International Journal of Arts & Sciences, CD-ROM. ISSN: 1944-6934 :: 09(02):479–492 (2016) PERCEPTUAL LEARNING STYLES PREFERENCES AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT Wissal Belhaj Rhouma Institut Supérieur des Langues de Tunis, Tunisia This paper examines the relationship between academic achievement and perceptual learning style. Data on perceptual learning style preferences and academic performance were gathered by means of a structured questionnaire and the participants’ grades. The results reveal that the participants have the highest preference for the kinesthetic mode. The results also show that low achievers were significantly more tactual in their preference than high ones. With regards to visual, auditory, and tactual learning styles, high and low achievers exhibit similar preferences. One of the implications of this study is that both teachers and learners should be introduced to the concept of perceptual learning style for a better understanding of their own learning to maximize their chances of success in the foreign language learning classroom. Keywords: Visual, Auditory, Tactile, Kinesthetic, Grades. Introduction Learning style is broadly defined as “an individual’s natural, habitual and preferred way of absorbing, processing and retaining new information and skills” (Reid, 1995, cited in Renou, 2009, p. 1). Dunn and Griggs (1988, cited in Oxford, 2001) provide a definition related to the classroom context through describing it as “the biologically and developmentally imposed set of characteristics that make the same teaching method wonderful for some [learners] and terrible for others” (p. 359). In brief, learning styles differ from one learner to the other which makes teaching sometimes beneficial to some learners and not so much to others. Perceptual Learning Styles Perceptual learning styles are “the means by which learners extract information from their surroundings through the use of their five senses” (Davis, 2007, p. 46). According to Oxford (2001), the term ‘perceptual preferences’ refers to “the physical, perceptual channels with which the student is the most comfortable” (p. 360). They are specifically described as “the variations among learners in using one or more senses to understand, organize, and retain experience” (Reid, 1987:89). Depending on how the information is presented, the degree of learning varies considerably (Daud, 2014; Dunn & Burke, 2008). For instance, a learner with kinesthetic preference will be disadvantaged in a teacher-centered classroom. In psychology, a distinction is established between four basic types of learners: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile ones (Dunn and Burke, 2008; Reid, 1987; Scarcella, 1994). Each learner prefers to 479