The Effects of Three Learning Styles on Seventh Grade Students' Acquisition of Second Language Vocabulary

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine whether or not seventh grade students' French vocabulary learning was facilitated by matching their learning styles with a method of study. The participants were 12 students from a middle school in northeastern Illinois. Their learning styles were determined by completing a 36 question Personal Learning Styles Inventory and interpreting the results to conclude whether the student was an auditory, visual or kinesthetic learner. Once that was determined, the children were taught study methods for each type of learner. An assessment was taken to determine if there had been improvement and whether or not the student chose to continue with the method of study for another assessment. Of the 12 student subjects, 6 achieved higher or equal scores when they had used the suggested learning style and the other 6 received lower grades. None of the scores were substantially higher or lower except for one. The major outcome of the study was that the students became much more involved in metacognitive activities. They became conscious of how to approach a given learning task, how to monitor their plan and then how to evaluate the outcome and to find another approach if the one they had chosen did not lead to the desired goal.