Abstract:
This study is an attempt to investigate the most favored learning style and the most commonly used
teaching style of ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers to investigate whether there is a
mismatch between the two. Domino (1979) found that college students taught in preferred learning
styles scored higher on tests, fact knowledge, attitude, and efficiency than those taught in instructional
styles different from their preferred styles. Since there is a dearth of empirical research pertaining to
the learning styles and teaching styles in Sri Lanka, the paramount importance of this study is to fill
that void and to investigate whether the mismatch between teaching and learning style brings learning
failure.
The objective of this research is to suggest pedagogical interventions that can be adopted to
incorporate various teaching styles in the ESL classroom other than practicing traditional teaching
methodologies. This research comprises 125 undergraduates of the Faculty of Humanities. After
distributing the questionnaire, 90 kinesthetic students whose most favored learning style is
kinesthetic, were taken as the sample. Their knowledge was tested by giving them a pre test paper.
After that, the sample of 90 students was divided into 3 groups of 30 students in each (K1, K2, and
K3) and each group was taught differently: visually, kinesthetically and using an auditory style. After
the teaching session a post test was given to them to check their acquired knowledge.
Another questionnaire was distributed among the lecturers in the ELTU and the Modern Languages
Department of the University of Kelaniya to find out the most commonly used teaching style among
the university lecturers. The results of the study highlight that the most commonly used teaching style
is auditory teaching whereas kinesthetic style is the most preferred learning style among the students.
Therefore, this study demonstrates that the best learning outcome occurs when the teacher matches
the teaching style with the learning style.
