Learning Styles: A Force in Effective Teaching

Karen G. Smith, Rutgers University

Although discussions about the uniqueness of each learner have been taking place in all levels of education for many years, we continue to attempt to understand the distinctive features of individuals that affect their ability and their ways of learning. If we are better able to understand the unique ways students learn, then we will be better able to design effective learning activities.

The emphasis in schools has changed from decade to decade, although changes in teaching methodologies or pedagogy in higher education have been far less noticeable. In the 1930's, progressive educators concentrated on the needs of the child. In the 1940's a nation at war developed a curriculum that was society-centered. In the 1950's and early 1960's, scholars led the way toward a discipline-centered approach. In the 1960's and early 1970's the total curriculum came into focus with an emphasis on the humane in the schools. The 1980's and 1990's brought about a return to the basics and educational accountability. Throughout this entire period, educational literature referred to the child as a "unique individual" without providing supporting evidence to help the practicing teacher truly understand this "uniqueness" and any relevance of this concept to their teaching activities.

For many years, instruction and learning have been viewed as direct correlates. If one is present to an acceptable degree, then the other should naturally follow. In other words, if the teacher is working hard and presenting the content well, then students should learn. Only in the last fifty years or so are we becoming more widely accepting of the notion that is expressed by Benjamin Bloom's model of learning (1976), that three important elements and interdependent variables account for the greatest degree of variance in student learning. He identifies these behaviors as 1) cognitive entry behaviors, or the extent to which the student has already learned the basic prerequisites to the learning to be accomplished, 2) affective entry characteristics, or the extent to which the student is or can be motivated to engage in the learning process, and 3) the quality of instruction, or the extent to which the instruction to be given is appropriate to the learner.

Bloom's model helps us to recognize the need for understanding more about the "cognitive entry behaviors" and "affective entry characteristics" which each learner brings to the instructional setting. While college entrance test scores, high school grade point averages, and the high school transcript provide some clues to the cognitive ability of our students, the student's motivational capacity is yet to be understood. Bloom's model, however, is focused on school learning primarily from the instructional perspective. While it deals with prior learning and motivation, the nature of the learning task, and indicators of learning effectiveness, it is not directly concerned with the wide variety of approaches that a teacher may use in creating a learning environment. Nor does it consider variations in student learning style.

What are "learning styles"?

Through the support of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP 1979), an instrument for learning styles assessment was developed and a monograph published. In this monograph James Keefe defined learning styles as "... characteristic cognitive, affective, and physiological behaviors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment." About the same time Gregorc (1979), in his early work on the development of a learning styles instrument stated, "Styles are hypothetical constructs that help you to explain the learning (and teaching) process. They are qualities in the behavior of individual learners that persist regardless of the teaching methods or content experienced."

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A few years later Dunn and Griggs (1988) identified specific characteristics of learning style in their definition: "... learning style describes the way a classroom would be organized to respond to individual needs for quiet or noise, bright or soft illumination, temperature differences, seating arrangements, mobility needs, or grouping preferences. It suggests the patterns in which people tend to concentrate best -- alone, with others, with certain types of teachers, or in a combination thereof. It suggests the senses through which people tend to remember difficult information most easily -- by hearing, speaking, seeing, manipulating, writing, or notetaking, experiencing, or again, a combination of these. Learning style also considers motivation, on-task persistence, or the need for multiple assignments simultaneously, the kind and amount of structure required, and conformity versus nonconformity levels."

What factors do learning styles encompass?

Some discussions of learning style appeared in the literature as early as 1892, but they were consumed with a preoccupation with determining the one perceptual mode that would best improve student learning. Specific research on cognitive styles was greatly expanded in the United States after World War II at Brooklyn College, the Menninger Foundation, and the Fels Institute (NASSP 1979). Continued efforts to explain the underlying processes of learning and teaching reflect two lines of research. One group retains dominant interest in the cognitive dimensions of style. The other is concerned with applied models of learning and teaching and multidimensional analysis of styles. As Keefe (1987) first clarified for us, learning styles are still considered to exist in three domains: cognitive, affective, and physiological.

Cognitive styles are information processing habits representing the learner's typical mode of perceiving, thinking, problem solving, and remembering. The affective domain of learning style encompasses personality traits that have to do with attention, emotion, and valuing -- with the processes of motivation. Motivation is the end-project of attention, activity and interest. Affective learning styles are these same motivational processes viewed as the learner's typical mode of arousing, directing, and sustaining behavior. Physiological styles are biologically based modes of response that are founded on sex-related differences, personal nutrition and health, and reaction to the physical environment. Physiological factors are among the most obvious influences on pre-college learning.

How can learning styles effect classroom learning?

