Submitted to the Board of Examiners as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd) English Education Department of Teacher Training and Education Faculty State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga

  

PERCEPTUAL LEARNING STYLE PREFERENCE IN

LEARNING ENGLISH OF THE INTERNATIONAL CLASS

PROGRAM STUDENTS IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2015/2016

A GRADUATING PAPER

  

Submitted to the Board of Examiners as a Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd)

English Education Department of Teacher Training and Education Faculty

State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga

  

By:

Atina Vina Muna

11312031

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

  

TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY

STATE INSTITUTE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES (IAIN)

SALATIGA

2016

  

(Sarah Caldwell)



The future is belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

  

MOTTOS

Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can

• – there will

  always come a time when you will be grateful you did.

  

(Eleanor Roosevelt)

  

DEDICATIONS

This graduating paper is sincerely dedicated to:

My beloved superheroes, Mrs. Munawarotul Akhlaqiyah and Mr. H. Tibyan,

thank you for the endless love, support, prayer, and everything you give to me.

My beloved sisters and brother, M. Nudia M. M., Yaqutun Nafis, and Khurin ‘Ain

who always cheer up my days.

  

My partner of life, Salasun Ahmad Kholiq Yasin, thank you for widens my

perspective of life.

  My best friends, all of ICP 2012 members who always say that yes we can.

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

  In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful, the Lord

of the entire universe. Because of Him, the researcher is able to finish this

graduating paper as one of the requirements for Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd) of

English Education Department of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of

State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga Peace and salutation always be given to our prophet Muhammad SAW

who has guided us from the darkness to the lightness. However, this success

would not be achieved without those support, guidance, advice, help, and

encouragement from individual and institution. It is an appropriate moment for the

researcher to the deepest gratitude for:

  1. Dr. Rahmat Haryadi, M.Pd. as the Rector of State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) of Salatiga.

  2. Suwardi, M.Pd. as the Dean of Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) of Salatiga.

  3. Noor Malihah, Ph. D. as the Head of English Education Department of Teacher Training and Education Faculty State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) of Salatiga.

  4. Rr. Dewi Wahyu Mustikasari, M.Pd. as the Secretary of English Education Department of Teacher Training and Education Faculty State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) of Salatiga and as the

  ABSTRACT Muna, Atina Vina. 2016. “PERCEPTUAL LEARNING STYLE PREFERENCE

IN LEARNING ENGLISH OF THE

  INTERNATIONAL CLASS PROGRAM STUDENTS IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2015/2016 ”. Graduating Paper. English Education Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, State Institute for Islamic Studies of Salatiga. Advisor: Rr. Dewi Wahyu Mustikasari, M.Pd.

  Keywords: perceptual learning style, English learning The objectives of this research are to describe the students’ perceptual

learning style preference in learning English and the dominant perceptual learning

style preference of the students. This research applied descriptive qualitative

method. The subject of this research was all of the students of International Class

Program of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of State Institute for Islamic

Studies (IAIN) Salatiga in the Academic Year 2015/2016. The data were collected

from the questionnaires that distributed to the students. Moreover, the data were

analyzed using descriptive method proposed by Suryana (2010:16). The technique

of data analysis involved collecting the data, analyze the data, and interpret the

data. The results showed that most of the students agree with all of the indicators

of the perceptual learning style except for the individual learning style. Also it

was showed that the most dominant perceptual learning style preference is the

group learning style. It can be concluded that the students accept the entire

sensory or perceptual stimulus while learning. Among all of the perceptual

learning styles, the students prefer the group learning style.

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE ..................................................................................................................... i

DECLARATION .................................................................................................. ii

ATTENTIVE CONSELOR NOTES.................................................................... iii

PAGE OF CERTIFICATION .............................................................................. iv

MOTTOS .............................................................................................................. v

DEDICATIONS ................................................................................................... vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................ vii

ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... x

LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................. xii

LIST OF CHARTS ............................................................................................ xiii

  CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Research ..................................................................... 1 B. Problems of the Research .......................................................................... 4 C. Objectives of the Research ........................................................................ 4 D. Limitation of the Research ........................................................................ 5 E. Clarification of the Key Terms ................................................................. 5 F. Significances of the Research ................................................................... 8 G. Organization of the Graduating Paper....................................................... 8 CHAPTER II THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK A. Previous Researches ................................................................................ 11

  B.

