Can Students Identify Their Own Learning Styles?

When it's important to them, they can.

RITA DUNN

M any people wonder whether students are really capable of analyzing how they learn best

(their learning "style"). Obviously, some -cannot. Others can sometimes. But in testing more than 175,000 youngsters in grades 3—12, we find that most children not only can tell you how they learn, they want to and are delight ed that you asked.

What causes problems is that no one is affected by a ll the elements of learn ing style. Obviously students can't tell you about any personal reactions to elements that aren't important to them. But where an element is either a very strong preference or a very negative preference, most children can describe their feelings about it and reactions to it very well.

At the College LevelAs early as 1971, Farr confirmed that 72 college students could accurately predict the modality in which they would dem onstrate superior learning performance. The data also revealed that it is advanta geous to learn and be tested in the same modality and that this advantage is re duced when learning and testing are both conducted in an individual's non-

preferred modality.Earlier, Domino (1970) had grouped

100 students according to their percep tions of how they learned. Some of the groups were then taught in a manner consonant with their perceived learning style, while others were taught in a manner opposite to their perceived style. The testing data revealed that the students who had been exposed to a teaching style consonant with the ways they believed they learned scored higher on tests, fact knowledge, attitude, and efficiency of work than those who had been taught in a manner dissonant wiih their orientations.

Rifa Dunn is Professor, School of Education and Human Services, St. John's University, Jamaica, New York.

At the Secondary LevelCafferty (1980) had students answer a self-report instrument, identified their styles and their teachers' styles, and us ing 1,689 pairs examined how well the students did academically. The greater the match between the student's and his or her teacher's style, the higher the grade point average; the lower the match, the lower the grade point aver age. Copenhaver (1979), in addition to verifying that students' styles remain consistent regardless of the subject being studied, also revealed that significantly more positive attitudes result when stu dents' styles are similar to their teach ers', and that a wide range of learning styles exists in a single class. Douglass (1979), using high school biology stu dents, also verified that students' styles can be reported and that when their styles are appropriately matched with complementary instructional resources, achievement increases; when students and resources are mismatched, achieve ment decreases.

Lynch (1981) used a self-report in strument to identify the learning styles of chronic and initial truants. His re search demonstrated that: (1) when matched with their Time of Day prefer-

60 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP

ence and mismatched for teacher as signment, chronic truants attended class more frequently (3. 5 units per ten-week marking period); (2) there was signifi cant interaction among degree of truan cy, learning style Time preference, and English teacher assignment, suggesting that Time preference was a crucial fac tor in reversing truancy patterns among those secondary students. Had the stu dents not been able to identify their own Time preferences, the study could not have obtained statistically significant in teractions.

Using the same self-report inventory at the ninth grade level. Shea (1983) identified the students' preferences for learning/taking tests in a formal (wood en desks and seats) versus an informal (couch, carpeting, lounge chair) design. When students were matched with their identified styles, statistically significant higher reading scores resulted at the .01 level; those who were mismatched with their informal preferences achieved sta tistically less well than when they were matched. Examination of the graphic notations made during the experiment

revealed that youngsters who said that they learned best in a formal design, adapted the informal design to respond to their preferences; because there were no "hard" chairs, they sat on the floor with their backs straight up against the

At the Elementary School LevelPizzo (1981), using a self-report inven tory to identity' the styles of sixth graders, conducted an experimental study based on the youngsters' perceptions. Students

FIGURE 1. Diagnosing Learning Styles.

HEMISPHERIC PREFERENCE

Designed by: Rita Dunn and Kenneth Dunn

FEBRUARY 1985 61

were placed in an environment respon sive to or antagonistic to their styles. When the students were matched with their identified learning style prefer ences, higher reading and attitude scores resulted that were statistically sig nificant at the .01 level. Krimsky (1982) followed the same procedures with fourth graders. His findings also re vealed statistically significant gains at better than the .01 level when children were matched correctly; when they were mismatched, their achievement fell far below that of their matched counter parts.

The studies cited here used various self-report instruments. Either experi mental or de facto investigations were then conducted to determine the accu racy of the students' perceptions and findings at statistically significant levels were revealed. Thus it can be concluded that, indeed, at college, secondary, and elementary levels students can identify their learning styles.

References

Cafferty, Elsie. "An Analysis of Student Performance Based Upon the Degree of Match Between the Educational Cognitive Style of the Teachers and the Educational Cognitive Style of the Students." Ed.D. dissertation. University of Nebraska, 1980

Copenhaver, Ronnie W. "The Consisten cy of Student Learning Style as Students Move from English to Mathematics." Ed.D. dissertation, Indiana University, 1979.

Domino, George. "Interactive Effects of Achievement Orientation and Teaching Style on Academic Achievement." ACT Re search Report 39 (1970): 1-9.

Douglass, Claudia B. "Making Biology Easier to Understand " The American Biolo gy Teacher 4 1, 5 (May 1979): 277-299.

Farr, Beatrice J. "Individual Differences in Learning: Predicting One's More Effective Learning Modality." Ph.D. dissertation, Catholic University of America, 1971.

Krimsky, Jeffrey Stephen. "A Compara tive Study of the Effects of Matching and Mismatching Fourth Grade Students with Their Learning Style Preferences for the

Environmental Element of Light and Their Subsequent Reading Speed and Accuracy Scores." Ed D. dissertation, 1982.

Lynch, Peter K. "An Analysis of the Relationships Among Academic Achieve ment, Attendance, and the Individual Learning Style Time Preferences of Elev enth and Twelfth Grade Students Identified as Initial or Chronic Truants in a Suburban New York School District." Ed.D. disserta tion. St. John's University, 1981.

Pizzo, Jeanne. "An Investigation of the Relationships Between Selected Acoustic Environments and Sound, an Element of Learning Style, as They Affect Sixth Grade Students' Reading Achievement and Atti tudes." Ed.D. dissertation, St. John's Uni versity, 1981.

Shea, Thomas C. "An Investigation of the Relationship Among Preferences for the Learning Style Element of Design, Selected Instructional Environments, and Reading Test Achievement of Ninth Grade Students to Improve Administrative Determinations Concerning Effective Educational Facili ties," Ed.D. dissertation, St. John's Univer sity, 1983.

Learning Styles - An Alternative for AchievementMadison Schools • Development Project #0002-4C-82-D-l Mansfield. Ohio

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#81-077 Tell Me About Learning Styles: Research & Back ground & Learning Style Instruments - A review of recent research regarding Learning Styles and an introduction to four practical approaches for implementation.

#81-080 Classification & Selection of Instructional Materials to Accommodate Student Learning Styles - Specific examples of materials appropriate to accommodate the learning styles of students.

#81 -055 Tell Me About Learning Styles & Vocational & Tech nical Education - An explanation completewith examples of the benefits of accommodating learning styles in the vocational and technical setting.

#81-094 Tell Me About Learning Styles: An Explanation for Parents - A n introduction to the understanding of learn ing styles, suggestions for the informal observation in the home, and suggested accommodations.#81-037 Tell Me About: Accommodating the Learning Style of the Gifted Student • A presentation of the Renzulli Triad approach to talented and gifted education with specific references to research findings regarding the learning style of the students exhibiting gifted behavior. —#82-058 Learning Styles & Homework: An Approach for Stu dents - A presentation for students about learning and learning styles; provides suggestions for identifying learning style strengths and application to school and homework.

#82-130 Brain Dominance & Learning Styles - Avenues to Understanding - Anintroduction to the 4 Mat System of learning styles with right/left mode techniques. This filmstrip is designed to develop awareness of the learning style model of Dr. Bernice McCarthy.

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62 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP

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