Noelia Gargallo Camarillas. Perceptual learning styles and multimodality in EFL education 312 I. AbstractLearning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) is one of the greatest challenges for Spanish students. It is a complex process that involves many individual variables that need to be considered by teachers and learners. Since the late 1990s, research in the field of Applied Linguistics has been focused on learning styles as one of the internal individual variables describing the way learners process the information provided in class. Despite the growing interest in learning styles, research is recent and, therefore, limited. Besides, technology has been a revolution in educational contexts. In this sense, the integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at educational centres has created a new technological context that must be taken into account in analyses. This work examines the impact of learning styles in the language classroom setting. In particular, it deals with student's preferable perceptual channels in the new technological context. More specifically, it aims to demonstrate that a new perceptual learning style has emerged in the EFL classroom: the digital learning style. Finally, this work shows a teaching proposal that intends to demonstrate that social networks are a useful tool to be used in class because they create a multimodal context that makes language teaching and learning processes easier and more effective, as it promotes the students' digital learning style in the language classroom.

Advances in educational technology offer many opportunities in the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) classroom: the development of students’ motivation and autonomy; the integration and evolution of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) with the emergence of different types of online learning tasks; or the concern of students’ Perceptual Learning Styles in multimodal environments. This study investigates new generations’ perceptual learning preferences and how digital tendencies may influence students’ academic achievement after the implementation of an online task (i.e., ‘Lesson’). An experimental (n=150) and a control group (n=21), from the first year of the bachelor’s degree in Law at a Spanish university participated in this study. Four stages were followed: (1) ‘Perceptual Learning Styles’ Questionnaire’ completion, (2) ‘Lesson’ performance, (3) online exam implementation, and (4) data analysis. After the intervention, results indicate the presence of the ‘Multimodal’ learning style and high levels of academic achievement of multimodal students.

I also wish to express my gratitude to my colleagues from GResCA research group and APpEAL innovation group, for their academic counselling in all the meetings, conferences, and seminars we have had along the process.A special mention goes to university students, who are a fundamental pillar in the educational system. Without their participation in this study, I would not be writing these words now. As a teacher, I hope to keep helping my students grow both academically and personally. As a student, I hope to keep being one of them the rest of my life.I am also indebted to all the people that have unconsciously contributed to the realisation of this work. From my beloved village Torralba del Pinar, where my heart is, to Castellón or Vila-real. These are places that have given me the opportunity of being surrounded by the best friends and families in the universe.Last but not least, I would like to dedicate this dissertation to the most important people in my life: my whole family. Specially to my grandparents, who were and always will be with me, for being a constant source of knowledge and encouragement. To my parents, Jorge and Mª Ascensión, and to my sisters, Alba and Patricia. They deserve my deep sense of gratitude because they have always been by my side. Without their encouragement and help, this project would not have been possible. Finally, and above all, to Francesc, for his emotional support and for his love every single day of our life together. Humanistic Learning Approaches, the Cognitive Approach focuses on the learner and more specifically on the cognitive sphere. The cognitive perspective on learning is summarised in Table 1 with the most relevant aspects to consider: Table 1The Cognitive Learning Perspective Learning Important Aspects within the Cognitive ApproachIntroduction of comprehension activities, which were considered as a specific area with specific goals, procedures and techniques.Introduction of an estimated period of silence that allows learners to elaborate their intake before going ahead to the expression phase. Comment 18 "The comunication is interesting" Comment 19 "I founded it interesting because you have to pretend you are another person and you only have a few minutes to prepare it, so you have to improvisate some times!!!" [sic] Comment 20 "I really enjoyed it. I reckon its right way to learn a launguage. Too bad that the 80% of the classes are only based on grammar and more grammar, because when you move to another country to live you learn the launguage by mean the conversations." [sic]Comment 21 "In my opinion the Role-Play is a very nice strategy to learn more english, because it combines a real life experience and makes us feel more confident for that situation in the future. And also makes us think more in an answer in english based in our lives and improvising with the knowledge we already have." [sic] In conclusion, in relation to the 34 participants of this study, 28 improved their communication skills after their performance in the role-play. In addition, 24 fel...