Identifying Learning Styles of Grade Six Students

Language is the system which is used by the people to communicate with others to express the feelings or ideas. Language is not only about native language or mother tongue, but also foreign language or second language. Foreign language refers to any language that is used by the people in the certain country or place. Whereas, second language is a language that is learned by the people after they have acquired their first language or mother tongue. According to (Ellis, 2015), second language acquisition is a process in acquiring a second language that takes place after the first language acquisition with conscious effort. The goal of second language acquisition is to use a second language in social life. Meanwhile, Ortega (2013) said second language acquisition is about human ability in learning other language once the first language has been acquired. In acquiring the second language, it is important to know students’ learning styles. According to Brown (2007, p. 129), learning styles serve as a guide for language acquisition. Knowing students’ individual styles will assist the students identify their advantages and disadvantages. Teachers will also benefit from it since they will know how best to instruct the students. The purpose of learning style, according to Cook (2008), is to accomplish the objectives of instruction. There must be flexibility in the learning styles. Learning styles are important to know the right way for the teachers to teach the learners to learn a second or foreign language, because some learners have their own way to learn. If the teachers understand what their learners need and the characteristic of them, they can decide what strategies that will be used to teach the learners, so they can acquire a second language. Wiedarti (2018, p. 3) argues that learning styles are important not only for the students but also for the teachers because by knowing the learning styles, the students can gain the information maximally. Then, by knowing the students’s learning styles, the teacher can fasilitate the process of teaching and learning based on their students’ learning styles. Based on the descriptions, it can be concluded that every student has different learning styles and both teachers and students have to understand it because it will help the teacher to teach and also help the students to acquire their goals. In this studey, the writer wants to know the students learning styles in grade 6 at Primary Global Islamic School Jakarta. 2. Theoretical Framework There have been some previous studies which discussed about students’ learning styles. It is because knowing and understandning students’ learning styles can help the teacher to decide the teaching styles that appropriate with the students’ learning styles and it will help the teachers to understand te advantages and disadvantages of every style (Reid, 2005, p. 92). In a relevant study carried out by Mufidah (2017) that carried out reserach on Memahami Gaya Belajar Untuk Meningkatkan Potensi Anak. The purpose of the study is to describe the students’ learning style and to increase students’ potention. Based on the research findings, the results shows that every child needs their own progress and their own time in the process of learning. She also described that knowing children’s learning styles is important. Acharya (2015) in his study A Study of Learning Styles of Upper Primary School Students. This study investigated the learning styles of upper primary school students at Anand district Gujarat, India. The results show that visual learning was found as the dominant learning styles. Another study is written by Herdianto et al. (2023) that analyzed the students’ learning styles in SD Negeri Pandeanlamper 01 Semarang. The result show that the dominant learning style is visual learning style. Meanwhile, this study analyzes the learning styles of students at sixth grade of Primary Global Islamic School Jakarta. In this study the writer only focus on students’ learning styles and how to overcome the students’ learning styles. In the process of teaching language learning, the teachers should decide the technique that will be used-what will they do as the teachers. The learners have their own style in learning. Understanding about learning styles can help the teachers to teach the learners. They will learn faster and more enjoy in the process of learning if the teachers use an appropriate strategy. LeFever (1995) said that students learn faster and enjoy learning more if their unique learning styles are affirmed. According to Richards, learning stye is learners’ learning way. He also explained that every learner has different ways in learning. The process of learning may not be successful if the learners use the wrong learning style. He also mentioned that the teachers should try to recognize their students’ learning style. Cook (2008) said that the aim of learning style is to achieve the goals of teaching. The learning styles must be flexible. It depends on the group of learners. Meanwhile, Brown (2007, p. 129) said that learning styles is the guide for the learners in the process of learning language. It will help the learners to know their own styles, so they will know their strengths and weaknesses. It also will the help the teachers, so they will know what should they do to teach the learners. Brown (2007, p. 129) gave 3 kinds of learning styles, those are: 1. Visual Learning Style He described that visual style is the learning strategies in which the learners prefer to read or look the information of the materials optically by using images, graphics, drawing, etc. Seeing and capturing the information are the characteristics of learners who have visual learning style. 2. Auditory Learning Style Brown (2007, p. 129) describes that the learners who prefer learning a second language by listening the materials from sound; podcast, teacher’s voice, conversations are auditory learners. 3. Kinesthetic Learning Style Kinesthetic style makes the learners learn second language acquisition through action. The learners have to demonstrate something that relates with the materials.