  Perceptual Learning ................................................................................ 14 C. Learning Styles........................................................................................ 16 D.

  Perceptual Learning Styles ...................................................................... 17 E. Perceptual Learning Style Preference ..................................................... 19

  CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A. Research Setting ...................................................................................... 20 B. Research Design ...................................................................................... 21 C. Population and Sample ............................................................................ 22 D. Technique of Data Collection ................................................................. 23 E. Technique of Data Analysis .................................................................... 24 CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS A. Perceptual Learning Style Preference of the Students of International Class Program of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga .............................................................. 27 B. Dominant Perceptual Learning Style Preference of the Students of International Class Program of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga .................................. 43 C. Discussion ............................................................................................... 45 CHAPTER V CLOSURE A. Conclusions ............................................................................................. 48 B. Suggestions ............................................................................................. 50 REFERENCES APPENDICES

  

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Research Schedule .............................................................................. 20Table 3.2 Population of the Research ................................................................. 22Table 3.3 Data Codes .......................................................................................... 25Table 4.1 Number of Occurrences of Visual Learning Style Preference in the Questionnaire ...................................................................................................... 27Table 4.2 Number of Occurrences of Tactile Learning Style Preference in the Questionnaire ...................................................................................................... 30Table 4.3 Number of Occurrences of Auditory Learning Style Preference in the Questionnaire ...................................................................................................... 33Table 4.4 Number of Occurrences of Kinesthetic Learning Style Preference in the Questionnaire ...................................................................................................... 35Table 4.5 Number of Occurrences of Group Learning Style Preference in the Questionnaire ...................................................................................................... 38Table 4.6 Number of Occurrences of Individual Learning Style Preference in the Questionnaire ...................................................................................................... 40Table 4.7 Dominant Perceptual Learning Style Preference ................................ 43

  

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 4.1 Preferred Ways of How the Visual Students’ Learn ........................... 29

Chart 4.2 Preferred Ways of H ow the Tactile Students’ Learn .......................... 32

Chart 4.3 Preferred Ways of How the Auditory Students’ Learn ....................... 35

  Chart 4.4 Preferred Ways of How the Kinesthetic Students’ Learn ................... 37 Chart 4.5 Preferred Ways of How the Group Style Students’ Learn .................. 40

Chart 4.6 Preferred Ways of How the Individual Style Students’ Learn ............ 42

Chart 4.7 Students’ Perceptual Learning Style Preference ................................. 45

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Research There are so many definitions of learning. According to Schunk (2012:5)

  “learning is recalling what exists in the mind. Information acquired with the senses by observing, listening, tasting, smelling, or touching constitutes raw materials rather than ideas”. It can be meant that learning is remembering the information that the students have already obtained. It is not new ideas that come up in their minds. They got the information from observing, listening, tasting, smelling, or touching. It cannot be done just in a few hours, days, months or years. Learning is a long life experience.

  Learning is obtaining information from observing, listening, tasting, smelling, etc. However, it has medium to transfer the information through learning. The students use their eyes, hands, feet, and their entire body to do activity dealing with learning. Some of the students prefer listening to absorb the information. Some of the students easily get the information through watching. While the other students like to do experiment to understand the information. On the other words, the students have their own preferred ways of learning. Felder and Henriques (1995:21) states that “the ways in which an individual characteristically acquire, retains, and retrieves information are collectively termed the individual’s learning style”.

  Dunn (1979:239) points out that “…when students taught through

methods that complemented their learning characteristics, students at all levels

became increasingly motivated and achieved better academically”. It means

that method and the students’ learning characteristics should be matched in

order to achieve good score. The teachers often unaware of the way they teach.

They use the same way and the same assessment to all of the students. Some of

the students get the higher score than the others through the same way of

teaching. It may occur because of the unmatched between method of teaching

and the students’ learning style. The teachers teach the students without

considering the students’ learning style.

  Some researchers have developed several instruments to assess the

students’ learning style. Some instruments help in identifying visual,

kinesthetic, auditory, tactile, group, and individual style as well as many other

classifications of styles in the students. The instruments also explore the

learning styles with the objective of improving the learning and teaching

processes. “It is obvious that people learn in many different ways: people who

• – learn primarily with their eyes are called visual learners; or with the ears

  auditory learners; whereas some people prefer to learn in groups” (Obralic and

  Abrarov, 2012:31).

