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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Learning style is an individual’s unique ways of perceiving and processing information. According to Reynolds (2007), learning style is an individual’s natural or habitual pattern of acquiring and processing information in learning situation. The notion of learning style and its implications in education is not new in the education system (Reynolds, 2007). Learning style specifically deals with each individual’s characteristic styles of acquiring knowledge (Byrne, 2002). Learning style is also an individual’s special way of understanding and applying information gathered during the teaching and learning process. Dunn and Griggs (2000) stated that serious consideration is rarely paid to the existence of differences in learning styles and their impact on teaching and learning, with few attempts being made to systematically incorporate learning styles into teaching. Ubah (2012) reported that knowledge of the existing learning styles among students could increase their academic success. Reynolds (2007) proposed that matching learning styles and instructional methods could lead to improved learning. More importantly, Rochford (2004) and Ingham (2003) posited that students’ knowledge of their learning style preferences could improve students’ rate of retention of information. Students preferentially take in and process information in different ways: by seeing and hearing, reflecting and acting, reasoning logically and intuitively; and analyzing and visualizing. This shows that every student has a peculiar learning style. 

In the classroom, students come in with their different learning styles and all the dominant learning styles needs to be addressed during the learning process (Merrill, 2003). When teachers are considering the design of a learning process for active learning classroom environment, there is need for them to be aware of the impact of learning styles of students to create an enabling environment for learning to take place. Brown (2003) stated that if instructional design match students’ learning style preferences, it could have a positive impact on students’ achievement. In addition, Roy (2007) stated that recognizing students’ learning style could help teachers to develop course structures that will provide a better fit between instructional goals and student’ ‘learning style preferences. The importance of recognising students learning styles in classroom learning environment can be highlighted by stating that the teacher places emphasis on intuition, feeling, sensing, and imagination, in addition to traditional skills of analysis, reason and sequential problem solving. The teacher designs instructional methods to connect with different learning styles, using various combinations of experience, reflection, conceptualisation and experimentation. Finally, the teacher employs variety of assessment techniques, focusing on each of the different learning styles and the development of the whole brain capacity (Brown, 2003). 

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