LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 12 : 1 January 2012
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.

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A Review on Learning Style Preferences for
EFL Language Learners in Online Context

Zahra Moharrer, Ph.D. Student

Abstract

The developments in technology with prompt growth of the Internet use in education have resulted in a proliferation in distance education. Distance learning can be a real alternative to on-campus learning provided that programme designers do not neglect the core issues of education, i.e., the accommodation of learners’ needs and requirements. Addressing learning styles of individuals help the instructor respond appropriately to learners’ expectations and recognize the patterns in which learners tend to concentrate more. Lack of close monitoring of learners in distance education and observing their step by step progress can create problems for those students who are not properly equipped to take charge of their own learning process. Undoubtedly, this adjustment for EFL learners involving in conventional face-to-face English classrooms is not easy and may lead to more challenges and struggles on the part of learners. The current research on different learning style models aims at investigating which of the frequently cited models might be more appropriate to an EFL context. Therefore, it may be of particular interest to e-instructors and instructional designers of online education, especially in the context of the study, Iran, to find out which learning style model might be more suitable.

Keywords: EFL context, learning styles, learning style models, online learning

Introduction

During the last few decades, the infusion of technology into teaching and learning environments has made educators reconsider their focus of attention to educational pedagogy and methodologies for the new channels of online learning. However, a review of literature on distance education and, in particular, on online learning in Iran has unveiled that enough attention has not been paid to learners’ characteristics, their expectations and requirements, and their adaptation to online learning contexts. In Iran, English is taught as a foreign language (EFL) and to great extent in conventional face-to-face (FTF) classrooms. These might refer to different reasons such as lack of long history behind online learning in Iran as it is at the infancy stages of development (Yaghoubi, Malek Mohammadi, Iravani, Attaran, & Gheidi, 2008, p. 90); critical problems in system and the Internet emphasised by Dilmaghani (2003) and Noori (2003) in the same research; and the importance of system evaluation and e-learning like teaching methodology of distance learning, framework in educational system, educational policies, distance learning management, and curriculum in the context of the study (e.g., Montazer & Bahreininejad, 2004; Gharehbakloo, 2005; Sarlak & Jafari, 2006; Sarlak & Aliahmadi, 2008; Tabatabaie, 2010).

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Zahra Moharrer, Ph.D. Student
Department of English Language
Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication
Univesiti Putra Malaysia
UPM Serdang
43400, Selangor
Malaysia

Department of English Language
Islamic Azad University, Shiraz Branch, Shiraz, Fars Province, Iran
z.moharrer@gmail.com
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