The effects of matching students' learning styles with the teacher's learning styles.

• Main Author: Lansangan, Rosalle Cioco
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1995
• Subjects: Learning; Student achievements; Mathematics > Study and teaching; Teaching methods; Education; Mathematics
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/1704
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study verifies whether matching the students' learning styles with their teachers' learning styles can improve (1) achievement, (2) classroom behavior, and (3) student participation. Sixty-nine senior students of the University of St. La Salle - Integrated School took the Learning Style Inventory (LSI) developed by Dunn, Dunn and Price (1995). This was done to determine the students' learning styles. They were identified according to their time-of-day preference which was one of the 22 factors in the LSI. The teachers concerned, on the other hand, took the Productivity Environmental Preference Survey (PEPS), the adult version of LSI. The afternoon learners constituted the matched or experimental group. Their teacher was likewise an afternoon learner. The rest belonged to the unmatched or control group. One quarter was spent for information dissemination, redesigning of classroom, and other adaptations to accommodate the learning styles of the experimental group. Another quarter was spent for the actual implementation of the study. During the actual implementation, both groups were given 5 identical long tests in their Math subject. The differences in achievement between the matched and unmatched groups were tested using t-test. The relationship between achievement and student participation was determined by using the point biserial correlation coefficient. Observations on behavior of the two groups were noted for a period of one quarter. Results showed that students from both groups highly preferred a quiet, cool, and bright room. The most preferred perceptual mode was the visual mode. It was also found that there was a significant difference on the achievement between the matched and the unmatched group. There was no relationship between learning styles and classroom participation. Moreover, the students with unmatched learning styles exhibited behaviors typically observed in a traditional classroom while students from the unmatched group were quite rowdy. It is recommended that a learning style inventory for Filipinos be constructed and the period of study be extended. It is also suggested that similar studies be done locally to further validate the results obtained.