Abstract

This study aimed to explore learning styles of Umm Al-Qura (UQU) students of English for special purposes (ESP) and of English as a foreign language (EFL). It also explored UQU students’ preferred assessment techniques and whether these preferences are related to major or gender. Saudi college-level students from different disciplines were randomly selected to fill out the Perceptual Learning Style Preferences Questionnaire (PLSPQ). Measures of means, frequencies, and correlations were used to analyze the data. The study revealed that UQU students are “unclassified” with regard to their learning styles. The study also revealed that there is variation in preferences for assessment techniques among these students based on their gender or major. The study concludes with recommendations for training UQU English language teachers on differentiating not only their teaching strategies but also their objectives as well as materials and aids used in college teaching.