The Relationship between Students’ Learning Styles and Teaching Strategies in ESP Classroom Case study: First and Second Year Political Sciences Students at KMUO (2016/2017)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to spot light on the relationship between students' learning styles and teaching strategies in ESP classrooms. Students take in and process information in different ways: by seeing, hearing, reflecting or acting; this variation of styles called VARK. Teaching methods should vary accordingly. It is vital for teachers to know their students’ preferred learning styles because this knowledge will help teachers to plan their lessons, to adapt their teaching and provide the most appropriate and meaningful activities or tasks to suit a particular learner group. To prove that, we have designed and administered two questionnaires for both students and teachers at the department of political sciences at KMUO. This study consists of three chapters; the first chapter is devoted to the different aspects of learning styles. The second chapter is reserved to teaching strategies. While, the third chapter presents the results and analysis. As results of students’ questionnaire, we found that the visual mode is the most preferred style used for political sciences students (36%). Visual learners prefer to learn by reading what teacher write on board, pictures and diagrams. Whereas, we observed in teachers’ questionnaire that the majority of teachers agreed upon the idea of knowing students’ learning styles is an important stage. Thus, it will help them in selecting the appropriate method that helps to improve students' outcomes . Moreover, they claimed that students-centered approach is better than teachers-centered approach. Although, most of them use teachers-centered approach for many reasons such as: allotted time and materials.The aim of this study is to spot light on the relationship between students' learning styles and teaching strategies in ESP classrooms. Students take in and process information in different ways: by seeing, hearing, reflecting or acting; this variation of styles called VARK. Teaching methods should vary accordingly. It is vital for teachers to know their students’ preferred learning styles because this knowledge will help teachers to plan their lessons, to adapt their teaching and provide the most appropriate and meaningful activities or tasks to suit a particular learner group. To prove that, we have designed and administered two questionnaires for both students and teachers at the department of political sciences at KMUO. This study consists of three chapters; the first chapter is devoted to the different aspects of learning styles. The second chapter is reserved to teaching strategies. While, the third chapter presents the results and analysis. As results of students’ questionnaire, we found that the visual mode is the most preferred style used for political sciences students (36%). Visual learners prefer to learn by reading what teacher write on board, pictures and diagrams. Whereas, we observed in teachers’ questionnaire that the majority of teachers agreed upon the idea of knowing students’ learning styles is an important stage. Thus, it will help them in selecting the appropriate method that helps to improve students' outcomes . Moreover, they claimed that students-centered approach is better than teachers-centered approach. Although, most of them use teachers-centered approach for many reasons such as: allotted time and materials.الهدف من هذه الدراسة هو تسليط الضوء على العلاقة بين أساليب تعلم الطلاب واستراتيجيات التدريس في أقسام الإنجليزية لأهداف خاصة. بحيث يأخذ او يكتسب الطلاب المعلومات بطرق مختلقة من خلال الرؤية أو السمع أو التأمل أو ألتمثيل . .ولهذا يجب على الأساتذة التنويع في أساليب التدريس وفقا لذلك. من الضروري للمعلمين أن يعرفوا أنماط التعلم المفضلة لدى طلابهم لأن هذه المعرفة ستساعد المعلمين على تخطيط دروسهم وتكييف تعليمهم وتوفير الأنشطة أو المهام الأكثر ملائمة وذات مغزى للتناسب مع مختلف انماط التعلم لدى الطلاب و لإثبات ذلك قمنا بتصميم وإدارة استبيانين لكل من الطلاب والاساتدة في قسم العلوم السياسية بحيث.تتكون هذه الدراسة من ثلاثة فصول خصص الفصل الأول لمختلف جوانب أنماط التعلم. أما الفصل الثاني فقد عبر عن استراتيجيات التدريس. بينما خصص الفصل الثالث للنتائج والتحليل. وفقا لنتائج استبيان ألطلبة وجدنا أن الوضع المرئي هو الأسلوب الأكثر تفضيلا لطلاب العلوم السياسية (36٪). حيث يفضلون التعلم عن طريق قراءة ما يكتبه المعلم على متن الطائرة والصور والرسوم البيانية. في حين لاحظنا في استبيان المعلمين أن غالبية المعلمين اتفقوا على ان معرفة أنماط تعلم الطلاب مرحلة مهمة. وبالتالي فإنه يساعدهم في اختيار الطريقة المناسبة للعمل الذي تظهر نتائجه بشكل ايجابي عل التحصيل العلمي للطلاب . وعلاوة على ذلك زعموا أن المنهج الذي يركز على الطلاب أفضل من المنهج الذي يركز على المعلمين. على الرغم من أن معظمهم يستخدمون منهج يركز على المعلمين لأسباب عديدة مثل الوقت المخصص للتدريس والمواد.