A survey of the literature on factors affecting learning style preferences of the learner

A Survey of the Literature on Factors affecting learning Style

preferences of the Learner

Previous studies have indicated that gender, age, and

cultural heritage affects the learners’ learning style

(Charlesworth, 2008; De Vita, 2010, Joy & Dunn, 2008; Song & Oh,

2011). Studies have also documented that learning styles are

affected by other factors Griggs and Dunn (1998). Thus, factors

such as these needs to be considered when identifying learning

style preferences of the student as they may influence learning

outcomes.

Learning Style and Culture

The influence that culture has on the learning style

preference of the learner has been studied and documented in

numerous studies. In one study, Song and Oh (2011) conducted a

study to examine the learning style preferences of learners who

have diverse cultural backgrounds in an online language learning

environment. The researchers utilized the Felder and Silverman

Learning Style Model to identify students’ learning style

preferences. A total of 65 international students enrolled in a

Korean language course at a university’s language institute in

Seoul, Korea participated in the study. Study participants were

culturally diverse representing six cultural clusters: China,

Middle East, Europe, Japan, America, and other Asia. The online

language course was analyzed using the active/reflective,

sensing/intuitive, sequential/global, visual/verbal dimensions of

the Felder and Silverman model. Results indicated significant

cultural group differences in the learning style preferences of

the learners of Korean language. Song and Oh noted that it is

critical to analyze learning styles based on cultural backgrounds

of the learners when designing successful online learning

courses. In another study, Joy and Kolb (2009) investigated the

role that culture plays in way that individuals learn.

Experiential learning theory was used as a lens while conducting

this study. Kolb’s learning style inventory was utilized to

identify students’ learning style preferences. The researchers

also used the framework for categorizing cultural differences

from the Global Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness

(GLOBE) study, to categorize national cultures and individual

cultural dimensions. A total 533 respondents residing in seven

different nations participated in the study. The findings

indicated that the influence of culture on learning styles of the

learner was a marginally significant. Furthermore, the

researchers also found that individuals tended to have abstract

learning style in countries that are high in group collectivism,

institutional collectivism, and uncertainty avoidance. The

researchers concluded that individuals’ cultural background tend

to influence their learning style. Thus, educators need to keep

cultural background in mind while designing instruction for their

learners.

Charlesworth (2008) examined the relationship between

learning style and culture. Honey and Mumford learning style

questionnaire was used to identify students’ learning style

preferences into reflectors, activists, theorists and

pragmatists. Forty one Chinese students, 34 Indonesians students,

and 38 French students participated in the study. To ascertain if

differences between groups would larger than differences within

groups, ANOVA was used. The result indicated statistically

significant differences existed between learning styles of the

learners classified as activists, reflectors, and pragmatists.

Specifically, Indonesian students scored high on the reflector

scale, Chinese students scored high on the theorists scale, and

French students scored high on the pragmatist scale. Thus,

cultural backgrounds affect students’ learning styles and needs

to be considered while designing and delivering instruction. In

another study, Jia-Ying (2011) explored the influence of cultural

background differences on students’ second language/foreign

language learning styles. The study focused was to compare these

differences between East and Western classroom cultures. A total

of 20 graduate students pursuing graduate degrees in the U.S.

from China, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea were interviewed for this

study. The evidence from the study revealed that East Asian

students adhere to the Confucian traditions and collectivists

values. These values affects how students and their teachers

interact. Thus, understanding these cultural norms and values is

crucial in order for educators to be effective students from

different cultures. De Vita (2010) conducted a study to

investigate the learning style profiles exhibited by in multi-

cultural class of international business management and how

cultural influences are reflected on learning style preferences

of native and foreign students. The Felder and Solomon Index of

learning style was used to identify students’ learning styles.

The findings of study suggests that greater variation of learning

preferences do exist in multicultural cohorts. Thus, multi-style

teaching strategies are recommended to in-order reach all the

diverse learners in the course.

In summary, previous studies reveals the influence of

culture on learning style preferences of the learner in a

multitude of context. Thus, it is advisable to use different type

of instructional materials and teaching strategies in order to

reach the different type of learners in our multicultural

classrooms.

Learning style and age

Age plays a big role on how individuals prefers to receive

and give out information. Many studies have shown a relationship

between age and learning style preferences of the learner. Cornu

(1999) investigated the relationship between learning style,

gender, and age amongst students of theology. A questionnaire

focusing on contextual examples of global and analytical learning

styles was used to identify student learning style preferences.

Two batches of students taking theological education participated

in the study. The researcher found no significant correlation

between learning styles and gender, however, a significant

correlation was found between learning style and age. A study by

Honingsfeld and Dunn (2003) examined learning style

characteristics of 1637 adolescents from five different

countries. The Dunn and Dunn learning style inventory was used to

identify students learning characteristics. Participants were

divided into three groups: 13, 15, 17 years old groups. The

evidence indicated a significant difference existed for 16 of the

22 learning style characteristics amongst the three age groups.

