The Complex Relationship Between ESL Teachers’ Learning and Teaching Styles

Many researchers assume that instructors approach teaching in the same way they approach learning. Or in other words, teachers teach the way they themselves learn. The purpose of this research study was to examine the relationship between the teaching and learning styles of a selected group of ESL teachers. The study was aimed at answering two related but more specific questions: (1) Using the Canfield LSI and ISI, in which of the areas (Conditions for Learning and Instruction, Preferred Content or Subject Matter, Preferred Manner of Obtaining Information and Presenting New Instruction) is there a significant correlation between learning style preferences and teaching style preferences of ESL teachers? (2) Using Reid’s PLSP and PTSP, in which of the perceptual styles (Visual, Auditory, Tactile, Kinesthetic, Group and Individual) is there a significant correlation between learning style preferences and teaching style preferences of ESL teachers? To find answers to these questions, a sample of 32 ESL teachers from Brigham Young University’s English Learning Center answered learning and teaching style questionnaires. Each participant received Canfields’ Learning Styles Inventory (LSI) and Instructional Styles Inventory (ISI), Reid’s Perceptual Learning Style Preference (PLSP), and an adapted teaching version of the PLSP called the Perceptual Teaching Style Preference (PTSP). The data from the instruments were subjected to several types of analysis. Because of the nature of the ordinal and interval data gathered, a Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient was used to examine the Canfield inventories and a Pearson product-moment correlation was used to analyze Reid’s inventories. Data show that the relationship between an individual’s teaching style and learning style is more complicated than a simple transferal of a one’s learning style to his or her teaching style. Because different degrees of correlation exist between teaching style preferences and learning style preferences within each style categorization, caution must be applied when categorizing a teacher’s teaching style by only testing his or her learning style. This study shows that the widespread assumption that teaching style is a direct reflection of learning style is false. One’s learning style and teaching style are not always the same.

Thesis Author: Hsu, Amy

Year Completed: 2000

Committee Members: Neil J. Anderson, Ramona M. Cutri

Thesis Chair: Lynn Henrichsen