Shortening the Inventory of Learning Styles for quality assurance in a Hong Kong post-secondary education context

Abstract

A Chinese translation of the 100-item Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS) is shortened as a 60-item instrument (which comprises 20 three-item scales) by removal of items that make the least contribution to the ILS scales from both alpha value and factor loading perspectives. The reliability and validation for administering the resultant 60-item ILS in the context of Hong Kong post-secondary education were assessed via analysis and re-analysis of results collected from two studies. The first study involved 1572 students enrolled in different kinds of post-secondary programmes in 2005; the second study involved 206 students enrolled in a special one-year, post-secondary programme in 2010. The internal consistency of most of the scales in the 60-item ILS was found to be good or satisfactory, except for three scales for which a need for further investigation or refinement is indicated. The exploratory factor analyses conducted in the two studies found factor patterns that closely resembled each other, with defining features comprising an active meaning-directed learning pattern that is mixed with reproduction-directed elements, an undirected learning pattern and different versions of a passive idealistic learning pattern. Overall, the current research provides qualified support for the reliability and validity of the shortened ILS for application in the context of Hong Kong post-secondary education.

Exploring changes in student teachers’ meaning-oriented learning

“…One of the learning patterns explicitly identified is the so-called meaning-oriented learning pattern (Vermunt and Vermetten 2004;Law 2013;Van Petegem, Donche, and Vanhoof 2005). In studying a topic, students with a meaning-oriented learning pattern tend to use deep processing strategies (relating, structuring and critically processing input) and concrete processing strategies (relating theory to practical experiences and vice versa) and tend to regulate their own learning.…”