the relationship between student academic achievement and student learning styles in a ...

316 Pages·2016·2.99 MB·English

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STUDENT ACADEMIC
ACHIEVEMENT AND STUDENT LEARNING STYLES IN
A MULTICULTURAL SENIOR SCHOOL

by
ANNE BOSMAN

submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

In the subject

PSYCHOLOGY OF EDUCATION

at the

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA

SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR SALOMÉ SCHULZE

December 2015

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DECLARATION

Student number: 6600581

I declare that THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STUDENT ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
AND STUDENT LEARNING STYLES IN A MULTICULTURAL SENIOR SCHOOL is my
own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and
acknowledged by means of complete references.

15 December 2015
SIGNATURE DATE

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to the following people who were a great help in the
completion of this thesis:
 Professor Salomé Schulze for her excellent supervision,
 The Headmaster and the Board of the International School of South Africa for
allowing me to conduct the empirical research at the school,
 All the students who participated in the empirical research,
 Dr Liezel Korf for her work on the statistics,
 Professor Eleanor Lemmer for editing the thesis,
 My father who has always been an inspiration, and
 My husband and my son who gave me great support throughout the whole
process.

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SUMMARY

Since 1994 South African classrooms have become more culturally diverse. In order to
teach effectively in such an environment, teachers need to use strategies which meet
the needs of all the students. One way of addressing this challenge is to consider
learning styles theory. Teachers need to understand how individual students of all
cultures learn, and which specific learning styles are significantly related to academic
achievement. In order to investigate this relationship, a study was conducted at an
independent multicultural senior school in the North West Province of South Africa. The
aim of the research was to gather information on the learning style preferences of the
students at the school; the relationship between the students’ academic achievements
in English and mathematics and their learning style; and finally, the relationship
between the students’ nationality, gender, form and age and their learning styles as well
as their academic achievements in English and mathematics. A mixed methods
research design was used. Data was collected by means of a structured questionnaire
that was completed by a sample of 240 students of different forms, genders and
nationalities. This was followed by individual interviews with ten top achieving students.

The study found that the predominant learning style amongst the students in the school
was individual learning. This particular learning style was also most significantly related
to academic achievements in English and mathematics. The study further determined
that nationality did not significantly influence students’ learning styles but gender and
age did. Female students were found to be more inclined to be individual learners.
Younger students were also found to be auditory learners to a greater extent than older
students. Regarding the studying of English and mathematics, it was found that female
students generally used auditory learning styles whilst male students preferred
kinaesthetic learning styles. Lastly, the study found that the average achievements in
mathematics deteriorated as the students got older and the worst performing form was
the Form 6s. To this end, various suggestions were made as to how learning styles

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could be considered to improve learning. Recommendations for further study were
highlighted along with the limitations of this research.

KEY WORDS

Learning
Learning styles
Learning theories
Academic achievement
VARK model
Multicultural independent school
North West Province, South Africa
Mixed methods inquiry

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

1.1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1

1.2 THE PROBLEM STATEMENT AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS 6

1.3 AIMS OF THE RESEARCH 7

1.4 AN OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH DESIGN AND DATA
COLLECTION METHODS 8

1.5 DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS 10
1.5.1 Learning 10
1.5.2 Learning styles 12
1.5.3 The Senior Phase 15
1.5.4 Adolescents 15
1.5.5 Multicultural education 16

1.6 THE DIVISION OF CHAPTERS 17

1.7 CONCLUSIONS 18

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CHAPTER 2: LEARNING AND LEARNING STYLES

2.1 INTRODUCTION 19

2.2 THE BRAIN AND LEARNING 19

2.3 LEARNING THEORIES 21
2.3.1 Behavioural theories 22
2.3.1.1 Classical conditioning 23
2.3.1.2 Instrumental conditioning 24
2.3.1.3 Operant conditioning 25
2.3.1.4 Educational implications of the behavioural theory 26
2.3.2 Cognitive theory 28
2.3.2.1 Modelling 29
2.3.2.2 Vicarious reinforcement 30
2.3.2.3 Self-regulated learning 30
2.3.2.4 Educational implications of the cognitivist theory 32
2.3.3 Constructivist theories 32
2.3.3.1 Piaget 34
2.3.3.2 Vygotsky 35
2.3.3.3 Bruner 36
2.3.3.4 Educational implications of the constructivist theory 37

