Students, Learning Styles: a Study on Academic Writing Class Semester 1/ 2012-2013

The 7th International Seminar 2013 “Language Policy and Planning: What are the Issues?” Salatiga, November 20 – 21, 2013 ; p. 196 – 204According to the Minister of Education’s regulation (Kemendiknas) No 22, 2006, one of the purposes of the teaching of English in Indonesia is to help students develop their communication skills, both the oral and written ones. In order to achieve that, teachers have to bear in mind throughout the teaching learning process; every learner learns and processes information differently. The way learners learn something and process information is unique and different from one another. There are several models of learning styles proposed by different language experts and psychology, and of which was proposed by Knowles (1982). They are concrete, analytical, communicative, and authority-oriented learning styles, each with special characteristics and distinctive, interesting learning habits. This study aims to identify the different learning styles that Academic Writing students in Semester I/ 2012-2013 had. Research was conducted at the Faculty of Language and Literature, SWCU Salatiga with the 23 students as the participants. Data on the characteristics and unique habits of the students’ learning styles were derived mainly through six reflective journals submitted via email throughout the semester. Findings show that the students in the Academic Writing class have different learning styles; all types were found among the students. This piece of study hopefully can enrich our horizon as lecturers and educators about the diversity and variety of students’ learning styles and processes