Abstract

Learning, as the most important concept in education, demands urgent attention. Individuals have different learning styles and awareness of these individual differences by both students and teachers is vital for the most effective use of the methodologies and pedagogical strategies available to teachers in maximizing learning success. Despite the groundswell of literature on learning styles and academic performance, little research has focused on the differences between learning styles of academic and non-academic learners in the Iranian context. This study sought to investigate the style preferences (LSPs) of Iranian non-academic EFL learners and to examine the differences between the LSPs of male and female learners. To do so, 132 students studying English as a foreign language at language institutes participated in the study. Paragon Learning Style Inventory (PLSI) was employed to examine the LSPs of the participants. The results were reported descriptively. In order to check the statistical significance of the observed differences between male and female students, a set of Chi-squares were carried out using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 18.The findings supported the claim that there are discrepancies between the LSPs of male and female students. These findings connote that there is a call for awareness of learners' individual differences, mainly their LSPs in the attempt to idealize the outcomes of TEFL in language institutes in Iran. The findings of this study can assist course developers and syllabus designers base their work on the individual differences of the learners in order to meet the requirement of all learners as much as possible.

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