The relationship between academic self-efficacy, learning styles and epistemological beliefs: A study on the students of the school of physical education and sports

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the verbal and visual dominant learning styles and epistemological beliefs of the students educated in the School of Physical Education and Sports according to their academic self-efficacy influence levels. A total of 434 students (132 females and 302 males) participated in this study. The scales of Academic Self-efficacy, verbal and visual dominant learning styles and epistemological beliefs were used in the study. Hierarchical cluster analysis, k-means cluster analysis, multivariate analysis of variance and post hoc analyses were performed. Considering the results of this study, the individuals in the group called ‘low academic self-efficacy’ were found to have lower average scores in the verbal dominant learning style than those of other groups. In the consequence of the analyses made for epistemological beliefs, the individuals in the group called ‘high academic self-efficacy’ were found to have higher averages in ‘the belief that learning depends on effort’ than other groups.
 Keywords: Self-efficacy, epistemology, verbal learning style, visual learning style.