Oxford, R. L. & Lavine, R. Z. (1992). Teacher-student style wars in the language classroom: Research insights and suggestions. ADFL Bulletin, 23 (2), 38-45.

Excellent article identifying four major language learning styles and then reporting on a study with 60 learners of French and Spanish to collect descriptions of learner-teacher style difference. The four styles are analytic vs. global (not concerned about grammatical minutiae, willing to paraphrase), sensory preference (visual, auditory, hands-on), intuitive-random (thinking in abstract, non-sequential ways) vs. sensory-sequential (concrete facts in step-by-step sequence), tolerance of openness (reaching decisions or clarity). Seven instances of style conflict are given: (1) the teacher is analytic-reflective-auditory and the learner is global-impulsive-visual, (2) the teacher is intuitive-perceiving (open) and the learner is intuitive-judging (closure-oriented), (3) the teacher is analytic-sequential and the learner is global-intuitive, (4) the teacher is intuitive-perceiving (open) and the learner is intuitive-open also but needing a more sensing-sequential teacher to provide a sense of balance, (5) the teacher is analytic-sequential and the learner is global-intuitive (who later compensated on her own), (6) the teacher is an analytic-sequential-visual-reflective teacher of Latin, the other teacher is an analytic-sequential-auditory-reflective teacher of Spanish and the learner is global-intuitive-auditory-impulsive, (7) the teacher is extroverted-hands-on and the learner is introverted-visual, with cultural conflict added. Suggestions for dealing with style conflicts: 1/ assess students' and teachers' styles and use this information in understanding classroom dynamics, 2/ change the teacher's behavior, 3/ change students' behavior, 4/ change the way group work is done in the classroom, 5/ change the curriculum, 6/ change the way style conflicts are viewed.