Learning Styles and English Language Proficiency of Adult Ecuadorian EFL Students

The purpose of this study was to determine if a statistically significant relationship existed between English-language reading proficiency and learning style for a group of 74 native Spanish-speaking adult Ecuadorian English as Foreign Language (EFL) students studying academic English. Quantitative data was collected using three instruments: One was designed to identify the students’ learning style preferences (the Learning Style Survey), the second was designed to test students’ English reading proficiency (the reading section of the Authentic TOEFL® Practice Test), and the third was designed to collect information about students’ backgrounds and other individual differences (the Individual Background Questionnaire). The results of the study were that no dominant learning style was found, and there were many minor learning styles. Additionally, the results do not indicate that any learning style had a statistically significant relationship with English reading proficiency for this group of participants, as measured by the TOEFL Practice Reading Test