The Relationship between Learning-Styles and Learning Motivation of Students at Umm Al-Qura University

The research aims to investigate the learning styles preferences of common first year students at Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, and it explores if there is a relationship between students' preferred learning styles and their learning motivation. The VARK questionnaire was used to investigate learning style preferences. Correlative Descriptive methodology was used to identify the students' learning styles preferences according to the different academic disciplines (Medical, Scientific "Engineering", and Administrative). The research sample consisted of 105 male students selected randomly from the three sections. Overall, the results revealed that the preferred learning styles according to VARK questionnaire was Kinesthetic-learning style. Results revealed that about half of the whole students (63%) preferred the Kinesthetic learning style -(uni-model) - followed by the Read/Write style (23.4%) then the visual style (7.4%), the auditory learning style at the end with (6.2%). In terms of remaining sample, the results revealed that students preferred more than a learning style (mixed-modal). Regarding the academic-discipline, the preferred learning styles as follow, the medical students' group preferred Kinesthetic-learning style, at the similar, the scientific students' group preferred as well Kinesthetic-learning style, however, the administrative students' group preferred Read/Write learning style. The results revealed that, there is a significant relationship between learning styles and students' learning motivation. As per, the highest correlation belongs to kinesthetic learning styles, kinesthetic students have more motivation for higher education. The results of this research are expected to determining learning styles of the students that should contribute augmenting the learning process & outcomes.