  Soureshjani and Naseri (2012:71) state that “language learning styles are

amid factors that play significant role in determining how well learners learn a

language”. This is meant that learning style is important factor for determining

the students’ capability of learning language. Preferred learning style of the

  

students influences their language capability. For instance, the students with

tactile preference may have good capability in writing a language. Learning

style build th e students’ learning behavior.

  International Class Program of Teacher Training and Education Faculty

of State Institute for Islamic (IAIN) Salatiga is a program of the university that

expected to create students with language capability better than the other

students from regular classes. There are some different students with some

different majors in the class. They are divided into three majors: Islamic

Education Department, Arabic Education Department, and English Education

Department. The lecturers of this class use English and Arabic Language as the

medium of instruction.

  English as the medium of instruction become the crucial problem for the

students who can not understand it. It is difficult for the students to understand

the materials if they do not understand the language. It is important for the

students to master English language and to have effective teaching learning

process while learning English language. The teachers should have enough

knowledge about their students’ style preference in order to provide the needed

instruction.

  Therefore, the purpose of the research is to determine the perceptual

learning styles preference in learning English. The subject of this research is

the students of International Class Program of Teacher Training and Education

Faculty of State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga. This research is a

descriptive qualitative research study. The data is gathered from the questionnaire in order to determine the Perceptual Learning Style (PLS) in Learning English among students using Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire (PLSPQ) research instrument. Those are represented in the PERCEPTUAL LEARNING STYLE PREFERENCE IN LEARNING ENGLISH OF THE INTERNATIONAL CLASS PROGRAMS’ STUDENTS IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2015/2016.

  B. Problems of the Research Based on the background of the research above, the problems of this research can be formulated as follows:

  1. What are the perceptual learning style preferences in learning English among the students of International Class Program of Teacher Training and Education Faculty State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga? 2. What is the dominant perceptual learning style preference in learning English among the students of International Class Program of Teacher

  Training and Education Faculty State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga? C. Objectives of the Research

  In relation to the research questions, already stated that the purpose of this research are:

  1. To describe the perceptual learning style preference in learning English used by the students of International Class Program of Teacher Training and Education Faculty State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga.

  2. To describe the most dominant perceptual learning style preference in learning English used by the students of International Class Program of Teacher Training and Education Faculty State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga.

  D. Limitation of the Research The target of this research is investigating the perceptual learning style preference in learning English among the students of International Class

  Program of IAIN Salatiga. It is known that there are so many types of learning style. This research focuses on analyzing the perceptual learning style of the students which is divided into six styles: visual learning style, tactile learning style, kinesthetic learning style, auditory learning style, group learning style and individual learning style. Furthermore, the researcher only uses Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire (PLSPQ) by Reid (1987) to gather the data.

  E. Clarification of the Key Terms 1.

  English learning and teaching According to Brown (2000:5) standard definition of language is “a system of arbitrary conventionalized vocal, written, or gestural symbols

  

that enable members of a given community to communicate intelligibly

with one another”. In simpler word, language is medium of

communication through vocal, written or gesture. The function of

language is to communicate.

  To know language, people do learning activities. Brown (2000:7) st

ates that search in contemporary dictionaries defined “learning is

acquiring or getting of knowledge of a subject or a skill by study,

experience, or instruction”. It can be meant that learning is an effort to

gain knowledge by study or experience that people get alone and it may be

instruction that someone else ask to do. Learning is experience of getting

knowledge.

  Teaching and learning cannot be defined separately. Teaching is

helping someone to learn, while learning is to make self-understanding.

  Brown (2000:7) states that teaching may be defined as “showing or

helping someone to learn how to do something, giving instructions,

guiding in the study of something, providing with knowledge, causing to

know or understand”.

  “Learning a second language is a long and complex undertaking”

(Brown, 2000:1). English is a second language and a foreign language for

some non-native speakers. In Indonesia, English becomes a foreign

language. Learning a second language or a foreign language is not short

process. Adjusting words in foreign language to native language take long

time. There are so many complex structures to learn. Therefore, there must be effective teaching and learning process in order to completely master the language.

2. Perceptual Learning Style

  Renou (2009:2) claims that “sensory or perceptual learning style has to do with the physical environment in which we learn, and involves using our senses in order to perceive data

  ”. It can be meant that perceptual learning style is the students’ way of obtaining information by connecting their senses and the environment. In the teaching learning process, the teachers give the students some materials by using some method. The method is used to create appropriate environment in the classroom. With the appropriate environment, the students can get the information effectively through their senses.

