Association of Learning Styles with Academic Achievements in First-year Professional MBBS Students of a Medical College in Eastern India: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Research has shown that learning may be optimised by synchronising the learning environment with the learning style preferences of students. First-year medical students face immense stress as they adapt to a new learning environment and curriculum at the onset of their medical career. The simultaneous use of two supplementary learning styles questionnaires, namely, the Visual-Aural/Auditory-Read/WriteKinesthetic (VARK) questionnaire and the Vermunt Inventory of Learning Styles (Vermunt ILS), would provide detailed knowledge of their instructional preferences, information processing, and cognitive personality learning styles. Judicious use of such information at this stage may guide them towards improved learning and higher academic achievement. Aim: To study the association between learning styles and academic achievements in first-year professional MBBS students of a medical college. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Medical College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India over the duration of 10 months from August 2021 to June 2022. Online surveys of 250 first-year MBBS students’ learning styles were conducted using the VARK questionnaire and Vermunt ILS, and the marks of three internal assessment examinations were collected. The data was entered into Microsoft Excel. Group as well as individual scores were analysed, and Pearson’s Chisquare test was used to determine the association between the students’ learning styles and their academic achievement. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of the total of 160 submitted questionnaires, 139 (86.8%) students were visual learners, while the rest were multimodal learners. The factor loading of the ILS scales revealed higher alpha coefficients for learning orientations and mental models of learning, with the ‘use of knowledge’ being awarded high scores by the highest number of students, 104 (83.56%). A total 134 learners gave lower scores to processing and regulation strategies, but a significant association was found between 126 (94%) of them and their academic scores of ≥50% (p-value=0.024). Conclusion: Although no positive association was found between learning styles and academic achievement of firstyear medical students, the integration of two learning style tests provided educators with comprehensive insight into the learning preferences of their students, enabling them to develop an adaptive curriculum. Students might also utilise knowledge of their learning styles to guide themselves towards self-directed learning, lifelong learning, and higher academic achievement.