The alignment of lecturers’ teaching styles with students’ learning styles in the MKDU English course: The case of a public university

Abstract

This study examines the alignment between lecturers’ teaching styles and students’ learning styles. The problem stems from differences between the two, which can create conflict in the classroom. Each lecturer has an individual teaching style that tends to follow his or her dominant learning style, and students likewise have their own learning styles. This diversity can lead to classroom conflict and prevent the targets of the teaching and learning process from being achieved. The purposes of this study were to identify lecturers’ teaching styles and students’ learning styles based on Grasha’s teaching and learning style scales, and to use Grasha’s teaching style clusters to determine the alignment of lecturers’ teaching styles with students’ learning styles in the MKDU English course at Jambi University. This study employed a descriptive research design. The subjects were the lecturers who teach the MKDU English course and all students of the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Jambi University, who were taking the course. The instruments were the Grasha teaching style and learning style questionnaires, and the data were analyzed using the Grasha scales and teaching style clusters. The analysis showed that the lecturers of the English Study Program at Jambi University mainly used the facilitator, personal model, expert, and delegator teaching styles, and to a small extent the formal authority style, whereas the students’ learning styles were collaborative, competitive, dependent, participant, independent, and avoidant. Overall, the lecturers’ teaching styles and the students’ learning styles were congruent.