As of 2015, over 22 million adults in the United States were said to be students enrolled in a college or university (Giovenco, Gundersen, & Delnevo, 2016). In order to perform well, these students face the challenge and task of remembering, retaining, and correctly interpreting large amounts of information in a short period of time multiple times a day. Despite similar results, the students have different learning styles, meaning they learn, process, organize, and retain information all in different ways (Bhagat, Vyas, & Singh, 2015). For example, some students learn better by working in groups while others learn better in a private/quiet area. Some learn better with hands-on activities while others learn better by reading the textbook.
In order to organize and categorize various learning styles into general categories, the Visual, Auditory, Read/Write, and the Kinaesthetic sensory modalities (VARK) model was created. The questionnaire was primarily developed by Lincoln University of New Zealand in 1998 (Peyman, Sadeghifar, Khajavikhan, et.al., 2014) on three basic principles: “1. Everyone can learn academic issues; otherwise, everyone has their own style 2. Learner’s motivation is increased when different learning styles of learners are taken into account and 3. Educational concepts are learned through utilization of senses and different perception” (Peyman, Sadeghifar, Khajavikhan, et.al., 2014). Students who fall under visual learn best when the information is seen. The information can be in the format of figures, diagrams, and films. Students who fall under auditory learn by hearing. The information may be in the format of lectures, discussions, and speeches. Students who fall under read/write learn by reading and writing the information. Lastly, students who fall under kinaesthetic learn best through activities and experience. With the VARK questionnaire, learners can also be classified as unimodal, bimodal, or multimodal. Students under unimodal have one dominant learning style. Bimodal have two dominant styles, and multimodal have three or more learning styles.
Learning styles are not set in stone. It is a complicated and constantly evolving process, being affected by cognitive, emotional, physiological and environmental factors (Tyng, Amin, Saad, & Malik, 2017). Students learn to form, adapt, and manage their learning styles over time until they reach their maximum performance or results (French, Cosgriff & Brown, 2007, p54). No particular learning style is better than another; there is no “correct” way to learn. Just as every student is different in personality, interests, strengths, and ideas, every student has a different and unique learning style. However, in classrooms, are students with certain learning styles at an advantage because the teachers prefer/teach in the same style? How much of an impact does the instructor’s style have on the students?
For a student to learn, a teaching style/method must also exist. Learning styles and preferred teaching styles are closely related; however, they are different. A teaching style refers to the method in which the information is introduced or taught, varying from a simple textbook, examples, and videos to tutorials and lectures. It is common for students to have a weak to strong preference for a teaching method. They can form their preference based on positive experience, outcome, and results. No matter what the individual reasons are, the question whether there is a correlation between learning style and preferred teaching method remains. Is it possible for a student to have a unrelated learning style and preferred teaching style?
For a group of students with a variety of learning styles, any new skills and knowledge must be developed with exposure to multiple teaching styles (Li, Chen, & Tsai, 2008, pp.70-76). Previous research has shown that an instructor’s teaching style can greatly impact an individual’s performance, ability to learn, and experience in the classroom (Hauer, Straub, & Wolf, 2005, pp177-182); therefore, teachers must assess the makeup of their class and make sure a variety of teaching methods are used to ensure that every student is given the same opportunity to learn (Vaughn, & Baker, 2001, pp610-612). However, students’ learning styles are little explored when creating majority of lesson plans. Instructors having a good knowledge of the students’ learning styles are rare. It is a vastly underutilized approach towards an improvement in the classroom instructions (Vaughn, & Baker, 2001, pp610-612). Theoretically, a lesson plan that takes account of all the students’ learning styles and preferred teaching styles would optimize learning outcomes and result in maximum success (Alshami, & Maghraby, 2013, 192-197). So if an instructor has students with visual as their main strength/learning style, should he or she teach all materials visually? Unfortunately, individualization of instructional methods has not been shown to contribute significantly to learning outcomes (Vermetten, Vermunt, & Lodewijks,1999). Studies have also shown that the most effective learners are able to adapt to the style which the learning situation requires; therefore, instructors must help students adapt to different situations, especially when the student’s learning style does not correlate to a task. In order to do this, instructors must be aware of the students’ learning styles.
Because most people do not use one discrete style to learn new information but use various methods depending on the task at hand, some researchers focus on metacognition instead of learning style (Paschler, et al., 2009). Metacognitive students are aware of and comfortable with their learning styles but know how to adjust according to given tasks. When one approach does not result in desired outcomes, they will try another. Ultimately, metacognitive students know what type of learning style is the strongest for them, yet they realize that each learning task may require a slightly different tactic.
However, before a student can be metacognitive and have the ability to adjust their learning styles according to the situation, he or she must be aware of and be comfortable with their different strengths in learning style first. Helping students discover who they are as learners first will allow for deeper and more integrative learning to occur. Without being aware of how they learn best, students cannot form preferences or determine whether the instructor is creating an ideal, fair environment where various learning styles are taken into consideration.
Students’ preferred teaching methods are often little explored or considered when creating lesson plans. If there is a correlation between students’ the learning styles and preferred teaching styles, instructors’ awareness of the students’ various learning styles and their efforts towards matching the teaching and learning styles may help in creating an effective learning environment for all the students. Therefore, this study seeks to determine if there is a correlation or relationship between the learning style and preferred teaching style of the students of California Northstate University College of Health Sciences.
There are many limitations that must be addressed in this particular study. Even if the results of the study indicates there is a relationship between a student’s learning style and preferred teaching methods, instructors cannot use individualization of instructional methods for better learning outcomes. Instead, instructors can incorporate the results of this research when helping students adjust and change their learning styles according to a given task. Instructors must be aware of the student’s learning styles and their preferred teaching methods in order to correctly guide the students with the appropriate teaching method.
There are many other factors besides learning style and teaching methods that affect a student’s performance. For example, even if a student who is classified as a visual learner is given visual lectures, it is possible that the student will not see an improvement in outcomes. For instance, motivation for a particular class or task will alter learning outcomes and results no matter what the student’s learning styles is. Motivation is a covariate that research cannot truly measure. Multiple scales have been developed; however, the values can only be estimated through a self-assessment. Self-assessment or self-report has large limitations due to participants’ different levels of cognitive maturity (Kusurkar, Ten Cate, Vos, Westers, & Croiset, 2012). Not everyone will reflect and understand motivation the same, and it could be challenging for participants to evaluate and report reliably on feelings and complaints. Therefore, much more studies exploring the learning styles must be conducted in order to fully understand the relationship and significance of different learning styles and teaching styles. Deeper understandings of this research area will allow improvements in teaching strategies, students’ education and overall learning experience.