The purpose of this pilot study is to gain more insight into learner factors prominent in high-poverty urban schools and to suggest pedagogical approaches appropriate to this environment. To this end, three surveys were administered to students attending a high-poverty, urban middle school in order to measure their learning style preferences, language learning strategy use and emotional intelligence. The results indicated a strong preference for kinesthetic and sensing-perceiving learning styles, a generally high use of affective language strategies, and a low level of emotional intelligence in the interpersonal, stress management and adaptability scales. In addition, divergent tendencies in learning preferences and learning strategy use were found across different ethnic groups. (Contains 3 tables.)