Significance of the Study

According to Dunn and Dunn in Dunn Grigs, learning style is the first way of students to focus on, process, absorb, and remember new or difficult information in that in derived from biological and developmental characteristics. 7 Meanwhile, Hilliard defined the characteristic ways in which some people acquire, perceives, and processes information is defined learning style. 8 In other words, it shows someone’s characteristic in learning or processing the knowledge. Meanwhile, Alan summarized on his book about learning style as follows 9 :  A particular way in which an individual learns;  A mode of learning individual’s preferred or best manners in which to think, process information and demonstrate learning;  An individual’s means of acquiring knowledge or skills;  Habit, strategies, or regular mental behaviors concerning learning, particularly deliberate educational learning that an individual displays. Hence, learning style is a preferred way of learning and studying; for example using picture is better than text, working group better than alone, and so on. In short, learning style is the way of a person prefers to learn. She or he will enjoy and feel comfortable in absorbing the information with her or his own way. Learning style, different to approaches to learning, is a term used to describe the attitudes and behaviors, which determine an individuals preferred way of learning. Although the students have the combination of learning styles, they usually have a dominant learning style or their own preference style. Degree of Master of Science Communication Department of Science NUS, Singapore, 2011. p. 7, unpublished. 7 Rita Dunn, “Capitalizing on College Students’ Learning Style: Theory, Practice and Research”. In Rita Dunn Shirley A. Griggs ed., Practical Approaches to Use Learning Style in Higher Education, Westport: Bergin Garvey, 2000, p. 8. 8 Hilliard in Zainal Abidin Naning and Rita Hayati, The Correlation between Learning Style and Listening Achievement of English Education Study Program Students of Sriwijaya University, Jurnal Holistics, 2011, p. 2. 9 Alan Pritchard, op. cit., p. 41. 2 Types of Learning Style According to Joy M Reid, there are three types of learning style. Those are visual, auditory and kinesthetic style.

a. Visual Learning Style

Visual means connecting with seeing or sight. According to Reid, visual students like to read and obtain information from visual stimulation. These learners tend to use pictures, imageries, and other visual media. 10 Visual learners prefer to learn by seeing. They have good visual recall and prefer informationto be presented visual appearance, such as diagrams, graphs, maps, posters and displays.They often use hand movements when describing or recalling events or objects and tend to look upwards when thinking or recalling information. As addition, t here are some characteristics of the students’ visual learning style; they can memorize the material better when it is presented by using visual media such as: power point presentations, videos, pictures, diagrams and graphs. Visual learners typically like to be able to read the textbook, journal, article, or newspaper on their own to increase their understanding. Stephen James Minton stated, basically, visual learners learn best from what they can see. 11 They can respond and remember best the learning material through eyes. Similarly, Glover and Law asserted that visual learners rely on what they see in writing form. 12 In addition, Daiek and Anter explained that visual learning is learning through seeing; reading, watching people, videotapes and television. Their visual learning characteristics are using guided imaginary, forming pictures in mind, using notebooks, seeing parts of words, watching movies, using color codes, using charts, 10 K Karthigeyen K Nirmala: Learning Style Preference of English Language Learners, Educationia Confab, Vol 2, no. 1, January 2013, p. 135. 11 Stephen James Minton, Using Psychology in the Classroom, London: SAGE Publication, 2012, p. 58. 12 Derek Glover and Sue Law, Improving Learning Professional Practice in Secondary Schools Memperbaiki Pembelajaran Praktik Profesional di Sekolah Menengah, Jakarta: PT Grasindo, 2002, p. 92.

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