Tertiary Indonesian EFL Learners’ Learning Style in Reading Hypermedia Material

Abstract

Technology, learning environment, and e-sources have shifted learners’ learning styles in academic reading courses. The study aimed to explore tertiary Indonesian EFL learners’ learning styles in reading hypermedia material since it benefits teachers in determining teaching approaches, assessments, and tasks in teaching reading courses. This study answered the research questions about tertiary Indonesian EFL learners’ learning styles and gender differences in their learning styles in reading hypermedia material., Seventy-one first-grade learners were selected randomly as the sample from the 141 learners who enrolled in the Academic Reading course. The four types of learning styles, concrete, analytical, communicative, and authority-oriented, were employed as the categories in this study. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were applied for the data analysis. The study revealed that the tertiary EFL learners’ learning styles were concrete and authority-oriented. Concrete and authority-oriented styles were the highest, the communicative style was the second, and the analytical style was the lowest. The t-test result showed no significant difference in learning styles between gender. The successful implementation of this descriptive quantitative research and the design of research instruments for learning styles contribute to expanding the research methodology in this digital era. The research result can help tertiary Indonesian EFL learners understand their learning styles. It also allows teachers to develop classroom activities, tasks, reading material, and media. Specifically, the use of hypermedia material and the changes in the learning environment mode has changed learners’ learning styles in Reading courses, which lead to a change in teachers’ teaching approaches.