1. University students’ learning styles across eight fields of study
Angeliki Psaltou-Joycey Zoe Kantaridou
Aristotle University University of Macedonia
Thessaloniki, GREECE

2. Definitions of learning styles
The overall patterns that give general direction to learning behaviour (Cornett, 1983)
“…the biologically and developmentally imposed set of characteristics that make the same teaching method wonderful for some and terrible for others” (Dunn & Griggs, 1988)
“… the characteristic cognitive, affective and physiological behaviours that serve as relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with and respond to the learning environment … (Keefe, 1979)
“Language learning styles are general approaches to language learning” (Cohen 2003)

3. Types of learning styles examined
sensory
visual, auditory, and hands-on
personality
extroverted vs introverted, intuitive-random vs concrete-sequential, and closure-oriented vs open
cognitive
global/analytic

4. Previous studies Moody (1988) Ehrman and Oxford (1989) Reid (1987)
Carell et al. (1996)
Hendry et al. (2005)
Hyland (1993)
Dippelhofer-Stiem (1989)

5. Aim of study
to illustrate the learning style profile of the Greek university students across fields of study
to identify potential differences among them

6. The University of Macedonia
Participants
1616 students,
416 males (26.7%)
1142 females (73.3%)
Mean age: 19.5 years
From:
Aristotle University
The University of Macedonia
Thessaloniki, GREECE

7. 8 Fields of study N 1616 Humanities 274 Foreign Languages (FL) 226
Engineering
116
Sciences
130
Medicine
Economics
408
Education
113
Computer Science (CS)
123
TOTAL
1616

8. INSTRUMENT Style Analysis Survey (SAS)
Use of senses during study: visual (V), auditory (Au), hands-on (H)
Relationship with other people: extroverted (EX), introverted (IN)
Handling of possibilities: intuitive-random (IR), concrete-sequential (CS)
Approach to activities: closure-oriented (CL), open (O)
Use of ideas: global (G), analytic (A)

9. SAS It combines elements of sensory preferences
Personality / psychological type
desired degree of generality
which are “among those most strongly associated with L2 learning” (Oxford 2006)

10. Data Analysis
a) descriptive statistics, in order to calculate the frequencies and percentages of learning styles in the various fields of study, and
b) a series of analyses of variance to compare the differences in learning styles among the various fields

11. Use of senses

12. Relations with other people

13. Handling of possibilities

14. Approach to activities

15. Use of ideas

16. Profile of a Greek university student
visual
extroverted
intuitive-random
closure-oriented
global

17. Significant differences among fields
Visual: Economics with Humanities (p=.010) and Foreign Languages (p=.012)
Auditory: Computer Science with Humanities (p=.007), Medicine (p=.003), Economics (p=.000), Foreign Languages (p=.003)
Hands-on: Foreign Languages with Engineering (p=.040), Computer Science (p=.042)
Extroverted: Computer Science with Humanities (p=.034), Engineering (p=.033), Foreign Languages (p=.003)
Concrete-sequential: Humanities with Education (p=.027)

18. Teaching suggestions 1
Take advantage of visual and hands-on styles for use of computers
Use activities enhancing cooperation among teacher and students (extraversion)
Balance learning environments to suit intuitive-random & concrete-sequential styles
Offer guidance to autonomy & lifelong learning (closure-oriented)
Allow socialisation in classroom (global)

19. Dominant learning style
Humanities & FL
Visual
Sciences, Medicine, Engineering, Economics & Computer Sciences
Intuitive-random
Education
Global

20. Teaching suggestions 2
Present long texts carefully and gradually with Economics
Offer practice in listening tasks and group work & projects with Humanities and FL
Show Humanities how to enrich theory with examples
Expose Education to decision-making activities
General: improve listening comprehension skill

21. apsajoy@enl.auth.gr kantazoe@uom.gr
Thank you