2018) also found that visual learning was the most preferred learning style by EFL undergraduate students.…”

“…Those The Art of Teaching English as a Foreign Language visual media are highly motivating for students to learn English and helping them to understand the content of teaching more easily (Philippe et al, 2020). When the students are motivated in learning, it is believed that they can show their best potential (Manipuspika, 2020).…”

“…(Supalak, 2016) found that EFL students in Thailand and Vietnam prefer active learning style. In Indonesia, Manipuspika (2020) identified that above 50% students preferred visual learning styles. In short, from…”

A Descriptive Study On Millennial Students’ Preferred Learning Strategies At Eesp Of Artha Wacana Christian University

“…Based on the preliminary study done by the writer towards 34 millennial students of UKAW dealing with the learning strategies at EESP, the writer found that there were 29 students expecting improvements in learning strategies based on their preferences to help them learn effectively, especially in pandemic situation. This finding fits the statement stated by Manipuspika (2020) that understanding the styles of learning can be very useful for the students to learn in the way they learn best through the activities. It means that there should be any consideration and improvement towards the lecturers' teaching strategies to help them fit the students' needs in learning.…”

Preference of English Language Education Students of Learning Styles

“…There is some research in ASEAN that has been carried out to determine the preferred learning method of EFL students. One of the research conducted by Manipuspika (2020), declares that visual learning styles are quite dominant in EFL students. She claims that this occurred because visual media such as LCD projectors assist students in the classroom.…”