Learning and teaching styles : Empowering diverse learners in tertiary classrooms

The aim o f this article is to make lecturers aware o f the im portance o f the various elem ents com prising an individual learning a n d teaching style. Suggestions are made as to how lecturers can help their students develop a m ore flex ib le, em pow ered approach to diverse learning contexts a n d tasks a n d thereby p reven ting "style wars I f lecturers can show students the variety a n d versatility o f learning styles by pro v id in g experiences in d ifferent teaching styles, the resulting aw areness a n d expansion o f student learning sty les m ay better allow students to m eet the dem ands o f academ ic teaching m ethods a n d assignments.


Introduction
A ccording to Du Plessis (1993) a primary feature or characteristic o f a professional person is that he/she should have undergone thorough training for the profession that lie/she is entering.In general, lecturers spend much more time on teaching than on research.This is confirmed by the so-called SAPSE statistics in the RSA.And yet, most lecturers have little or no training in tertiary teaching.Their primary interest, upon taking up their posts, w as in doing research.As a result, many lecturers find themselves in a situation in which they have had little or no training for their main task, viz.teaching at undergraduate and post graduate levels.According to Kinsella (1995), there is probably a lot more truth in saying that teachers teach the way they le a r n e d best at school/university.Lecturers may therefore select approaches and/or methods that reflect their own preferred ways o f approaching academic tasks.For example, lecturers who prefer independent learning rarely integrate opportunities for students to work collaboratively, or lecturers who are auditory learners seldom remember to write key terms on the blackboard and provide graphic illustrations to help students grasp new concepts.
Learn inf' and leaching styles: Empowering diverse learners in tertiary classrooms Kinsella (1995:170) states that a lecturer "may indeed be highly knowledgeable, creative, charismatic, and caring, yet still be unsuccessful in educating students whose learning strengths are not acknowledged because o f the teacher's fairly inflexible instructional approach.Without a fundamental aw areness o f our own preferences, it is easy to believe that the way we study and learn is the most efficient way and consequently bias our teaching in favour o f students who approach learning in much the same way w e do" .As each student has his/her own style, " style w ars" may result (cf.Oxford el al., 1992): a mismatch between the learners' learning styles and the lecturer's teaching style.
If there is a difference between students' learning preferences and our own, the result for these students may be mediocre performance or an even more drastic one -failure.Increasingly, the university classroom is becoming multilingual, with the result that lecturers are confronted with students, in one class, who have a wide variety o f learning styles.It is, therefore, crucial for all lecturers to understand, reflect, and respond to the wide range o f characteristics that make students unique as learners and to have a critical aw areness o f their own learning and teaching preferences.Lecturers, therefore, need to create the best teachingleaming conditions possible for their students.They need to realize and give special emphasis to the realization that each individual is unique, created thus in the image o f God, and should therefore be assisted to the greatest extent possible to develop their own potential through the optimal utilization o f their unique learning styles.The underlying assumption behind an attitude like this is the basic Christian philosophy underlying education by committed educators who are fully aware o f the fact that they are dealing with children o f the covenant and who design their teaching strategies and techniques accordingly.Unfortunately, the current situation in most classrooms is that diverse learner preferences are rarely, if ever, considered in a systematic fashion.
The aim o f this article is to examine some fundamental elements o f an individual learning style, as well as the main characteristics o f teaching styles.Suggestions for the accommodation o f learning style preferences in the tertiary classroom are also made.

Defining learning styles
Exactly what does learning style mean?The literature on learning styles reveals a wide variety o f definitions.Galloway and Labarca (1990:113) say: "R eaders reviewing the literature on learning styles will benefit from a high tolerance o f ambiguity ."Exam ples o f definitions include: Styles are the overall patterns that give general d irection to learning behavior (C ornett, 1983).
L earning style is the w ay in w hich each person absorbs and retains inform ation a nd/or skills (D unn, 1984).
L earning style is the biologically and developm entally im posed set o f characteristics that m ake the sam e teaching m ethod w onderful fo r som e and terrib le fo r others (D unn & G riggs, 1988).
L earning styles are cognitive, affective and physiological traits that are relatively stable indicators o f how learners perceive, interact w ith, and respond to the learning environm ent (K eefe, 1979).
L earning styles are the general approaches students use to learn a new subject or tackle a new problem (O xford el al., 1991).
The most com prehensive definition seems to be that o f Kinsella (1995): A learning style refers to an individual's natural, habitual, and preferred w ays o f absorbing, processing, and retaining new inform ation and skills w hich persist regardless o f teaching m ethods or content area.

