The Relationship between Iranian EFL Instructors’ Understanding of Learning Styles and Their Students’ Success in Reading Comprehension

Abstract

Many variables reasonably influence teachers’ education. One of these considering variables is being aware of the students’ learning styles. Dörnyei (2005) maintains that individual differences correlate strongly with L2 achievements. Keefe (1979) believes that learning styles might be thought of as cognitive, affective, and physiological traits that are relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment. The present study investigated the relationship between Iranian EFL instructors’ understanding of learning styles and their students’ success in reading comprehension tests. To achieve this goal, the researchers randomly selected 240 Iranian EFL instructors at tertiary level with more than three years of experience in teaching reading comprehension courses. The Teacher’s View over Students’ Learning Preferences Inventory (TVSLPI) as well as a test of language proficiency (MELAB) was employed as the study’s instruments. The findings revealed a significant relationship (p?0.05) between the Iranian EFL instructors’ recognition of learning styles and their students’ success in reading comprehension test. Besides, the results of interviews showed that Iranian instructors have approximately similar attitudes toward teaching reading comprehension in Iranian contexts.