College of Arts

In a demonstration of academic collaboration and engagement with international universities, Professor Dr. Florin Mihai from the College of Arts, University of Florida, USA, served on the examining committee for a master’s thesis in the English Language Department at the College of Arts, University of Mosul.

The thesis, titled “Exploding the Relationship between Learning Styles and Reading Achievement of Iraqi EFL Learners at University Level,” was defended on Thursday, July 24, 2025. The Dean of the College, Professor Dr. Hatem Fahd Al-Tai, the Head of the Department, Dr. Salih Abdullah Abdulrahman, and several faculty members attended a portion of the defense.

The study, presented by student Nada Izzat Ibrahim, explored the relationship between learning styles, as per the VARK learning model, and reading comprehension achievement among Iraqi second-year English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners at the university level.

The thesis aimed to:

1. Identify the prevalent individual learning style among the learners.
2. Determine whether students primarily use a unimodal or multimodal learning style for reading comprehension.
3. Compare the reading comprehension performance of students who use individual versus multiple learning styles.
4. Investigate the relationship between students’ learning styles and their reading comprehension achievement at the university level.

The examining committee comprised:

• Professor Dr. Nashwan Mustafa Salih / College of Arts, University of Mosul (President)
• Professor Dr. Florin Mihai / College of Arts, University of Florida, USA (Member)
• Dr. Ashraf Riyad Abdullah / College of Arts, University of Mosul (Member)
• Dr. Iman Ibrahim Khudair / College of Arts, University of Mosul (Member and Supervisor)