Learning Style Profiles of EFL Students in a Private Boarding School

Abstract

The diversity of students’ learning styles is an important aspect of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction, particularly in boarding school contexts where learning tends to be more structured and intensive. However, studies examining the learning style profiles of EFL students in private boarding schools remain limited. This study aims to describe the distribution of students’ learning styles based on the Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic (VAK) model and to identify the most dominant learning style. This study employed a quantitative approach with a descriptive survey method. Data were collected through a closed-ended questionnaire administered to 50 EFL students in a private boarding school and analyzed using descriptive statistics, including frequency, percentage, mean, median, and mode. The findings reveal that the kinesthetic learning style was the most dominant category, followed by auditory and visual styles. This suggests that most students respond better to active, practical, and physically engaging learning experiences. From a broader perspective, the findings indicate that learning preferences are contextual and should not be treated as universal categories applicable to all educational settings. In the boarding school context, where students follow structured daily routines and extended learning activities, EFL instruction needs to provide more opportunities for movement-based, collaborative, and practice-oriented learning. This study concludes that mapping students’ learning styles can serve as an initial basis for designing more multimodal, flexible, and responsive EFL instruction. Therefore, teachers are encouraged to develop learning strategies that combine visual, auditory, and kinesthetic activities in a balanced manner.