Avoidant Learning Style Research Articles

Investigating Omani EFL Students’ Learning Styles at the Foundation Program in UTAS-Salalah

This study aimed to investigate the most preferred learning styles by Omani EFL students’ and to find out the relationship between the students’ learning style and their gender. 100 students were selected randomly from the four levels in the foundation program at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences. There were 56 females and 44 males. The participants answered the Grasha-Riechmann student learning styles scale. The findings indicated that the dependent learning style was the most preferred learning styles by Omani EFL students. Also, the female students obtained significantly higher mean in collaborative than male students, but in the rest of the learning styles, students were almost the same. The avoidant learning styles was the least favorite learning style by both female and male students. Based on the results, Omani EFL students are more dependent on their teacher and classroom. Moreover, female students tend to collaborate with other students and participate in their different activities and there is no huge difference between female and male students in the other learning styles. The results of this study can help teachers to become more sensitive to the diverse learning styles and it can serve as a guideline to design course content that is more compatible with the students’ styles.

Enhancing Toxicology Achievement by the VARK and the GRSLSS-mixed Models in Team-Based Learning.

Toxicology is needed to implement in the occupational health and safety (OHS) curriculum. Teaching toxicology is very challenging as its multidisciplinary science. Keeping students engaged in learning is a difficult issue when introducing solely theoretical framework. To enhance student performance, educators need to be aware of different learning styles and teach students accordingly. This study aimed to examine preferred learning styles and to further investigate the impact of learning style on team allocation and the effectiveness of team-based learning (TBL) in toxicology. A cross-sectional study of OHS students was performed. The visual, aural, reading/writing, and kinesthetic (VARK) learning style questionnaire and the Grasha–Reichmann Student Learning Styles Scale (GRSLSS), which identifies independent, dependent, collaborative, participant, competitive, and avoidant learning styles, were used with 101 study participants. After classification, participants studied three aspects of toxicology in three respective situations: (i) individual learning, (ii) TBL with students of the same VARK learning style, and (iii) TBL with students of varying VARK learning styles. Afterward, participants wrote a test on each of the aspects. The dominant VARK and GRSLSS learning styles were reading/writing (33.33%) and collaborative (50.00%), respectively. The participants achieved the highest test scores (88.31%) when they studied in a team with the various VARK styles, followed by studying in a team with the same VARK style (83.43%). Individual learning produced the lowest average score (69.79%). The results of this study suggest that creating a successful heterogeneity team based on the preferred learning styles is an effective teaching method in toxicology. It might be useful to toxicology educators and research studies from a wide range of disciplines to enhance student performance.

Relationship of Learning Styles and Attitudes Toward Problem-Based Learning with Academic Achievement in Preclinical Medical Students

Background: A large number of factors affect the learning process. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the relationship of learning styles and attitudes towards problem-based learning with academic success in preclinical medical students. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Medical Faculty of Ondokuz Mayıs University (Samsun, Turkey) during May 1st and 31st, 2019. First, second, and third-year students were included in the study. Survey was used as the data collection method. Grasha-Riechmann Learning Style Scale and Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Attitude Scale were included in the survey form besides a socio-demographics form. Overall, 612 (72.3%) students participated in the study. Results: The highest mean value regarding the learning styles of the medical students was related to the independent learning style, and the lowest mean value was related to the competitive learning style. It was determined that the independent learning style was more dominant in the preclinical medical students; there was a correlation between learning style and the attitude towards PBL. Also, there was a correlation between learning style and attitudes towards PBL and academic success. Independent and avoidant learning styles and attitudes towards PBL were found to be critical variables in predicting academic performance according to multiple regression analysis. Conclusions: It is important to raise awareness in educators and students on learning styles.

A study on the learning styles of law students at a Caribbean tertiary institution

ABSTRACT This study assesses the learning styles of law students at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill (UWICH) Faculty of Law (FOL) in the Caribbean, based on age, gender and academic performance, using the Grasha-Riechmann Student Learning Style Scale. The study also compared the learning styles of UWICH FOL students with the learning styles of UWICH management students, using a comparator study by Corbin (2017). In our study, using the Grasha-Riechmann rating norms, there was no dominant preferred learning style for law students with all results falling within the moderate range. Within this moderate range, the Collaborative learning style was “first among equals”, as the strongest within the moderate range. Contrastingly, in Corbin’s study, the Collaborative learning style was preferred for management students. In our study, Independent and Collaborative learning styles were significant predictors of academic performance, with the Independent learning style resulting in higher grade point averages (GPAs), and the Collaborative learning style being a predictor of lower GPAs. Contrastingly, Independent and Avoidant learning styles were predictors of academic performance in Corbin’s study. A further longitudinal study into learning styles of UWICH law students and the teaching styles of lecturers is recommended.

