Learning Styles Preferences of Undergraduate Business Students: A Study in the Faculty of Business and Economics at the UAE University
Darwish Abdulrahman Yousef
United Arab Emirates University, UAE
Volume 9: 2014, pp. 211-234; ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to explore the learning styles preferences of undergraduate business students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) context. It also investigates the distribution of learning style preferences by demographic and academic characteristics. Data collected from 300 undergraduate business students at the UAE University (UAEU) and the Index of Learning Style (ILS) instrument was used to measure learning styles preferences of students. We used descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages to present the main characteristics of the sample and the results of the study in addition to chi-square test to find out if there are statistically significant differences in the four dimensions of learning styles due to demographic and academic characteristics. Results show that the majority of UAEU undergraduate business students have a balanced preferences along the four dimensions of the learning styles. Results also suggest that there are no statistically significant differences along the four dimensions of leaning styles due to students’ demographic and academic characteristics. Educators, whether in the UAE or abroad where UAE students are studying as international students, will benefit from the results of this study. Curriculum planners, on the other hand, can use the information concerning students learning styles when developing business school curriculum. Students themselves will benefit from knowing their own learning style. The present study is the first attempt to explore learning style preferences of undergraduate business students in the UAE context.
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