Learning Styles

Abstract

The term "learning styles" refers to the concept that individuals differ in regard to what mode of instruction or study is most effective for them. Proponents of learning-style assessment contend that optimal instruction requires diagnosing individuals' learning style and tailoring instruction accordingly. Assessments of learning style typically ask people to evaluate what sort of information presentation they prefer (e.g., words versus pictures versus speech) and/or what kind of mental activity they find most engaging or congenial (e.g., analysis versus listening), although assessment instruments are extremely diverse. The most common-but not the only-hypothesis about the instructional relevance of learning styles is the meshing hypothesis, according to which instruction is best provided in a format that matches the preferences of the learner (e.g., for a "visual learner," emphasizing visual presentation of information). The learning-styles view has acquired great influence within the education field, and is frequently encountered at levels ranging from kindergarten to graduate school. There is a thriving industry devoted to publishing learning-styles tests and guidebooks for teachers, and many organizations offer professional development workshops for teachers and educators built around the concept of learning styles. The authors of the present review were charged with determining whether these practices are supported by scientific evidence. We concluded that any credible validation of learning-styles-based instruction requires robust documentation of a very particular type of experimental finding with several necessary criteria. First, students must be divided into groups on the basis of their learning styles, and then students from each group must be randomly assigned to receive one of multiple instructional methods. Next, students must then sit for a final test that is the same for all students. Finally, in order to demonstrate that optimal learning requires that students receive instruction tailored to their putative learning style, the experiment must reveal a specific type of interaction between learning style and instructional method: Students with one learning style achieve the best educational outcome when given an instructional method that differs from the instructional method producing the best outcome for students with a different learning style. In other words, the instructional method that proves most effective for students with one learning style is not the most effective method for students with a different learning style. Our review of the literature disclosed ample evidence that children and adults will, if asked, express preferences about how they prefer information to be presented to them. There is also plentiful evidence arguing that people differ in the degree to which they have some fairly specific aptitudes for different kinds of thinking and for processing different types of information. However, we found virtually no evidence for the interaction pattern mentioned above, which was judge...

Knowledge construction: the role of the teacher’s interpersonal attitudes

“…This is consistent with the idea that what really facilitates learners' success is not whether their learning styles match or mismatch a specific teaching programme or strategy, or the teacher's cognitive characteristics, but the very process whereby personal learning styles are reckoned and taken into account (e.g. Coffield et al 2004;Constantinidou and Baker 2002;Evans and Waring 2009;Glenn 2009;Massa and Mayer 2006;Pashler et al 2009). Our results also confirm that, as is assumed in the paradigm of self-directed learning (Brookfield 2009), the more the learners are allowed to participate responsibly, the better their attitude is toward the construction of knowledge.…”

More Evidence for Three Types of Cognitive Style: Validating the Object‐Spatial Imagery and Verbal Questionnaire Using Eye Tracking when Learning with Texts and Pictures

“…Matching the learning environment to people's cognitive style (‘matching hypothesis’; cf. Kolb, 1986; Kozhevnikov, Evans, & Kosslyn, 2014; but also Pashler et al, 2008, for an opposite view) might thus enhance learning effects, even though matching material to the specific context seems to be more important and would likely override any cognitive style matching effects (Klein, 2003; Kolloffel, 2012). …”

“…A verbal cognitive style is still part of this model. The authors have found some promising results regarding reliability and validity of these three scales, which might lead the way towards the ‘hard evidence’ for the significance of this individual difference demanded by Pashler et al (2008). …”

“…What the authors did not find, however, was substantial support for aptitude–treatment interactions (ATIs) of cognitive style and visual versus verbal instructional methods. Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer, and Bjork (2008) called attention to the lack of well‐designed studies investigating such interactions. Indeed, such studies are quite rare, as cognitive style often was investigated only descriptively (Kozhevnikov, 2007, 2013).…”

Cataloguers May Tend to Have Learning Styles Different from Other Library Job Responsibilities

“…Many studies have appeared both supporting and criticizing learning styles theories and instruments, including a body of research critical of learning styles that begins largely with Curry (1990) and extends to Pashler et al (2008), who conducted a review of the literature and found an inadequate evidence base to justify incorporating learning styles into educational practice. A number of studies have explored learning styles as applied to library instruction.…”