The Relationship Between Teaching Styles of English Instructors and Learning Styles of English Prep Class Students at a Turkish State University

It is necessary to be aware of both teaching and learning styles and employing them in teaching and learning processes and as the two important stakeholders of this process, both learners and teachers are expected to benefit from each other at maximum level especially in terms of considering the needs of learners. This study aims to find out if there is a relationship between teaching styles of instructors working at Anadolu University School of Foreign Languages (AUSFL) and learning styles of students studying at English prep class. Data of the study were collected through Grasha-Reichmann Teaching and Learning Style Scales which Sarıtaş & Süral (2010) adapted to Turkish. SPSS package program was used in the descriptive analyses of the study and Pearson’s moment correlation coefficients in correlation calculations. Significant relationships between formal authority teaching style and avoidant learning style, and between personal model teaching style and competitive learning style were found in the study. As for the other teaching and learning styles, although there wasn’t any significant relationship among each other, considering the average values, it can be said that there was a linear relationship among them which led to consider that a partial relationship existed.

PROFILE OF UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ MATHEMATICAL CONCEPT ON TRIGONOMETRY BASED ON GRASHA RIECHMANN’S LEARNING STYLE

Understanding mathematical concepts is the ablitiy of students to accept material in the form of mathematical concepts and then can restate the concept, can use, utilize, an choose certain procedurs or operations in determaining a concept, and apply the concept in solving mathematical problems. Trigonometry is one of the subjects in mathematics that students’ understanding of concepts is still low. The process of understanding mathematical concepts can be seen from the learning styles that each student has. Grasha Riechman's learning style is the tendency of students to think and interact with each other in various learning environments and various experiences in the process of gaining new knowledge. The purpose of this study is to describe the profile of students’ understanding of mathematical concepts in trigonometry based on Grasha-Riechman’s learning style. Grasha-Reichman learning style consist of independent, dependent, collaborative, competitive, contributive/participant, and avoidant. This study uses qualitative approach and this type of this study in descriptive qualitative. Data collection techniques used in this study were written test and interviews. Data analysis techniques used are data reduction, data presentation, and conclusions.. The subject of this study were each one student from the existing Grasha Riechmann’s learning style type. The results show that Students who have a dependent and competitive learning style have ability to restate a concept, present concept in various mathematical representations, use or choose certain procedures in determining a concept, and apply concepts in completing mathematical problems. Students who have independent and collaborative learning style have the ability to restate a concept, present concepts in various mathematical representations, and use or choose certain procedures in determining a concept, but the have not been able to apply the concept to solving mathematical problems. Student who have avoidant learning style have the ability to present concept in various mathematical representations and use or choose procedures in determining a concept, but this student have not been able to restate a concept and apply the concept to solving mathematical problems. Student who have participant learning style only have the ability to present concepts in various mathematical representations, this student have not been able to restate a concept, use or choose procedures in determining a concepts, and apply the concept in solving mathematical problems.Keywords: Understanding mathematical concept, Trigonometry, Grasha Riechman's learning style

Learning Styles and Emotional Intelligence Levels of University Teacher Candidates

The purpose of this research was to examine the learning styles of prospective teachers in terms of emotional intelligence with some other variables. Grasha-Reichmann’s learning style scale prepared by Grasha-Reichmann (1994) and Turkish version of which was adapted by Saritas and Sural (2010) was used to measure the learning styles of students who are candidates to become teachers. Their emotional intelligence was measured using this scale. The study group of the research composed of 406 university teacher candidates who were studying in the Education faculty in the academic year of 2016/2017. The research was carried out using the relational screening model. A significant relationship between subscales of learning styles and emotional intelligence sub-dimensions was found. In addition, significant differences were found in the dependent learning style and participative learning style sub-dimensions of learning styles according to the genders of teacher candidates. A significant level of differentiation was seen in the independent learning style, dependent learning style, competitive learning style and avoidant learning style sub-dimensions.

L2 Learners' Perception of STAD and its Relationship with Learning Styles

Kim, Suyeon. 2017. “L2 Learners' Perception of STAD and its Relationship with Learning Styles”. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 25(2), 73~102. This study aims to examine the relationship among cooperative learning, L2 learning, and learning styles. To that end, I utilized Slavin's Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD) and investigated how learners perceive the effect of STAD on second language (L2) learning and how the effect of STAD is associated with their learning styles. I implemented STAD in two college English conversation classes during a semester, with 44 learners completing two questionnaires and six participating in interviews. Three key findings emerged: 1) L2 learners perceived STAD as being more useful than lecture-centered classes in improving their conversational skills, promoting more active participation and interaction, and developing higher self-confidence and lower anxiety, 2) while avoidant learning styles had a significant negative correlation with students' perception, a significant positive correlation resulted with the majority of learning styles, and 3) collaborative and independent learning styles had a more significant effect on L2 students' perception of STAD than other learning styles. The results show that through cooperative learning, L2 learners are scaffolded to improve conversational skills, and STAD accommodates diverse learning styles by giving learners equal opportunities for success. This study implies that L2 learning can be maximized when teachers employ a strategy that allows learners with different learning styles to participate.

