The Effect of Students’ and Instructors’ Learning Styles on Achievement of Foreign Language Preparatory School Students

This study aims to investigate the learning styles of students and instructors at foreign language preparatory school of a state university. It also aims to find out whether there is statistically significant difference between the academic achievement levels of students with different learning styles and achievement levels of students who have the same learning styles as their instructors and those who do not. In this study, quantitative data was obtained from a learning styles inventory, students’ placement exam scores and average exam scores within the term. The learning styles inventory was used to determine the learning styles of 139 students and 12 instructors at Compulsory Foreign Language Preparatory School of Bulent Ecevit University in 2012-2013 Spring term. The data was analysed with Chi Square test and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). It was found out that the most common learning style among the participants was diverging. The distribution of the learning styles did not differ according to students’ gender and the high schools they had graduated. The students’ achievement levels did not differ significantly according to their learning styles. It was also discovered that there were no statistically significant differences between the achievement levels of students who have the same learning styles as their instructors and those who do not.