Learning Styles as Perceived by Learners of English as a Foreign Language in the English Language Center of The Arab American University – Jenin, Palestine

Abstract Learning styles play an indispensable role in determining the teaching styles. Accordingly, this study investigated the perceptual learning styles as perceived by the students studying English as a foreign language at the English Language Center at The Arab American University in Palestine. It aimed to explore the learning styles to be the baseline for teaching English as a foreign language at AAUJ. Accordingly, the researchers attempted to answer the following questions: What are the learning styles of the EFL students at AAUJ? Are their significant differences at (&=.05) in the learning styles due to the academic level, gender and English level? To achieve this, the researchers developed a 20- item questionnaire, which was distributed amongst 190 male and 196 female students at AAUJ. This sample represented 30% of the study population. Analyzing the data, the researchers used standard deviations, means, independent T-test and One-way Anova. The researchers concluded that: AAUJ students (females and males) mainly auditory in addition to other secondary learning styles, each academic level has his own learning styles, no differences were found among the students regarding their level in English. The researchers recommended: auditory activities should be prioritized in English teaching at ELC at AAUJ, language Labs should be enriched to suit this most prevalent learning style, native and non-native instructors of English should evenly be trained to incorporate the various learning styles while teaching, more studies should be conducted to investigate the relationship the learners' residence (city, town, village, camp) and their learning styles.