Learning style preferences of undergraduate students: The case of the American University of Ras Al Khaimah, the United Arab Emirates

The purpose of this paper is to address the use of Honey and Mumford’s Learning Styles Questionnaire (LSQ) to investigate the learning style preferences of undergraduate students at the American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) culture. It also investigates whether there are significant differences across the four dimensions of learning styles due to students’ demographics.

Questionnaires were distributed to a sample of 200 undergraduate students at AURAK in the UAE. The majority of students were Arabic native-speakers. Descriptive statistics were used to present the main characteristics of respondents and the results of the study. The independent samples t-test, Mann–Whitney test and Kurskal–Wallis test were used to find out if there are significant differences across the four dimensions of learning styles due to students’ demographics.

The results of the study illustrated that undergraduate students at AURAK have preferences for the reflector (15.0), pragmatist (14.2), theorist (13.9) and activist (12.3) learning styles. Moreover, there are only significant differences between Emirati and non-Emirati students across the four learning styles and between single and married students in the theorist learning style.

This study has a number of limitations. First, the findings of the study are based on the data collected from only one university. Second, the sample is limited to undergraduate students and, therefore, it excludes graduate students who might have different experiences. Third, the results are based on a self-reported questionnaire which might affect the reliability of the results. On the other hand, it has a number of implications for educators and students. Educators will benefit from the results of this study in the sense that they need to adopt teaching styles and strategies that match the learning styles of the majority of their students. Students themselves will benefit from knowing their own learning style.

The present study validates a learning style theory developed in a western culture in an Arabic culture.