Investigating the Influence of Learning Style Variation on Performance in Various Question Types of IELTS Examination

The aim of the present study was to investigate the students' learning styles and their influence on performance in various question types of IELTS examination and also in gaining higher band scores. In order to find answers to research questions, the researcher first used Kolb's questionnaire to recognize individual learning styles of candidates which were accordingly categorized into four classes as activists, theorists, pragmatists and reflectors. According to the results of the ANOVA, in listening comprehension section only some of the mean differences between groups were statistically significant in different question types. In note completion, multiple choice, and matching question types researchers faced a statistically significant difference. The results of the comparison between performances of the four groups in the IELTS reading test revealed that the mean score of the theorist group was higher in matching tasks and multiple choice questions and reflectors out-performed the others in task completion questions while activists had better performance in yes, no, not given tasks and pragmatics were better performers of short answer questions. So, researchers were on the safe side to say that variation due to belonging to different learning style groups causes variation of performance in different question types.