The usage of different learning styles in English learning at private and state schools of 5th and 8th grade students

The main purpose of this study is to analyze the learning styles used by the students of secondary official and private schools. This research is a study of a descriptive survey model. The study group is located in Adana and was selected according to an 'appopriate sampling method. The official secondary stage school of 5th and 8th graders were 214 students, whereas the private secondary stage school of 5th and 8th graders were 140 students, which made a total of 354 students. In this study, a' learning styles scale " developed by Gökdağ (2004) was used as a data collection tool. Also Kolb's Learning Styles III 'Iwith 12 semi-structured questions developed by llke Evin Gencel (2006) was used. For the analysis of the data obtained as a result of the application, first independent sample t test was used to compare the scale scores by class and school type. After that, pearson correlation test was used to determine the relationship between the scale scores in class and school type. At least, chi-square test was used to determine the relationship between the school types. According to the results of the analysis; there is a siginificant difference to be found with the 5th and 8th grade students from the official secondary stage school in part of visual learning style, auditory learning style, concrete experience, abstract conceptualisation, active experimentation, reflective obersavtion. On the other hand, there is no siginificant difference to be found of 5th and 8th grade students studying at the private secondary stage school in part of visual learning style, auditory learning style, concrete experience, abstract conceptualisation, active experimentation, reflective obersavtion. According to the school types ( state and private) there is a significant difference to be found of 5th grade students in part of kinesetic learning style, concrete experience, abstract conceptualisation, active experimentation and reflective observation. Whereas for the 8th grade students there is just a significant difference to be found for concrete experience. Key Words: Learning styles, private and state schools, English teaching