  “Perceptual learning style refers to Auditory, Visual, Tactile, Kinesthetic, Group, and Individual learners. These kinds of learners refer to those who learn a language more effectively by hearing, seeing, hands- on, learning with others and learning alone respectively” (Khamkien, 2012:63). On the other hand, perceptual learning style is student’s preference of four basic perceptual modalities (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile) and two social interaction factors (individual or group). This is how the students absorb information through perceptual or sensory channels (eyes, ears, and hands). As every student is different, they have their own preferred way of learning with which they feel most comfortable.

F. Significances of the Research

  The result of the research is formulated to give significances to English teaching and learning, the significances are:

  1. Theoretically, the result of this research is expected to enrich the cognizance of one aspect of individual differences in English as Foreign Language (EFL) Classroom 2. Practically, a.

  For the researcher The result of this research can be beneficial for the researcher as step stone to deepen comprehend such individual differences dealing with perceptual learning style in English as Foreign Language (EFL) teaching b. For the students The result of this research can help the students especially the students of International Class Program to know their learning styles. Thus, the students can manage their learning activity optimally c.

  For the English teacher The result of this research can be beneficial for the English teacher to manage both the class and the teaching grounded on the students need G.

   Organization of the Graduating Paper This research is divided into five chapters and each chapter explains about something differently, according to the topic which is discussed.

  Chapter I is introduction that consists of the background of the research,

which mentions the researcher’ reasons why the researcher chooses the topic as

a research topic. Then, the problems of the research, it explains the problems of

the research that are observed by the researcher. Next is limitation of the

research, which mentions the specific problems that the researcher explains.

Furthermore, it includes the objectives of the research that consists of the aims

of the research, significances of the research that describe the advantages of the

research, and then the clarification of the key term. The last is the organization

of the graduating paper.

  Chapter II is the theoretical framework. It presents the review of related

literature of the research such as theoretical foundation which includes

theoretical reviews of perceptual learning, learning styles, perceptual learning

style, and perceptual learning style preference.

  Chapter III is the research methodology. It tells about why and how this

study uses qualitative research as the type of the research. It elaborates the

methodology of the research including research setting, research design,

population and sample, technique of data collection, and technique of data

analysis.

  Chapter IV is the findings and discussion of the research. It consists of an

analysis of Perceptual Learning Style Preference of The students of

International Class Program of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of

State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga.

  Chapter V is closure. It is the last chapter of the research. It ends of the

research, and the researcher states the conclusions and suggestions. For the

attachment, there are references and appendices.

CHAPTER II THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK A. Previous Researches Within this chapter, the researcher presents the previous researches that

  were related with this research. Related research showed that the students differ in learning language. They have their own preferred style of learning language especially English. Helty (2009) had done a research about students’ learning style in English Department and their achievement in vocabulary. The aims of the research were to describe the students learning style in English department and their achievement in vocabulary at the first semester of IAIN Sultan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi. The research was categorized as descriptive evaluative. The techniques used to collect the data were observation, documentation, and questionnaire. The finding of the research was the first year students of English Department of Tarbiyah Faculty of State Institute for Islamic Studies of Sulthan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi can be grouped into four learning style types based on they preferred ways of going about learning. These four learning style types were concrete learners, analytical learners, communicative learners, and authority-oriented learners. Each type of learners might be potential to propose enriching vocabulary.

  Similar to Helty (2009), Obralic and Akbarov (2012) reported a research about learning style. However their research was different from the previous research. Their research was about students’ perceptual learning style

  

preference. Their paper aimed to determine the learning styles of students at

University of Sarajevo. Another objective was the influence of the students’

gender and ethnicity in the learning style. Data were gathered using Perceptual

Learning Style Preference Questionnaire (PLSPQ) research instrument. The

method that they used was a quantitative and qualitative research method. They

concluded that there had been significant differences between learning styles

favored by Bosnian and Turkish. The data showed that the most outstanding

learning style in which the students worked without any difficulty was the

visual learning style. There was no significant difference between male and

female students regarding their study preferences.

  The next research was also about perceptual learning style preference.

Khamkhien (2012) aimed his research to identify Thai learners’ English

learning style preferences and to determine the impact of three variables:

gender, field of study and learning experiences on preferred learning styles.