Faculty are drawn to the notion of learning styles through an awareness of their own learning processes and preferences and the recognition that their students often exhibit very different processes and preferences in the learning environment. Faculty are readily cognizant of their successes and failures with different groups, even when those groups are taught the same way, revealing clearly that students learn differently.

However, excepting some isolated situations and the work of a few particular individuals, learning style has not significantly affected educational practices in higher education. Until only recently, the academy's emphasis on research in its traditional disciplines has not fostered the study of teaching and learning. Yet the need to improve educational practice is great, especially in light of today's diversely prepared students and the current emphasis on effective teaching and assessment of outcomes. Learning style can be an extremely important element in the move to improve curricula and teaching in higher education.

Few who recommend that faculty be both informed about learning styles and willing to respond to the diversity represented in their classrooms are prepared to advocate that teachers teach to style. Modification of teaching style and diversifying classroom methodologies and activities can be implemented with some ease and impact the learning effectiveness greatly. The following chart, adapted from Claxton and Murrell 1987, illustrates how teacher behavior can respond to learning style.

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Student & Teacher Style Descriptors
Learner's Style	Learner's Needs	Teacher's Role	Teacher's Behavior
** Dependent **
(may occur in intro courses, languages, some sciences, when learner has no info upon entering the course)	Structure Direction External reinforcement Encouragement Esteem from authority	Expert Authority	Lecturing Demonstrating Assigning Checking Encouraging Testing Reinforcing Transmitting content Designing materials
** Collaborative **
(may occur when learner has some knowledge, information, and ideas & would like to share them or try them out)	Interaction Practice Probe self & others Observation	Co-learner Environment setter Participation	Interacting Questioning Providing resources Modeling Providing feedback Coordinating Evaluating Managing Observing process Grading
** Independent **
(may occur when learner has much more knowledge or skill upon entering the course & wants to continue to search on own; may feel instructor cannot offer as much as would like)	Internal awareness Experimentation Time Nonjudgemental support	Facilitator	Allowing Providing requested feedback Providing resources Consulting Listening Negotiating Evaluating

The concept of learning style is not important as an isolated concept but because it is one of several critical variables that faculty and other professionals can use in dealing with the complex issues of teaching and learning. Understanding and recognizing the concept of styles is one way to help faculty think more deeply about their roles and the organizational culture in which they carry out their work. Effective educational practices are more likely to be the result when faculty have both a deep understanding of their own discipline and a general understanding of learning styles and how style impacts on learning performance.

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References

Bloom, Benjamin S. Human Characteristics and School Learning. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1976.

Brookfield, Stephen D. The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc. Pub., 1990.

Claxton, Charles s. & Patricia H. Murrell. Learning Styles: Implications for Improving Educational Practices. College Station, TX: ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 4, 1987.

Cole, Charles C., Jr. Improving Instruction: Issues and Alternatives in Higher Education. College Station, TX: ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 4, 1982.

Cross, K. Patricia. "A Proposal to Improve Teaching." AAHE Bulletin 19, September 1986.

Dunn, Rita & Shirley A. Griggs. Learning Styles: Quiet Revolution in American Secondary Schools. Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1988.

Eble, Kenneth E. The Craft of Teaching: A Guide to Mastering the Professor's Art. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc. Pub., 1976.

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Fuhrmann, Barbara Schneider Anthony F. Grasha. A Practical Handbook for College Teachers. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1983.

Gregorc, A.F. "Learning/Teaching Styles: Potent Forces Behind Them." Educational Leadership 36, 1979.

Keefe, James W. Profiling and Utilizing Learning Style. Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1988.

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Lowman, Joseph. Mastering the Techniques of Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc. Pub., 1984.

McCarthy, Bernice. The 4 Mat System: Teaching to Learning Styles with Right/Left Mode Techniques. Tucson: Zephyr Press, 1987.

Menges, Robert J. and Marilla D. Svinicki (ed.). College Teaching: From Theory to Practice. New Directions for Teaching and Learning Number 45: San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc. Pub., Spring 1991.

Mosston, Muska & Sara Ashworth. The Spectrum of Teaching Styles: From Command to Discovery. New York: Longman, 1990.

National Association of Secondary School Principals. Student Learning Styles and Brain Behavior: Programs, Instrumentation, Research. Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1982.

National Association of Secondary School Principals. Student Learning Styles: Diagnosing and Prescribing Programs. Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1979.

Smith, Karen L. The Learning Styles Webpage. http://www.u.arizona.edu/~smithka/law/nleframe.html, 1996.

Svinicki, Marilla D. The Changing Face of College Teaching. New Directions for Teaching and Learning Number 42: San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc. Pub., Summer 1990.

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