In another study, Chan (2001) investigated learning styles of 398

gifted and non-gifted Chinese secondary school students. During

the study, students were grouped into two groups: 11-13 year olds

and 14 – 19 year olds. The result indicated a significant

interaction effect between the younger group and learning styles.

Chan argued that younger student interacted more with structured

activities and games.

In another study, Lincoln et al. (2006) investigated

relationship between age and the VARK learning style preferences

among student enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL)

courses. A total of 69 students from 17 countries participated in

the study. The age groups of participants ranged from late teens

to 40s. The result showed a low positive correlation between age

and the read/write learning style among all participants (r =

0.197). The results also showed a small negative correlation

between age and kinesthetic learning style (r = -0. 32) for male

students. Hlawaty (2008) examined the relationship between age

and learning style preferences of German students. Hlawaty used

the Dunn and Dunn learning style inventory to identify students’

learning styles. The participants were grouped into three main

age groups: 13, 15, and 17 year olds. MANOVA result indicated

significant differences among all three pair wise comparison of

age groups. The researcher noted that each age group has unique

learning requirements and concluded that learning demands vary by

age of the student. Barun, Schaller, Chambers, and Allisson-

Bunnell (2010) investigated the implication of learning style,

gender, and age groups for developing online learning activities.

The Kolb’s learning style theory was used as a lens in examining

responses of online learners to five types of educational

activities. Results showed that learning style influences

preferences of learning activity. The researchers found a

stronger relationship between learning styles and age among

adults than among children aged 10- 13 (middle school age).

  Despite all these studies indicating a relationship between

ages and learning style preferences of the learners, other

studies found no existence of a relationship between age and

learning styles. Li, Chen, Yang, and Liu (2010) investigated the

relationship between age and learning style among students in

different nursing programs in Taiwan. The Chinese version of the

Myers- Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was used to identify students

learning style preferences in the four dichotomous of the Jungian

theory.  The dichotomous include: extraversion/introversion,

sensing/intuition, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceiving.  A

total of 331 student participated in the study. The data showed

that the most common learning styles were introversion, sensing,

thinking, and judging. In addition, the finding also indicated

that student age was not significantly related to their learning

styles. Seiler (2011) investigated the relationship between age

and learning style of adult learners in an online environment.

Kolb’s learning style inventory was used to identify students

learning styles. A total of 142 students completed Kolb’s

learning style survey. The findings indicated a no significant

relationship between age and learning styles of learners.

Finally, a study by Adesunloye, Aladesunmi, Henriques-Forsythe

and Ivonye (2008) investigated the preferred learning styles of

medical student residents and faculty at Morehouse University.

The Kolb learning style inventory was used to identify students

learning style preferences. A total of 42 participants

participated in the study with age ranging from 20 to 59 years

old. The study findings showed that there was no relationship

between age and learning of the participant.

In summary, the data on the relationship between learning

style and age is clearly mix. Some studies in the reviewed

literature indicate evidence and support the link between

learning style and age, while, other studies shows the lack of

evidence to support the link between learning style and age. All

in all, classroom instruction needs to take into account learning

styles and age differences of the students to maximize learning.

Learning Style and gender/sex.

It is known that males and females learn differently.

Numerous learning style preference studies have found a link

between gender and preferred styles of learning between the two

genders. Raddon (2007) argues that gender is one among many

variables considered in learning style studies. Wehrwein, Lujan,

and DiCarlo (2007) investigated gender differences in learning

style preferences among undergraduate physiology students. The

VARK questionnaire was administered to identify undergraduate

physiology major learning styles. The students were enrolled in a

capstone physiology laboratory at Michigan State University. 86

students participated in the study, however, only 48 students who

returned the questionnaire volunteered information their gender

information (55.8%). The study found that 54.2% of female and

12.5% of male students preferred a single mode of information

presentation. Among female students, 4.2% preferred visual

learning style, 0% preferred audial, 16.7% preferred read/write

(printed words), and 33.3% preferred hands-on activity to take in

and give out information (kinesthetic). Male students had evenly

distributed learning style preferences with 4.2% of the students

preferring Audial, read/write, and kinesthetic, respectively,

while 0% male students preferred the visual mode.

In another study, Dobson (2009) compared student perceived

and assessed learning style preferences and examined the

relationship between learning styles preferences, sex, and

academic performance. A total of 64 students participated in the

study, of which 50 were undergraduate students and 14 were

graduate students (40 women and 24 men). The researcher found

that in the perceived sensory modality data, respondent

disproportionally chose visual modality (36%), followed by

read/write (28%), kinesthetic (18%) and audial (17%). In the

assessed sensory modality preference, respondents were classified

as VARK (37%), followed by read/write (14%), AK (11%), K (8%), VK

(6%), ARK (6%), A (5%), VAK (3%), RK (3%), V (2%), AR (2%), and

VRK (2%). The researcher also found that there was a nearly

significant relationship between sex and perceived sensory

modality preference (x2 = 7.18, p = 0.06) and between sex and

assessed sensory modality (x2 = 17.36, p = 0.09). However, there

was a significant difference relationship between perceived

sensory modality preference and academic performance (p = 0.06 by

ANOVA).