  

The researcher used quantitative method and the data collected from the

questionnaire. The Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire

(PLSPQ) was administered to get the information. The results of the research

indicated that Thai EFL learners preferred auditory learning most, followed by

kinesthetic, group, tactile, visual and individual learning. Among three

variables, field of study was the most significant factor affecting the choice of

learning styles. However, he also found that no statistically significant

difference was found in learning experience and gender in the learning styles.

  The previous researches reported that Turkish students and Bosnian

students preferred the visual learning style while Thai students preferred the

auditory learning style the most. Soureshjani and Naseri (2012) has done

research for Iranian English students to see does the ability level of EFL

language learners significantly affect their learning styles and to investigate the

learning styles which are preferred and common among beginning,

intermediate, and advanced-level learners. The instruments that used to get the

data are TOEFL test and a learning style questionnaire. The results of the

research revealed that first, the proficiency level of learners have a significant

impact on learners' learning style preferences. The research also revealed that

sensory styles are the most preferred learning styles for beginning learners

especially the kinesthetic learning style. It followed by personality styles for

intermediate learners, and finally, degree-related styles for advanced-level

learners.

  The last previous research was conducted in Taiwan. Fang-Mei Tai

(2013) has done research about preferred learning style and motivation of adult

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) student. The objectives of his research

were to explore what learning styles of adults EFL students (School of

Continuing Education) prefer in order to better understand what impact and

shape the language learning process and to help determine to design curriculum

and instruction for classroom practice for higher achievement and increased

motivation for learning. This was quantitative research study, the instrument

used to gather the data was Innovated Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire (PLSPQ). The findings of this research were the adult students who learn EFL expressed preferences for kinesthetic, tactile, and other styles and especially showed significantly relationship on motivation in English learning. The most preferred learning style was computer assisted learning styles followed by the auditory learning style.

  From those previous researches, the researcher believes that this research is different from those researches, dealing with the objective, theme, and subjects. Moreover, this research only focuses on the student perceptual learning style preference and which is the most dominant perceptual learning style preference. The subject of this research is the students of international class program of State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga. Thus, it is clear that this research is different from Helty (2009), Obralic and Akbarov (2012), Khamkhien (2012), Soureshjani and Naseri (2012) and Fang-Mei Tai (2013) work.

B. Perceptual Learning

  Gibson (1969) as cited in Adolph and Kretch (2015:130) “perception is a process of information pick-up that happens over time ”. Human brain is actively works almost all of the time in order to get the information from the environment. The information is gained through human physical senses. While perceptu al learning can be defined as “an increase in the ability to extract information from the environment, as a result of experience and practice with stimulation coming from it” (Gibson, 1969 as cited in Adolph and Kretch

  

2015:130). First, the brain gets the information without understanding the

information. By the time, the information processes inside the brain. Then, the

information constructs new understanding. As the children when they learn to

walk. Their mothers try to teach them how to walk. It cannot be done just once

or twice. The children continue to practice walking until they can walk.

  According to Kellman and Garrigan (2009:53) “perceptual learning is

experience induced changes in the way perceivers extract in formation”. It can

be meant that from the experience, the perceivers may get different

understanding of any information. It can caused different way of extracting

information.

  “Perceptual learning is among types of learning that seem to operate

from the beginning of life, and it plays an important role in natural kind

learning, language acquisition, and transactions with many kinds of objects

and events” (Kellman and Massey, 2013:147). Our brain progressively

arrange information in any field. With appropriate practice, people can adjust

and over time they become selective and fluent. For example when children

taught by several words that divided into several kinds: noun, adverb, verb,

and modal, at first they can not differentiate between them but by the time

they can differentiate it. The ability to extract the information is called

perceptual learning.

C. Learning Styles

  Felder and Henriques (1995:21) state that "students learn in many ways, by seeing and hearing; reflecting and acting; reasoning logically and intuitively; memorizing and visualizing". Some of the students tend to see object in order to learn. Some of the other students tend to listen to an audio in order to extract information. There are no two students consider as the same. Every student has different individual characteristics.

  Humans’ brain is unique. It works in different way, so that everyone learns differently. The students have their own characteristics on the way they learn. This distinct is called learning style. Reid (1995:8) as cited in Fang-Mei Tai (2013:162) states that learning styles were defined as “individual’s natural, habitual and preferred way(s) of absorbing, processing, and retaining new information and skills”. The students naturally tend to particular way of learning. How the students extract and gain new information is different. Their skills are also different. Some of the students can easily understand new information. On the other hand, some of the students have difficulty in understanding new information.