Elements of an individual learning style
At least 21 com ponents o f learning style have been identified although it appears that most individuals have between 6 and 14 elements that make up their strong style preferences (Dunn et al., 1990:69).During the 1970s various researchers developed models in order to assess the wide range o f elements comprising a learning style.However, most o f these models can be criticized for essentially focusing on only one element among many that may influence the composition o f an individual learning style.The learning style model developed by Dunn et al. (1975Dunn et al. ( , 1979Dunn et al. ( , 1989)), however, is fairly comprehensive and gives an indication of the complexity o f variables that potentially influence a student's distinct approach to learning.Their approach to viewing a learning style is multidimensional and encom passes five stimulus categories: environmental, emotional, sociological, physical, and psychological.Many o f the multiple elements that comprise an individual learning style are bipolar, representing a continuum from one extreme to another.However, as Kinsella (1995:171) states, "no value judgm ent is made about where a learner falls on the continuum" .Further, these elements are not mutually exclusive: they represent different ways o f viewing com plex pheno mena.A brief overview o f what these learning style elements entail is given in the following sub-sections.

Environmental elements
Research indicates that regardless o f their age, ability, socio-econom ic status, or achievement level, individuals respond uniquely to their immediate environment.For example, the amount o f sound and light in a room can either help or hinder a Koers 61(4) 1996:469-482 student's ability to read, depending on the student's learning style preferences.Krimsky (1982) found that her students performed significantly better (p<0,01) in low than in bright light (which made them restless, fidgety and hyperactive).According to Dunn and Dunn (1979) right-brain dominant students appear to prefer dim light when concentrating.Pizzo (1981) found that when the amount o f sound mismatched the student's learning style, achievement and attitudes toward reading declined significantly.Besides the amount o f sound and light in an environment, formal or informal design can also affect perform ance positively or negatively.Shea (1983) identified high school students with strong preferences for sitting informally on cushions, pillows, couches and carpets.When permitted to work that way, they performed significantly better (p<0,001) on an English comprehension test than when they w ere required to sit in conventional seats.
Classroom design affects at least 20 percent o f secondary students for whom achievement is either increased or decreased based on where they are permitted to work (Dunn & Dunn, 1979).If sound, light, and design can either decrease or increase a student's ability to learn during a few hours or days, the effect o f these variables over prolonged periods may be powerful indeed, especially since poor achievers have been found to need exactly the opposite conditions o f those prevalent in most classrooms.

Emotional elements
Some students function at their best in a classroom in which the atm osphere is 'emotionally charged', for example, a lecturer's use o f drama and lively description as well as his own involvement and enjoyment o f the material being taught (i.e., the learning atmosphere is vivid).Another example is when the lecturer allows open discussion and disagreem ent, and strong opinions and ideas are stated and defended.However, some students function better in a classroom where the emotional tone is low-keyed and relatively neutral.In such a class room the lecturer focuses on the task at hand in an objective manner, minimizing his own emotional involvement and focusing on leading the students to intellectual involvement and analysis.Students with this type o f learning style very often feel threatened in a classroom with a 'high' emotional atmosphere.According to Dunn and Dunn (1979) students who are not motivated, persistent, or responsible should be taught differently from those who are.M otivated, persistent, responsible students need to be told what they are required to learn (e.g., objectives or tasks), what they may use as resources and how they may demonstrate their acquired knowledge or skill.They w elcom e praise and feed back when the assignment has been com pleted (Dunn & Dunn, 1979).The unmotivated (those not persistent and responsible) require short assignments or fewer objectives at a time, frequent feedback, a great deal o f supervision and praise as they are working.
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Sociological elements
How students respond to other people also contributes to the selection o f a method through which they are likely to achieve.Some work and learn best alone; they are distracted by the presence, movements or sounds o f others.To these students the inclusion o f sinall-group tasks may be an unwelcome intrusion in daily classroom activities.
Many o f these students report considerable trepidation about collaborating with classmates.A reason for this may be the traditional, hierarchical South African educational system which regards the lecturer as an unquestioned authority on subject matter.Students, therefore, rarely express their own opinions and never question what the professor says.Students may, as a result, not place much value on class discussions where classm ates share and construct know ledge (cf.Kinsella, 1995).M any students, on the other hand, achieve best when among their peers, for them team learning, case studies, brainstorming and other small-group techniques tend to facilitate learning.Research has also shown that some students work better with media than with people or with com puters (Martini, 1986).It is also true that some students can leam well in any combination -alone, with others, or with media (Dunn & Dunn, 1979).

