LEARNING STYLES IMPACT STUDENT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND THEIR CLASSROOM APPLICATIONS

ABSTRACT

   Learning styles is a pattern of behaviour that human beings use forbnew learning on student academic performance. Every person is unique in his/her styles of learning. Teachers need to know and adapt different teaching styles as one style does not fit every pupil. For decades, education researchers designed models that differentiate how people learn. Yet the results are often harder to understand. The proponents say that teachers should assess the learning styles of their students and adapt their classroom method to best fit student's learning style to make the teaching learning process effective. 

INTRODUCTION 

   We know that students learn in a variety of ways like by hearing, seeing, working along in groups. Teachers can also teach in wide variety of ways like lecturing, by showing models, discussion, etc. But the learning of a child depends on many things. The most important concept in learning is based on the compatibility between their learning styles preferences. 

LEARNING STYLES 

 Learning styles define the ways how people learn and how they approach information. It is interesting to note that sometimes we can't learn some important events using the methods which has been suggested by our parents, teachers oe colleagues. And we can easily learn by using our own methods. Knowing our own learning styles can help us to realize that other people may approach the same situation in a way that different from our own. 

VARK THEORY OF LEARNING 

    The VARK model of learning styles according to Desire(2019) suggests that there are mainly four types of learners : visual, auditory, reading, writing preferences and kinesthetic. 

 

VISUAL LEARNERS 

  The learners who prefer to learn using sense of sight. Materials in the learning environment that will appeal to the sense of sight like charts, diagrams, maps etc. 

AURAL/ AUDITORY LEARNERS 

   The learners who prefer instructions that deal with sense organ of hearing. Spoken words during lectures, recordings, discussions are mechanisms that allow people with the sense of hearing to learn in their environments. 

KINESTHETIC LEARNERS 

The learners who prefer to involve in the activities of the learning process. They focus on learning by doing. 

  

The above learning styles were categorised into three distinct groups namely psychological, physiology snd sociology. Physiology includes visual, auditory,. Physiological is made of global, analytical, impulsive and reflective, while sociology included, individual and group(Dunn and Dunn, 1989) 

   It beloved that student learning style is not focus on the material of learning byt rather on how they learn in the process of learning. Some students learn more through visual form like reading. Some students may have better learning ability through verbal form through attending physical lecture conducted. 

  According to Kolb, one of the factors that affecting a person in selection of specific learnering method is psychological factor. Gregorc, proposed that we perceived the both in concrete and abstract ways, those either having perceptionsvon sequential order or random pattern

CONCLUSION 

No one learning style is self-sufficient for students' academic performance. The best combination is the audio-visual learning styles. When students have knowledge of their learning style preferences and harness their various learning styles. It may improve their academic performance. Teachers vary their teaching methods and strategies to pave way for students to use different learning styles. Students should endeavour to identify their unique learning and use them. School administrators should provide learning resources that covers all the learning styles. 

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