2.4 LEARNING STYLES 39
2.4.1 Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory 42
2.4.2 Honey and Mumford 47
2.4.3 Dunn and Dunn learning styles model 49
2.4.3.1 Global versus analytic processing (psychological element) 51
2.4.3.2 Impact of environmental factors on learning 52

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2.4.3.3 Sociological factors that influence learning 53
2.4.3.4 Physiological learning-style preferences 53
2.4.4 Gregorc Style Delineator 56
2.4.5 Felder and Silverman’s learning style model 58
2.4.6 VAK and VARK learning style model 61
2.4.6.1 Visual (V) learners 63
2.4.6.2 Auditory (A) learners 64
2.4.6.3 Read/write (R) learners 66
2.4.6.4 Kinaesthetic (K) learners 67
2.4.6.5 Advantages and disadvantages of using the VARK model 68
2.4.7 Learning styles critique 70

2.5 CONCLUSION 71

CHAPTER 3: FACTORS THAT IMPACT LEARNING, LEARNING STYLES AND
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

3.1 INTRODUCTION 72

3.2 ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND LEARNING 72

3.3 FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCE LEARNING AND ACADEMIC
ACHIEVEMENT 75
3.3.1 The family 75
3.3.1.1 Parents 75
3.3.1.2 Family circumstances 76
3.3.2 The school 78

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3.3.2.1 School and classroom climate 78
3.3.2.2 Peer culture 79
3.3.2.3 Discipline 80
3.3.2.4 Learning environment 82
3.3.2.5 Learning and teaching style mismatches 84
3.3.3 The student 86
3.3.3.1 Student problem behaviour 86
3.3.3.2 Individual characteristics 88
3.3.3.3 Self-regulation and self-efficacy 91
3.3.3.4 Self-concept 94
3.3.3.5 Achievement motives and goals 96
3.3.3.6 Personality Traits 97
3.3.3.7 Stress 98

3.4 THE FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCE LEARNING STYLES 100
3.4.1 The link between learning styles and academic achievement 101
3.4.1.1 Kolb’s LSI 101
3.4.1.2 VARK learning style model 102
3.4.1.3 Group versus individual learning 103
3.4.1.4 No relationship 103
3.4.2 The link between learning styles and gender 104
3.4.2.1 Kolb’s LSI and Gregorc’s LSD 105
3.4.2.2 VARK learning style model 107
3.4.2.3 Felder and Silverman 109
3.4.2.4 Dunn and Dunn learning style model 109
3.4.2.5 No relationship 110
3.4.3 The link between learning styles and culture 110
3.4.3.1 Kolb’s LSI 111
3.4.3.2 VARK model 113

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3.4.3.3 Felder and Silverman learning style model 114
3.4.3.4 Dunn and Dunn learning style model 114
3.4.4 The link between learning styles and age 114

3.5 CONCLUSION 116

CHAPTER 4: THE RESEARCH DESIGN AND DATA COLLECTION

4.1 INTRODUCTION 117

4.2 RESEARCH PROBLEM, RESEARCH QUESTIONS, AIMS OF
THE RESEARCH AND THE RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS 117

4.3 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 122
4.3.1 Obtaining informed consent 122
4.3.2 Protecting vulnerable research participants 124
4.3.3 Non-violation of privacy 124
4.3.4 Actions and competence of researchers 124

4.4 THE RESEARCH SETTING, OUTLINE OF THE RESEARCH
DESIGN AND THE RESEARCH METHOD 125
4.4.1 Research setting 125
4.4.2 The research design 125

4.5 DATA COLLECTION METHODS 128
4.5.1 The population 128
4.5.2 Sampling 128
4.5.3 The structured questionnaire 130

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