Physical elements
We all know early birds, night owls, and people with either high-or low-energy levels at different times o f the day or evening.Research dem onstrates that no matter when a class is in session, it is the wrong time o f day for almost one-third o f that population (Freeley, 1984).
The sensory preferences (visual vs auditory vs hands-on or tactile-kinesthetic) of learners are the physical, perceptual learning channels with which they most easily leam (Oxford et al., 1991).Visually oriented students enjoy reading and need a great deal o f visual stimulation (e.g., transparencies, videos, computers, chalkboard and posters).For them, lectures, conversations, and oral directions without any visual backup are very confusing and can be anxiety-producing.Visual learners prefer to have written assignments, and it is wise if the lecturer provides written evaluation.Auditory students, unlike visual students, are com fortable with lectures, discussions, radio and television.Tutorials, for example, may provide these learners with additional opportunities to process information aloud for themselves.Hands-on students like manipulative and three dimensional materials that are touchable and moveable.Sitting at a desk (the typical academic posture) for very long is uncomfortable for them; they would rather sit on the floor or on a couch.They need frequent breaks and, above all, physical action (e.g., games and dramatic activities).Hodges (1982:30-31) has dem onstrated that "approximately 90% o f traditional classroom instruction is geared to the auditory learner.Teachers talk to their students, ask questions, and discuss facts.However, ... only 20% to 30% o f any large group could remember 75% o f what was presented through discussion" .Reid (1987) noted that 90% o f traditional college classroom instruction is geared to the auditory learner, who is in the minority among many language groups.If it is true that 90% o f all instruction is conducted through either lecture or lecturediscussion, it is no wonder that so few students achieve as well as they should.Kinsella (1995:173) states that, as students grow older in term s o f academic achievement, those with mixed modality strengths have a decidedly better chance o f success than do those with a single modality strength because they can process information in w hatever way it w as presented.Unfortunately, how ever, less flexible learners are rarely accom modated in the traditional tertiary classroom.A student's perceptual strengths and w eaknesses are extremely important, for no matter how motivated a student might be, inability to absorb and retain through an inappropriate sense tends to dampen motivation and, certainly, inhibits achieve ment.

Psychological elements
Students with a global learning style seek the big picture right away.This kind o f learner sometimes has trouble discerning the important details from a confusing language background.Global learners usually choose holistic strategies such as guessing, predicting, searching for the main idea, and engaging in extensive communication in English (Oxford et al., 1992).Global learners are especially effective in situations where collaboration and social relationships contribute to achievement (Witkin el al., 1977).Global learners may, therefore, experience problems when they are required to independently analyze the com ponents or steps in a task, or do assignments with a "trial-and-error" or "discovery" approach.A ccording to Violand-Sanchez (1995) these students also respond with greater enthusiasm to course content and activities that are clearly structured, and related to their personal experiences and interests.
In contrast, analytic students like details better than the overall picture.The analytic student has no trouble picking out significant details from a welter o f background items and prefers language learning strategies that involve dissecting and logically analyzing the given material, searching for contrasts, and finding cause-effect relationships.The analytical learner very often dislikes excessive input; they respond to selective, low-intensity stimulus (cf.Kinsella, 1995).According to Chapelle and Roberts ( 1986) analytical students do well in tests o f grammatical accuracy.
According to Ellis (1989) the analytic student might naturally prefer to engage in formal language learning aimed at achieving accuracy, while the global student might prefer learning that is aimed at and takes place through communication.
Research (e.g.Douglass, 1979) indicates that both groups learn equally well but achieve significantly higher scores when taught in a style that is correct for them.When one considers traditional classroom teaching, it would seem as if the analytical environment has the upper hand: teaching is organized to promote individual autonomous achievement and where verbal and analytical skills are the primary gauges o f intelligence.
Another related dimension o f learning style concerns impulsivity and reflection, with impulsive students being more global and reflective students being more analytic.Impulsive students show quick and uncritical acceptance o f initially accepted hypotheses.Overly impulsive students can be error-prone, both in the productive skills o f writing and speaking and in the receptive skills o f listening and reading.Reflective students prefer systematic, analytic investigation of hypotheses, and are usually accurate in their performance o f all skills (Oxford et al., 1992).
Every healthy individual uses some combination o f both left-and right-brain behaviours, but most people show a preference for one or the other.The leftbrain learner is often called linear (likes to process information line-by-line, or in a sequence), or analytical (likes to look logically at details and facts).The rightbrain preference individual is called a global learner because that person sees the big picture and processes information as a whole.The left-brain learner is usually more logical, organized, and disciplined.This person wants a "plan", likes to look at details, and makes decisions by facts.The right-brain learner likes things to be informal and spontaneous, is usually creative, and tends to make many decisions based on intuition and feelings.Left-brain learners can apply new information quickly, and usually prefer to work alone.Right-brain learners need longer to assimilate material and often prefer to work with others.
O nce again it would seem as if our educational system operates as if students had only the left-brain hemisphere.In traditional high school and university classes, students are largely expected to master new material through listening to lectures and discussions, reading textbooks, and completing written assignments.It can be that students who favour right-hemisphere processing may experience a "style conflict" .For example, these students will find it difficult to m aster course content, even though well-structured, which contains few illustrations, examples and analogies.