This research used descriptive qualitative method to collect and describe the data of the research. Saparudin et al. (2022) explained that qualitative method is used to describe about someone’s habit. Based on that explanation, the writer wants to find out and describe the students’ learning style. The population of this research is the grade 6 students in Primary Global Islamic School academic year 2024/2025 that consist of 8 classes. The writer takes class 6A as sample of the research that consist of 23 students. The writer chooses the sample randomly. The writer used questionnaire as the research instrument. The questionnaire consists of 30 items divided into 3 sections. The first section, number 110, is about visual learning style types. The second section, number 11-20, is about auditory learning style. The last section is about kinesthetic learning style in number 21-30. The questionnaire is developed using true-false items. The writer chooses true-false item because it is relative short and there is not subject to debate. The questionnaire is analyzed by using the SPSS application to analyze the validity and reliability. Astuti (2016, p. 124), in her book, explained that the instrument of the research should be measure to know whether the items of the questionnaire are valid or not. She also explained that the items of questionnaire will be valid when the r counting is higher than r table with the value of significance is 0,05. The formula that is used to check the validity is df = n – 2. N is the total participants of the research. In this research, there are 23 participants that are used by the writer. It means the df is 21 (23 – 2) with the r table = 0.3515. The writer used SPSS 16 program to test the validity of each question. The writer found that all items of the questionnaire are valid because all of them are above 0.4132. It can be seen in the table below. Table 1. Validity of Instrument Number of Statement R Value R Table Remark 1 0.4354 0.4132 Valid 2 0.4739 0.4132 Valid 3 0.5110 0.4132 Valid 4 0.4503 0.4132 Valid 5 0.5204 0.4132 Valid 6 0.4401 0.4132 Valid 7 0.5220 0.4132 Valid 8 0.5510 0.4132 Valid 9 0.4894 0.4132 Valid 10 0.4503 0.4132 Valid 11 0.5031 0.4132 Valid 12 0.5240 0.4132 Valid 13 0.5221 0.4132 Valid 14 0.5539 0.4132 Valid 15 0.5404 0.4132 Valid 16 0.5148 0.4132 Valid 17 0.5972 0.4132 Valid 18 0.5240 0.4132 Valid 19 0.6003 0.4132 Valid 20 0.4720 0.4132 Valid 21 0.4521 0.4132 Valid 22 0.4555 0.4132 Valid 23 0.4901 0.4132 Valid 24 0.4365 0.4132 Valid 25 0.5947 0.4132 Valid 26 0.6591 0.4132 Valid 27 0.5221 0.4132 Valid 28 0.4555 0.4132 Valid 29 0.5016 0.4132 Valid 30 0.5752 0.4132 Valid The writer used Alfa Cronbach in SPSS 16 program to measure the reliability of the questionnaire of this research to know whether the participants consistent or not in answering the questionnaire. The result shows that the value is 0.904. Guilford (1956, p. 145) stated that the instrument of the research is categorized as good if it is more than 0.8. Table 2. Reliability of Instrument Cronbach’s Alpha N of items 0.904 30 From the table above, it can be concluded that the questionnaire is reliable. Therefore, all of the items in the questionnaire are used and analyzed to answer the research problem.

In the process of teaching language learning, getting knows the students’ learning styles is very much needed because it will help the teacher to set the goals and it will make the students easier to achieve goals. Learning style are individual, where everyone has different learning styles. Cook (2008) said that the aim of learning style is to achieve the goals of teaching. The learning styles must be flexible. It depends on the group of learners. Meanwhile, Brown (2007, p. 129) said that learning style is the guide for the learners in the process of learning language. It will help the learners to know their own styles, so they will know their strengths and weaknesses. It also will the help the teachers, so they will know what should they do to teach the learners. Based on those various perspectives, it can be concluded that learning style is the someone’s unique ability in the process of learning through appropriate way based on how they learn, so they can achieve their goals. This section presents the result and discussion of students’ learning styles by the students of Primary Global Islamic School academic year 2024/2025. The data in this research were taken from 23 samples of students’ response in questionnaire. Based on the questionnaire, the writer finds several types of learning styles. Brown (2007, p. 129) divided learning styles into 3 types, those are visual, audio, and kinesthetic. The table below shows the total of students’ learning styles. Table 3. Total Score and Total of Students Learning Styles Number of Students Students’ Learning Styles Visual Audio Kinesthetic 23 6 4 13 Total Score 149 122 155 Percentage 26,08% 17,39% 56,53% Based on the table above, the results shows that the grade 6 students at Primary Global Islamic School have different learning style which can be classified as visual learning style, audio learning style, and kinesthetic learning style. The dominant learning style is kinesthetic. The students who have kinesthetic as their learning style cannot stand sitting for long. They should participate directly in the process of learning. They prefer to learn through making something and practical activities rather than learning by listening or watching. By doing physical activity, it can help them to understand the material well. Reid (2005, p. 93) explained that the advantages of being kinesthetic learners are they will be able to demonstrate or explain how to do something to others and be able to make products. So, it can be said that kinesthetic