  Generally, the theory of learning styles state that people have different approaches to learn. Learning styles are the general approaches to learn particular items. Some of the students will learn more effectively than others according to their individuals’ learning style.

D. Perceptual Learning Styles

  Reid (1995) as cited in Renou (2009:2) claims that “three majors categories of learning styles are widely recognized and relevant to the field of foreign language learning: sensory or perceptual learning styles, cognitive learning styles and affective/temperament learning styles”. Researcher only focuses on sensory or perceptual learning styles. Perceptual learning styles are sensory based. The students’ senses naturally take the information from the resources that stimulate them. For example when the teachers give them a picture about grammar in English, the students’ eyes naturally catch the material through seeing. The more interaction between sensory channels and resources, the better chance for the students learn from the resources.

  James and Galbraith (1986:20) define some perceptual modalities as follows:

1. Visual A person who is visually oriented learns best through observation.

  People who like to see visual stimuli such as pictures, slide, graphs, tables, demonstrations, etc. Probably are visual learners.

  2. Aural or Auditory A person who is aurally oriented generally learns best through listening. People who usually do not talk much and who feel that they learn best when the information is presented verbally may be aural learners. Individuals who like lectures because they remember what is said

or who enjoy learning from audio tapes probably are aural learners.

  3. Haptic Individuals who learn best through the sense of touch are generally haptic learners. A haptic person is someone who has to feel objects or to touch as many things as possible. Haptic person assimilate information through a “hands on” approach to learning. This is similar to “tactile”. However, tactile refers only to touch through the fingers while haptic implies touch through the entire hand.

4. Kinesthetic A person who is kinesthetically oriented learns best while moving.

  People who generally have to move around or have to move some part of their body while processing information probably are kinesthetic learner.

  Someone who is in constant motion while reading or listening may be a kinesthetic learner.

  Reid (1995) as cited in Zokaee et al. (2012:139) states two social

interactions: group learning style and individual learning style “a group learner

is the one who learns more effectively through working with others. An

individual learner is someone who learns more effectively through working

alone”. The group learner prefers group interaction and classwork with the

other students. They complete work successfully when they work with other. In

the opposite, the individual learner prefers learn new material alone. They

remember new information that they learn by themselves.

  Those are the basic learning style of a student. The way the students learn

through their senses (ears, eyes, and hands) and also how they prefer to learn socially (group and individual). Based on those learning styles, the teachers can deliver some materials through many ways to stimulate the students ’ senses.

  The compability between the students ’ learning style and the teachers’ teaching style, hopefully make the teaching learning process become effective.

E. Perceptual Learning Style Preference

  Perceptual learning style preference refers to the perceptual channels by which students prefer to learn. Based on above explanation, perceptual learning style can be classified as: visual (reading and studying charts), tactile (hands- on, doing lab experiments), auditory (listening to lectures and tapes), kinesthetic (experiential, total physical involvement), and interactive (group or individual learning). They were measured using the Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire. Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire by Reid (1987) used by many researcher in their research as the instrument for gathering data.

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A. Research Setting 1. Research Location The research was taken place in the International Class Program of Teacher Training and Education of State Institute for Islamic Studies Salatiga, located in Campus III IAIN Salatiga.

  2. Research Schedule The sequences of data collection and the data analysis are as follows:

Table 3.1 Research Schedule

  

No Activity Date

th

  1. Preparing the research proposals April 4 th th

  2. Observation June 6

• – June 27

  th

  3. Data Collection June 28 th

  4. Data Analysis July 22

  5. Research Report July

• – September

B. Research Design

  This research was conducted to get description about the students ’ perceptual learning style preference in International Class Program of Teacher Training and Education of State Institute for Islamic Studies Salatiga in academic year from 2012 to 2015.

  This research categorized as descriptive research. Williams (2007:66) claims that “the descriptive research approach is a basic research method that examines the situation, as it exists in its current state ”. It can be meant that the result of descriptive research is description of the data at the moment. Therefore, this research called descriptive because it is describe what the perceptual learning styles of International Class Program of Teacher Training and Education of State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga from academic year 2012 to academic year 2015 is.