11

Learning Styles: Traversing

the Quagmire
Carol Griffiths

Introduction

On first acquaintance, the language learning style concept is intuitively

appealing. Understanding it has the potential to greatly enhance learn-
ing and to make learning more enjoyable and successful. It is a concept
that acknowledges individual differences, rather than seeing all learn-
ers as similar. For teachers, it presents an opportunity to offer students
methodologies and materials appropriate to their own learning style
preferences. For learners, it allows them the freedom to learn in ways
which are enjoyable and can help them to become the best that they
are capable of.
However, in the literature one soon finds oneself bogged down in
a “quagmire” (Dörnyei, 2005, p. 120) of conflicting definitions, con-
cepts, models, theories, and inventories. Amid the confusion, one might
be tempted to conclude that any potential benefits are not worth
the effort required to address the multitude of questions clamouring
for answers. Yet, there remains “something genuinely appealing about
the notion” (ibid.) of language learning styles. If only we as teach-
ers could work with them effectively, what a wonderful tool they
could be.
To begin to understand the potential offered by an appreciation of
learner styles, we need to look first at how learning styles are defined and
differentiated from other constructs, at the characteristics of language
learning styles, at how they are identified, labelled and categorized, and
to review insights from previous research in the area. In this chapter,
I will begin by considering various understandings of the style con-
struct and will then report on one aspect of a study investigating the
style preferences of tertiary-level English as a foreign language (EFL)

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learners. I will conclude the chapter by considering the implications of

the literature and this study for future research and pedagogy.

Literature overview

What are learning styles?

Learning styles have been defined as “an individual’s natural, habitual
and preferred way(s) of absorbing, processing, and retaining new infor-
mation and skills” (Reid, 1995, p. viii). This definition has proven to be
enduring, but the existence of other closely related concepts has caused
much confusion. Therefore, when considering what learning styles are,
it is helpful to begin by considering what they are NOT.
The first related construct that needs to be differentiated from learn-
ing styles is cognitive styles, which Dörnyei (2005, p. 125) defines as
“an individual’s preferred and habitual modes of perceiving, remember-
ing, organizing, processing, and representing information.” Although
he has done a lot of work on the concept, Riding (2000, p. 365, cited in
Dörnyei, 2005, p. 126) concedes that the “study of cognitive style has
been rightly criticized for being vague.” Dörnyei (2005, p. 125) suggests
that the difference between cognitive and learning style is that cogni-
tive styles are “devoid of any educational and situational/environmental
interferences, thereby allowing for a ‘purer’ definition.” In other words,
cognitive style refers to how individuals think, process information and
solve problems in general. As such, it is a broader concept than learning
style, which is more focused on how an individual acquires and retains
new understanding or knowledge.
Another concept that, although often closely related, is NOT the same
as styles is strategies (Macaro, 2006; Oxford, 1990, 2011; see Cohen,
Chapter 10, this volume). Griffiths (2008a, p. 87) has defined strategies
as “activities consciously chosen by learners for the purpose of regulat-
ing their own language learning.” In other words, they are what learners
DO. In contrast, styles tend to describe learners or their learning prefer-
ences. Although strategy choice may to some extent be determined by
students’ stylistic preferences (see Cohen, Chapter 10, this volume), the
two concepts are actually quite distinct. As Bailey, Onwuegbuzie, and
Daley (2000, p. 118) explain: “It should be noted that learning styles
are not the same as learning strategies. . . . Whereas learning styles rep-
resent unintentional, or automatic individual characteristics, learning
strategies are actions chosen by students that are intended to facilitate
learning.”