BSN graduates’ preferred learning styles: implications for student-centered learning

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to determine the learning styles that nursing graduates employed during the course of their BSN programme.Methods: Within a sequential, explanatory mixed methods design a survey was administered to determine graduates’ learning styles. From a population of 384 graduates, a sample of 200 agreed to participate. Data were collected using the Grasha-Riechmann Learning Styles Scales. MS Excel was used to enter the learning styles scores; descriptive statistics were computed using the statistical package SPSS Version 16.0.Results: The most dominant and preferred learning styles are Competitive learning style (x̄ = 3.98; SD = 0.52) and Avoidant learning style (x̄ = 3.88; SD = 0.68). Both are teacher-centered learning styles that do not promote learner independence, confidence, critical thinking and active learning. The least preferred is the Independent Learning Style (x̄ = 2.84; SD = 0.80). Implications for student-centered learning are inferred from the results.Conclusions: Graduates’ preference for the Competitive and Avoidant learning styles reflects an alignment with a teacher-centered paradigm and lack of diversity in use of learning styles during their study. The preferred learning styles detract from student-centered learning and point to an approach to teaching that integrates Socratic and facilitative methods to promote diversity of learning styles. As the educational paradigm shifts towards student-centered learning there is mounting pressure on educators to have better understanding on students’ preferred learning styles and adopt variety of pedagogical strategies to optimize ways students learn.

The Relationship between Learning Style, Test Anxiety and Academic Achievement

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between social studies pre-service teachers' (SSPTs) learning style, test anxiety and academic achievement. A total of 315 SSPTs participated in the study. Data were collected using Turkish versions of Grasha-Reichmann learning style scale (GRLSS) and test anxiety scale (TAS) by Spielberger. According to the findings, SSPTs' academic achievements had negative and low-level relationship with the TAS' worry sub-dimension while they had no significant relationship with the emotionality sub-dimension. No statistically significant relationship was observed between test anxiety and independent, participant and avoidant learning styles, which are among GRLSS sub-dimensions. The findings revealed that competitive and cooperative learning styles had positive, low-level and significant relationship with the TAS' emotionality sub-dimension, and the same relationship was observed between the competitive learning style and the worry sub-dimension. The relationship of gender and class level with learning styles and test anxiety was also investigated in this study.

Cross-Sectional Evaluation of Distance Education Students' Learning Styles and Critical Thinking Dispositions in Turkey

This study aims to examine distance education students' learning styles and critical thinking dispositions. This cross sectional survey was conducted on 114 Turkish distance education students from various departments in a state university. The data of the study were collected through Grasha-Riechmann Student Learning Style Scale (GRSLSS) and California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI). Cronbach Alpha coefficiencies of the scales were .76 for GRSLSS and .79 for CCTDI. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations), t-test and one-way analysis of variance tests were used. The results indicated that the dependent learning style was the most preferred style and the avoidant learning style was the least preferred style. The further analysis regarding learning style indicated that female students perceived themselves more dependent than male students. The results also indicated that students in teacher training programs scored higher in independent and avoidant sub-scales, while students in arts and sciences programs scored higher in dependent, collaborative, competitive and participant sub-scales. The results manifested that students' critical thinking dispositions were at a low level, and they mostly had analyticity and open-mindedness dispositions. Female students were found to have more critical thinking dispositions than male students.

The Relation between the History Teacher Candidates’ Learning Styles and Metacognitive Levels

In this study it is aimed to determine learning styles and the metacognitive levels of the History teacher candidates, and examine the relation between these two variations. The study was carried out with 163 pre- service teachers having education in History teaching at the faculty of Education at a state university in Turkey. Data were collected through using Learning Style Scale and Metacognitive Activity Inventory. Correlation Analysis Technique was used for analyzing the data. In the study, it was found out that there was a positive relation between metacognitive levels of the teacher candidates and independent, collaborative, dependent and participant learning styles and a negative relation between avoidant learning styles.

Learning Styles of Term 1 Medical Students in Turkish and English Departments of Medical Faculty

It is aimed to determine the learning styles and the influential factors of term 1 students of Turkish and English Departments of medical faculty at Gazi University in 2009-2010 educational semesters. The population of the study comprises 374 students. Questions for demographic features, Grasha Reichman Students Learning Style Scale and academic performance scores were used for gathering data. Independent, collaborative and dependent learning styles scores were higher than other styles in Turkish department students. Independent and collaborative learning styles scores were higher than other styles in English department students. Competitive learning style scores of girls and boys were lower than other styles in both departments. It is determined that there were positive correlation between only Problem Based Learning score with collaborative earning style scores of Turkish department students; negative correlation was between Clinical Skill Education score with dependent learning style scores; and positive correlation between Evidence Based Medicine score with avoidant learning style scores of English department students

The Effects Of Students Predispositions Toward Communication, Learning Styles, And Sex On Academic Achievement

Females are more apprehensive when talking in class, but more nonverbally immediate, and prefer a collaborative learning style. Males prefer independent and avoidant learning styles, and report learning less than females.