The subject-centred style
The lecturer with this approach is o f the opinion that his primary teaching task is to outline the content o f the subject logically and systematically in the classroom to enable students to master the material.By "covering the subject" , they satisfy their consciences even if little learning takes place.The good student here is one w ho is able to m aster the facts and the principles o f the subject discipline well and to regurgitate it to the satisfaction o f the lecturer.In the classes offered by this lecturer, interaction is limited to the subject field.In the classes there is not really room for personal opinion, and the teaching is done mainly according to the lecture method.The method does not change even if the year group and the class size might vary.

The lecturer-centred style
The lecturer with this approach to teaching regards him self as the ideal role model for students with regard to the practice o f scholarship.He regards the classes which are offered as a demonstration and would, as it were, like to invite students to emulate the intellectual process that he is demonstrating.Knowledge is largely regarded as process and not so much as product.Lecturers with this style who teach the same subject can teach in a wide divergence o f styles, because the lecturer and the process are very prominent.The teaching method is mostly lecturing, in which students are encouraged to ask questions.In the answer to the questions the lecturer again uses the opportunity to dem onstrate how wellinformed he is and how he approaches problem-solving.

The student-intellectual centred style
The lecturer with this approach sees the intellectual growth o f the student as the main purpose.The process o f scientific investigation is o f great importance -and not so much the facts and principles o f the field in question.Teaching methods and learning experiences are chosen in such a way that students are taught to think and their curiosity is stimulated.The activity o f the student assumes an important place in the teaching/learning situation and the problem-solving approach is visible.Assignments to students attempt to motivate them to independence and intellectual maturity.

The student-as-person centred style
A lecturer with this teaching style has as primary aim o f the teaching the personal, social and intellectual development o f the student.The intellectual development is seen as part o f the total development o f the student.Class meetings are characterized by intensive interaction and discussions are informal and frank.The lecturer mostly plays the role o f counsellor or source o f information.The student is seen as an individual who has to attain insight and assume responsibility for his own behaviour and aims.Assignments to students aim at problem -solving along new ways, and also at self-expression.Self-evaluation is frequently used by these lecturers.

The emotionally exciting and its counterpart
These lecturers show their own intensive emotional involvement in teaching.They enter the teaching/learning process with zeal and usually produce a classroom atmosphere o f excitement and high emotion.Their counterparts conduct classrooms subdued in emotional tone, w here rational processes predominate, and the learning is dispassionate though ju st as significant as in the classrooms o f the emotionally involved lecturers.
Despite the supportive evidence in favour o f the importance o f learning and teaching style "w ars" and " flexing", many lecturers remain unaw are o f the extent to which learning style characteristics contribute to individuals' ability to absorb and retain new or difficult information or skills.

