Exploring Students’ Ways of Learning English for Customizing English Instruction

Conference: The European Conference on Education (ECE2022)
Title: Exploring Students’ Ways of Learning English for Customizing English Instruction
Stream: Learning Experiences, Student Learning & Learner Diversity
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Authors:
Petra Langerová, Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic

Abstract:

The paper will present partial results of a mixed research into ways of learning of students from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication (FEEC) at the Brno University of Technology (BUT) in the Czech Republic. The main goal of the research is to understand how technically oriented students acquire a foreign language and to suggest potential reasons for their obstacles to do so. A questionnaire on learning styles was administered during English lessons in autumn 2021 to discover their preferred ways of learning and it also aimed at identifying students with a strong preference for a particular style. Such students were then addressed to participate in an interview which discusses their rigidity and flexibility in ways of learning. This stage is still in progress. The paper will focus on the quantitative part of the research using Ehrman and Leaver Questionnaire (2003) based on personality types. The questionnaire describes learning styles as a continuum between two poles, synoptic and ectenic. The data from the questionnaire were analysed by a statistical method of clustering into groups based on the similarity of answers. The clusters were generated by an algorithm in order to get two differing groups of similar answers. The analysis showed two contrasting groups of students, with prevailing group of synoptic students, which conforms to the author´s teaching experience. It also identified 5 preferred ways of learning, Field Sensitive, Global, Concrete, Reflective and Sequential.



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