Relationship between Iranian EFL Learners’ Learning Styles and Their Performance on Reading Journalistic Texts: A Gender Perspective

Abstract

This paper examined the relationship between upper intermediate female and male EFL learners’ learning styles and their performances on reading journalistic texts. Moreover, the study checked whether the gender of the participants has any impact on their performances on reading journalistic text styles. To this end, 30 female and 30 male homogeneous participants aged 22 to 45 years old, were selected based on their performance on Oxford Placement Test (OPT). To identify the participants’ learning styles, a questionnaire was distributed among the participants. The participants also sat for a test of reading journalistic texts designed by the researchers. The results indicated that learning style as a composite variable could predict the female learners’ reading of journalistic materials, and that group learning style was significantly correlated with reading journalistic texts. The data analysis, furthermore, revealed that learning style could not significantly predict male EFL learner’s performance on journalistic reading texts. Moreover, the differences between the learning styles of male and females EFL learners could not bring about significant changes in their reading journalistic texts. The results have some implications for EFL teachers and students, material developers, and curriculum designers.