Learning style preferences among Iranian male and female EFL students

This study investigated the preferred learning style(s) of Iranian EFL students who were studying English at EFL institutes in different cities in Iran. An overall of 300 participants were selected from 6 different cities including Shiraz, Isfahan, Tehran, Mashhad, Araak, and Bushehr, 150 were female and 150 male students. The data on learning styles were collected by using an existing and well-tested instrument-- Reid's Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire (PLSPQ, 1987) which was translated into Persian and checked by three professors at Shiraz University for the correctness of the translation. Findings of the study indicated that the auditory learning style, the visual learning style, the tactile learning style, and the kinesthetic learning or hands on activity learning were preferred by the students as the major styles. Both female and male students chose the individual learning style and the group learning style as one of their minor learning styles. The study also revealed that males were more interested in tactile, group, and kinesthetic learning styles while the female students showed less preference toward these learning styles specially the group learning style. The implication of the study is that students should be introduced to different learning styles so that this familiarity can ease their way of learning a foreign language.