Direct learning strategies: learning styles' influence in second/foreign language reading

Abstract

Enormous changes have taken place in second and foreign language learning over recent decades (Rossi-Le, 1989). Currently, there is a growing interest in the factors that influence the learning of the four language skills. This accepted interest is especially reflected in the field of Applied Linguistics, which has shifted its emphasis towards learners and learning (Cook, 2013). In order to prosper in this complex process, students need to get over some obstacles. However, the way they face these difficulties in the classroom setting seems to vary among them due to the different ways they usually perceive information (Skills, 2007). Hence, this final postgraduate dissertation examines the learning strategies that allow foreign language students to deal with the problems that may arise during their learning process, which may be influenced by their learning styles. In particular, it focuses on direct reading strategies and more specifically with their manifestation in the assorted sensory preferences in English as a foreign language context. Then, it aims to prove that perception varies among individuals and therefore, learners do not use the same learning strategies when they are reading. Finally, the results of a small-scaled study are shown with the intention to provide some evidences that seem to demonstrate conclusively that learning styles have an impact on the direct reading strategies that learners use.