Learning Style Preferences What is a Learning Style

Learning Style Preferences

What is a “Learning Style”? • P. 87 “Cognitive, affective, and physiological traits that are relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment” (Keefe, 1979 a, p. 4) • Various factors can influence learning styles

General Experiment • Survey/Questionnaire based – 4 specific styles – 2 grouping preferences – Scale based – Analysis by sex, L 1 background, major, education level etc.

Table 3 (p. 96) Language Visual Auditory Kinesthetic Tactile Group Individual Arabic 13. 75 14. 06 15. 09 14. 53 11. 51 12. 84 Spanish 13. 39 13. 29 15. 11 14. 18 10. 79 12. 79 Japanese 12. 52 12. 67 13. 29 13. 32 10. 35 12. 05 Malay 12. 84 13. 13 14. 33 13. 54 12. 75 11. 65 Chinese 13. 55 14. 09 14. 62 14. 52 11. 15 12. 41 Korean 14. 07 13. 73 14. 58 14. 48 11. 42 12. 46 Thai 13. 40 12. 83 14. 63 14. 09 11. 49 12. 94 Indonesian 13. 41 13. 78 13. 90 13. 47 11. 15 13. 07 13. 82 13. 64 12. 69 10. 08 13. 13 English 12. 12

Results • • Kinesthetic and tactile Group learning not preferred ESL learners vs. time spent in the USA Cultural Preferences – Japanese=nebulous – Spanish=definite – Indonesians closest to English

What Does It All Mean? • Adaptation or legitimate preference of learning styles? • Can we still be friends (group learning)? • Possible experiment flaw? – Socio-cultural element – Pressure to conform – Downside of self-reporting