learners are able to enjoy the actual experience of learning. Meanwhile, the disadvantages of being this type learning style are they will miss some instructions and information if it is presented orally. It is difficult for them to concentrate on written task while seated, and they will not pay attention to detail or the explanation if it is in written form. Cahyani (2016) mention some strategies that can be done by the teacher for providing convenience in the process of learning for the students who have kinesthetic learning style, those are: (1) increasing field trips, (2) direct demonstrating and performing, (3) the process of learning does not have to sit like formal, (4) making various examples, (5) increasing simulation or role play, (6) allowing students to move or to stand, (7) do not force students to learn for a long time, (8) encourage the students to use bright marker to highlight important thin in their reading. Another learning style that is found is visual learning style. Brown (2007, p. 129) explained that the students who have visual as their learning style can easily understand the material if they read or look the material optically. Richard (2010, p. 628) explained that the students will be easier to learn things when they see them written down. Reid (2005, p. 93) explained the advantages and the disadvantages of being visual learners. The students with visual learning style will have strong ability to visualise informations and events and they are be able to use their imaginations. Involving visual and creative skills may also be quite enjoyable because it will be fulled with whole picture when discussing or learning on problem task. Meanwhile, the students need more time to complete the task and they can be more interested in the appearance than its actual value. Richard (2010, p. 628) mentioned the strategies than can be used by the teacher to teach the students with visual learning style such as using diagrams, maps, or charts to organize information related to a given material. The teacher can display visual form, the key conceptual framewrok of the subject. Widharyanto (2020) explained some things that teachers can do, such as (1) providing books with many attractive illustration, (2) using maps in marking things, (3) Providing an attractive classroom environment, (4) involving the students to try to illustrate various ideas into a picture or writing, (5) providing clear visualization. The last learning style is auditory. Brown (2007, p. 129) explained the students who have auditory as their learning style can undertand the material easily by listening from teahcers’ explanation, podcast, and conversation. Richard et al. (2010, p. 41) described that the students with auditory learning will prefer to learn by listening rather than learning in som other way, such as by reading. Reid (2005, p. 92) explained the advantages if this learning style. He said that the students will absorb a lot of informations from radio programmes and they have skills in sequencing and organising information. They may remember the information by using a checklist. The students with this learning style prefer to work independently. Meawhile, there is a possibility they may prefer to wrok individually rather than in groups. They may focus on small things of information and cannot see it in broad picture. There are some method that can be used to teach the students with auditorial learning styles. Makhmudah (2020) explained that telling story or story telling is appropriate to apply and using the singing also can increase students’ happiness. Then, the strategies that can be used based on Sabi’ati (2016) are: (1) involving students in discussions, (2) using music, (3) recording learning materials and invite them to listen it, and (4) read the subject matter aloud. From that situation, it can be said that the teachers have the important role in the process of teaching and learning language. They have to know the students’ characteristics and the goals of teaching, so they can decide the teaching style that appropriate with the students. The roles of the teachers are as the facilitator in the process of learning and monitor the learners’ development, so they have to observe the learners’ progress. Matsuda (2012) said that teachers play a crucial role in designing lesson plans to teach the learners. Then, Madsen et al. (1978) claims that teachers are constantly adapting the materials they use in order to accomplish the best possible process of teaching and learning English, ensuring that materials, technique, learners, objectives, the target language, and the teacher's personality and teaching style are all in sync. Reid (2005, p. 95) explained the teacher should identify students’ learning styles and matching teaching styles with students’ learning styles to achieve the goals of teaching and learning. Teachers, it could be argued, play an important role in determining which educational materials will be used in the teaching and learning process. Teachers must understand their students' learning style in order to provide them with resources that are appropriate for them.

Based on the research findings, it can be seen that the there are 3 learning styles that are found in grade 6 students in Primary Global Islamic School, those are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles. The dominant learning style is kinesthetic learning style with 56,53%, visual learning style 26,08%, and auditory learning style 17,39%. By knowing and understanding the students’ learning style, it will help the teachers to design the teaching styles based on the preffered way of learning and understanding. It concluded that the teachers have an important role in achieving the goals of teaching and learning.