THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COLLEGE STUDENTS’LEARNING STYLES, PARENTS’ PARENTING STYLES AND THEIR ENGLISH PROFICIENCY

• Main Authors: Ming-Fen Chung, 鍾明芬
• Other Authors: Li-Jiuan Tsay
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/30882503188002034658

碩士 === 銘傳大學 === 應用英語學系碩士班 === 97 === Researchers of second language learning have suggested that learners’ learning styles and their parents’ parenting styles would likely affect their success of EFL English learning respectively (Maccoby & Martin, 1983; Chang, 1998; Dunn & Dunn, 1999; Chen, 2004; Hung, 2006). However, as empirically documented, research on the relationship between learners’ learning styles, parents’ parenting styles and their English proficiency is often neglected. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate (a) Taiwanese college students’preferred learning styles and parents’ parenting styles, (b) the relationship between these two factors and their English proficiency, and (c) the differences in these two factors between high and low achievers. The participants were comprised of 208 English-majored freshmen of Ming Chuan University. The major instruments were two questionnaires, the Learning Style Inventory (Dunn and Dunn, 1989) and the Parenting Style Inventory (Wang, 1993), and semi-structured interviews. Data collected from survey was compared and crosstabed with students’ English proficiency, based on students’ performance of their listening and reading comprehension tests. The overall results showed that most participants preferred kinesthetic learning style and came from authoritative families. Moreover, their English proficiency was significant negatively correlated with peer-oriented learning style and positively related to indulgent parenting style. In addition, only indulgent parenting style was significantly interrelated with their English proficiency both for high and low achievers. Although learning styles were not found significantly correlated with their English proficiency between two groups, it also revealed some pedagogical implications both for English teachers and students.