In another study, Park (1997a) investigated if there were

differences between the learning styles of Mexican, Armenia –

American, Korean, and Anglo American students. One thousand two

hundred eighty three students from 10 high schools in the U.S.

participated in the study. The findings from the study indicated

that there were differences in learning style preferences between

male and female students across the four ethnic groups. Females

showed a greater preference to kinesthetic learning style, while

males showed a preference to a tactile mode of information

presentation. Bernades and Hanna (2009) examined learning style

preferences of students in an operations management course. The

adult version of the VARK questionnaire was used to identify

students learning styles. The researchers found no percent

differences between male and female students’ mode of sensory

preferences for the unimodal and multimodal learning styles.

However, female students significantly preferred multimodal

learning styles, whereas, male students significantly preferred a

unimodal learning style. Furthermore, Lu and Chiou (2010)

conducted a study to examine if gender affects quality of

learning through E- leaning by ensuring learning styles of

students were satisfactorily met with instructional materials. A

total of 353 male and 169 female students from Northern Taiwan

University enrolled in online courses participated in the study.

Kolb’s learning style inventory was used to identify student

learning style preferences. The researchers found a direct and

positive relationship between gender and learning style.

In another study, Johnston (1997) examined the learning

style preferences of physical education majors and analyzed

differences in learning styles. A total of 64 male and 18 female

physical education majors participated in the study. The study

was conducted at a university in the Southeast of the United

States. The Canfield learning style inventory (1988) was used to

identify students learning style preferences. The result

indicated that both males and females students vary from the norm

on learning style preferences. In another study, Honigsfeld and

Dunn (2006) investigated gender differences among the learning

styles of 1637 adolescents from five countries – Bermuda, Brunei,

Hungary, Sweden, and New Zealand. Student learning style

preferences were identified using the English or appropriate

foreign language (Hungarian, Malay, and Swedish) versions of the

learning style inventory (LSI). The result showed significant

main effects for gender with medium effect sizes and

statistically significant and large effect sizes for country main

effects. In addition, there were statistically significant and

medium effect sizes for interactions of country by gender.

However, some studies investigating the link between

learning styles and gender showed no relationship existed between

the two variables. Al-Saud (2013) examined learning style

preference of first-year dental students at King Saud University

in Riyadh, Saud Arabia: Influence of gender and GPA. A total of

113 students participated in the study, of which 42 were females

and 71 were males. The VARK questionnaire was used to identify

students learning styles. The researcher found that 59% of the

students preferred multi-modes of information presentation. The

most common single mode preference was aural (20%), followed by

kinesthetic (15.2%). The researcher found out that gender

differences was not statistically significant. Urval, Kamath,

Ullal, Shenoy, and Udupa (2014) investigated learning styles of

undergraduate medical students using the VARK questionnaire and

the influence of sex and academic performance. A total of 415

students participated in the study. The VARK questionnaire was

used to identify students learning styles. In addition,

demographic data and self-perceived learning style preferences

were also collected. The researchers found that the majority of

the students had multiple learning style preferences (68.7%).

Aural learning style was the predominant single learning style

modality (45.5%) followed by kinesthetic at (33.1%). The

researchers also found out that gender and previous academic

performance did not have any influence of student learning styles

preference. Negari and Barghi (2014) explored Iranian EFL

learners’ learning style preferences and the role of gender in

their learning styles. Ninety EFL learners participated in the

study. The participant were from Sistan University, Baluchestan

University, and Azad University of Zahedan. The Willing’s

learning style questionnaire was used to identify students’

learning style preferences. The result indicated no significant

difference between male and female learners’ learning style

preferences

In summary, there is a conflict in the published evidence.

The research on learning styles preference and gender differences

is inconclusive. . In some studies the majority of male students

preferred multiple modes of information presentation whereas in

other studies female students preferred single mode of

information presentation. In some studies a significant

difference did exist between how females and male students

prefers to take in and give out information. However, in other

studies no significant differences between gender and learning

styles preferences was found. Thus, educators needs to be aware

of the conflicting findings on the research on gender and

learning styles. This will help them to design and deliver

information to students during instruction in a manner that is

compatible to their learning style preference. Broadening and/or

using multiple informational presentation styles can help create

a more positive and effective environmental for students of all

genders to learn. Thus, it is paramount for students and teachers

to know student learning styles in order to improve teaching and

learning.

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