Learning Styles: fact or myth?

The topic of Learning Styles interested me the the most during my study of this 180-hour TESOL course. I did some more online research about it and saw different analytic videos and articles that either supported the claim of learning styles or opposed it. The jury on whether ‘learner styles’ are fact or myth is clearly still out.

In this essay, I want to first introduce the different learner styles briefly, than assess the opposite sites and their argumentation, and then lastly, give my own opinion on the matter.

Learning styles

There are many different approaches around learning styles. The best known is the VAK model by Walter Burke Barbe that includes three types: Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic. Neil Fleming’s (Fleming and Baume, 2006) model splits learner styles into Visual, Auditory, Physical and Social. Peter Honey and Alan Mumford suggest Activist, Reflector, Theorist and Pragmatist.

There are a number of other models about learner styles, but for the interests of keeping this article concise, we won’t go into these here.

In two of the three specified models there can be found similarities: visual, auditory an physical/kinesthetic. These specifications refer to learners who are:

1. Visual - learners who need to see things to understand them. They understand things by seeing them and seeing language in action. If a learner of this style gets visual stimulation, he will remember more than in the case of hearing or touching the things.

2. Auditory - learners who learn best by hearing things to understand them. They understand things when hearing language in action i.e. listening to podcasts, learning English through songs, etc. If a learner of this style gets auditory stimulation, he will remember more than in the case of seeing or touching things.

3. Physical/Kinestetic - learners who need to touch things to understand them. They understand things better through touching and being involved. If a learner will gets physical stimulation, he will remember more than in the case of hearing and seeing.

The discussion about learning styles

As we learned earlier in the theories of Learning styles, there is a broad discussion about which model reflects the different learners the best. Some of the these models are supported by studies, some are not. Some researchers experimented and made surveys with the goal of confirming the Learner Styles theory or to debunk them.

A study by Polly R. Husmann ‘Another Nail in the Coffin for Learning Styles?’ (Husmann and O'Loughlin, 2019) is sure that the theory by Fleming is not more than a question of habits and favorites by different learners. The study on Learner Styles shows that students who were tested for their particular learning style at the beginning of the semester, and used learning in their style throughout the time, were not performing better than students that studied outside of there learning style. This study and many known authorities in the education sector are opposing the learning style models and hold them as untrue and not relevant.

But still 93% of teachers in the UK believe that learning styles are a good model and that there is truth in the styles (Snider and Roehl, 2007). Websites like vark-learn.com promote testing for learning styles and sell guides for students and teachers to understand about their learning style and how to use them in classes.

Learner styles: fact or myth? My own search

After some online research by myself, I am in a war to debunk the myth, on studies that try to put nails into coffins and articles that read “Do learning styles matter?” On the other hand, I find multiple websites that try to promote, explain or help with learning styles. Are learner styles fact or myth?

My personal approach to learning styles

As a teacher I have my own way of understanding this topic. A few years ago, I had a class of 22 students in a public school in China. My subject was German as a Foreign Language (my L1 is German), and I had to teach the four disciplines of listening, writing, speaking and reading. I stumbled across something online about the learning style models and, without thinking critically enough about it, I tried to employ different techniques to teach my students in different styles. The goal was that the students would understand my classes better, be able to recall language long-term and have more fun, as their styles are matched. I, of course, also wanted to get some more experience and learn whether this approach would benefit me, too.

What I hoped to gain by teaching using Learner Styles

The benefits that I saw were that the Learner Styles model implies to create more detailed and tailored activities and tasks. I created a lot of picture and video-based classes for the visual learners, used lessons with a focus on music, recording, secret messaging and ‘blind walks’ to get the auditory learners going and attempted classes that were more ‘hands on’ for physical learners, with pottery elements, table games and so on. It challenged me and the students in different ways and my classes were mostly well-received and fun to teach. In my humble opinion, I conclude that teaching with learner styles in mind benefited both the students and me.

On the other hand, teaching and learning in the different learning styles can, of course, also have downsides.

The downsides of teaching to ‘learner styles’

I imagine that teaching only visually, on the background that most of your students are visual learners will make classes definitely more one-sided. This can exclude certain groups in the class and lead to bored and unchallenged students. Even when you test the students at the beginning of the semester you might just find out their personal preferences about learning, not really their ‘style’.

If you asked me what my learning style is, I would say, with some confidence, that I am a ‘visual learner’, founded mostly on my belief, not on any real evidence. This thought and belief will maybe bring me to the conclusion that I learn only in my preferred way, which can benefit me, but could also harm me, as it excludes so many other methods of learning.

Learner styles fact or myth? - Conclusion

Learning styles benefit learners and teachers as they are an easy way to organize the psychology behind learning. But they should not hinder the critical thinking of students or teachers. Each individual needs to determine by himself what the right way to learn is and implement strategies, methods and plans to achieve their learning goals.

by Sebatian Triebel

References

Fleming, N., & Baume, D. (2006). Learning Styles Again: VARKing up the right tree!. Educational developments, 7(4), 4. — https://ve42.co/Fleming2006

Husmann, P. R., & O'Loughlin, V. D. (2019). Another nail in the coffin for learning styles? Disparities among undergraduate anatomy students’ study strategies, class performance, and reported VARK learning styles. Anatomical sciences education, 12(1), pp.6-19. — https://ve42.co/Husmann2019 

Snider, V. E., & Roehl, R. (2007). Teachers’ beliefs about pedagogy and related issues. Psychology in the Schools, 44, pp.873–886. doi:10.1002/pits.20272 — https://ve42.co/Snider2007