The Influence of Learning Styles on Students’ Academic Achievement in Secondary Schools at Harari Regional State, Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

The aim of this study assess the influence of learning styles on students’ academic achievement in Secondary Schools at Harari Regional State, Eastern Ethiopia. An explanatory sequential method design was used for the study. The target population of this study was four secondary school students included in the Harari Regional State. A stratified random sampling technique was employed to get the sample size (n<sub>i</sub> = 347) from the population. Learning Styles Questionnaire (LSQ) and 2023/2024 first-semester students’ academic scores were used as data collection instruments. Firstly, it was identified that there was a statistically significant positive relationship between students’ learning styles and their academic achievement. Among the learning styles, kinesthetic was found a statistically significant strong positive relationship between it and academic achievement r (347) =.42<sup>**</sup>, p <.05. Secondly, in the stepwise multiple linear regression analysis, it was found that kinesthetic, as a learning style was the strongest predictor of students’ academic achievement. To conclude, learning styles were significantly contributing to students’ academic achievement. It was, therefore recommended that teachers should vary their teaching methods and strategies to pave the way for students to use different learning styles.