Accommodating diverse learning style preferences in the tertiary classroom
All the information generated about learning styles will be o f little use to us as lecturers unless w e can somehow apply it to the classroom and our w ay o f teaching.Should w e accommodate students' learning styles or not?If w e agree that we should accommodate students' learning styles, w here do w e begin?If we tried to match every student with the lecturers available it could becom e an administrative nightmare.
If the concept o f learning style accom modation and development is going to have practical value for the average classroom practitioner, lecturers must have ways o f identifying their own as well as their students' learning preferences that are easily administered and that produce reliable data.The role o f the lecturer cannot be underestimated in a classroom that purports to promote diversity.The classroom environment hinges on the attitude o f the lecturer; lecturers must be willing to look at their own learning/teaching styles objectively before they can be non-judgmental with their students.Lecturers who are unaware o f learning/teaching style dynamics may unconsciously w atch for thinking patterns similar to their own, and penalize students who use processes that are dissimilar (Claxton & Raison, 1978).A study by James (1973) showed that teachers gave higher course grades to students with learning styles most similar to their own teaching style, and they believed these students understood the material better, when in fact the differences were not significant.
Since there is evidence that students with greater learning style flexibility are also greater achievers (Kirby, 1979), our goal as lecturers should be not only to make use o f a variety o f activities but also to encourage students to develop in their w eaker areas.As Witkin et al. (1977:12) state, the "development o f greater di versity in behaviors within individuals seems as important an objective as the recognition and the utilization o f diversity among individuals" .Scarcella and Oxford (1992) also emphasize the importance o f " stretching the comfort zones" o f the learner.Even if we could identify and remember each student's preferred learning style, w e would certainly set a dangerous precedent if w e were to label students by their learning preferences and teach only to those preferences.While all students should have ample opportunity to leam through their preferred style they also need to be open to the idea o f " style flex" -that is, students should be encouraged to diversify their style preferences (W allace & Oxford, 1992).Similarly, lecturers must assess their own learning and teaching styles and work tow ard "flexing" these styles.As Mosston and Ashworth (1990:3) state: " Skilful teaching is the ability to move deliberately from style to style as the objectives change from one teaching episode to another."What we are saying, therefore, is that learning style preferences vary among individuals and that efforts should be made firstly, to understand these differences and secondly, to alter teacher style in those areas and at those times that modifications are possible.
If students come from an educational background where education is heavily teacher-directed, knowledge o f their individual learning style preferences could help them to assume responsibility for their own learning by helping them select learning strategies that build on their innate preferences (Rossi-Le, 1995).For students conditioned via a " banking concept o f education", as postulated by Freire (1970), to be passive recipients o f teacher informational deposits, learning styles and student responsibility could be a revolutionary idea and one to which they might need to be guided.
M ost o f the learning style elements can be accom modated fairly easily by developing students' aw areness o f their own styles, permitting some flexibility, and then gradually developing the types o f resources that complement learning styles that appear not to flourish in a conventional tertiary teaching setting.For example, the environmental and emotional elements o f an individual learning style can be accom m odated by any lecturer -regardless o f teaching style, as long as the phenom ena are understood, and the lecturer is willing to permit some flexibility.With regard to the sociological elements lecturers need to become competent in handling various pair and group-related activities (e.g., pair work, group work, brainstorming, horse-shoe groups, cross-over groups, etc.).
The handling o f physical and psychological learning style preferences in the classroom is very important.
Having identified his/her own learning style preference the auditory learner will now know what his/her learner characteristics are, for example, these students may not read assigned chapters, articles, or stories thoroughly, in hopes o f having the main ideas clarified by a class lecture or discussion; they often feel frustrated when lecturers write assignment and test instructions on the blackboard or on a handout but do not go over them orally.Once familiarized with teaching practices that com plem ent their learning styles, students will better be able to articulate their needs to the lecturer.For example, the auditory learners will now be able to ask the lecturer to give oral summaries o f the main points in lectures or assigned readings, or they may ask for tutorials as additional opportunities to process information aloud for themselves (i.e., teaching strategies).Once they are capable o f this they can be taught certain strategies that will help them to process information through their preferred modality strength, for example, the auditory learners can make tape recordings o f any information they want to learn and play it back to themselves w herever they go, or they can find a " study buddy" with whom they can discuss class material and prepare for tests (study strategies) (cf.Kinsella, 1995).These students will have acquired not only more English language proficiency but also the tools for learning other subjects.

Conclusion
We make the assumption that most human beings can be changed, and therefore, to some extent at least, both learning and teaching styles can be modified.It is our further belief that as professionals, lecturers must be willing to examine and to alter their teaching styles if evidence warrants such change.For example, W allace and Oxford (1992) found that students and lecturers experienced style conflicts 82% o f the time.The lecturer with a clear indication o f his own style can make better adjustments in order to effect better learning in his students.Lecturers should try to provide a variety o f learning experiences to accom m odate the various learning styles that exist in the average classroom.Then all students will have at least some activities that appeal to them based on their learning styles, and they are more likely to be successful in these activities.The feeling o f success will be a motivating factor for additional learning.A lecturer who creates a truly " learner-centred" classroom understands and respects the diversity o f learning strengths within any group, and offers choices in how information and skills will be acquired.