Investigating Malaysian distance learners’ conceptions of their learning styles in learning English

Research into the effectiveness of distance learning content courses has been undertaken in the Malaysian context, but so far, very little research has been carried out on distance language learning courses. This study is an attempt to rectify the lack of research into the learning needs of Malaysia...

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Main Author:	Thang, Siew Ming
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Penerbit UKM 2003
Online Access:	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/727/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/727/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/727/1/GemaVol3.1.2003No3.pdf

id	ukm-727
recordtype	eprints
spelling	ukm-7272016-12-14T06:28:00Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/727/ Investigating Malaysian distance learners’ conceptions of their learning styles in learning English Thang, Siew Ming Research into the effectiveness of distance learning content courses has been undertaken in the Malaysian context, but so far, very little research has been carried out on distance language learning courses. This study is an attempt to rectify the lack of research into the learning needs of Malaysian distance language learners. The paper investigates the conceptions of learning styles in learning English as a Second Language (ESL) of Malaysian distance learners of a dual-mode public university. It attempts to provide insights that will help in designing a more appropriate ESL programme for these students and, possibly, for others in similar contexts. Willing’s questionnaire that drew upon the work of Witkin and Goodenough (1981) and Kolb’s model (1976) was used in this study. Factor analysis completed with the use of SPSS (Version 9) was used to identify learning styles groups. The influences of the differences in modes and proficiency levels on the characteristics of the members of each 'learning style group' were studied statistically. The main finding was that the distance learners, especially High Proficiency Learners, seemed more oriented to learning English independently than the on-campus learners. This was attributed to the inclination among more 'mobile' learners (both on-campus and distance learners) to opt for learning styles they considered more appropriate to their mode of learning. Penerbit UKM 2003 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/727/1/GemaVol3.1.2003No3.pdf Thang, Siew Ming (2003) Investigating Malaysian distance learners’ conceptions of their learning styles in learning English. GEMA: Online Journal of Language Studies, 3 (1). pp. 47-74. ISSN 1675-8021 http://www.ukm.my/ppbl/Gema/gemahome.html
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building	UKM Institutional Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
description	Research into the effectiveness of distance learning content courses has been undertaken in the Malaysian context, but so far, very little research has been carried out on distance language learning courses. This study is an attempt to rectify the lack of research into the learning needs of Malaysian distance language learners. The paper investigates the conceptions of learning styles in learning English as a Second Language (ESL) of Malaysian distance learners of a dual-mode public university. It attempts to provide insights that will help in designing a more appropriate ESL programme for these students and, possibly, for others in similar contexts. Willing’s questionnaire that drew upon the work of Witkin and Goodenough (1981) and Kolb’s model (1976) was used in this study. Factor analysis completed with the use of SPSS (Version 9) was used to identify learning styles groups. The influences of the differences in modes and proficiency levels on the characteristics of the members of each 'learning style group' were studied statistically. The main finding was that the distance learners, especially High Proficiency Learners, seemed more oriented to learning English independently than the on-campus learners. This was attributed to the inclination among more 'mobile' learners (both on-campus and distance learners) to opt for learning styles they considered more appropriate to their mode of learning.
format	Article
author	Thang, Siew Ming
spellingShingle	Thang, Siew Ming Investigating Malaysian distance learners’ conceptions of their learning styles in learning English
author_facet	Thang, Siew Ming
author_sort	Thang, Siew Ming
title	Investigating Malaysian distance learners’ conceptions of their learning styles in learning English
title_short	Investigating Malaysian distance learners’ conceptions of their learning styles in learning English
title_full	Investigating Malaysian distance learners’ conceptions of their learning styles in learning English
title_fullStr	Investigating Malaysian distance learners’ conceptions of their learning styles in learning English
title_full_unstemmed	Investigating Malaysian distance learners’ conceptions of their learning styles in learning English
title_sort	investigating malaysian distance learners’ conceptions of their learning styles in learning english
publisher	Penerbit UKM
publishDate	2003
url	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/727/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/727/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/727/1/GemaVol3.1.2003No3.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T19:31:36Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T19:31:36Z
_version_	1777404997875531776

Investigating Malaysian distance learners’ conceptions of their learning styles in learning English

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