LEARNING STYLES FOR SLOW LEARNERS:

LEARNING STYLE IN SLOW LEARNERS PERSPECTIVES

MUHAMMAD FIRDAUS BIN ABDUL GHANI

( 1028789 )

LE 4000 ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES ( WRITING )

SECTION 52

MADAM ROZIANA BT MOHAMED ROSLI

MARCH 29, 2012

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Paper Title: How The Slow Learners Can Able To Cope With Suitable
Learning Styles With Their Preferences.
Muhammad Firdaus Bin Abdul Ghani

TESL PPG, IIUM, MALAYSIA

e-mail :feelinjen@gmail.com

I. INTRODUCTION
Students learn best and affective by seeing the value and importance of the information
presented in the classroom. If the students are not interested in the content of teaching presented,
they will not learn it. In order to achieve the ultimate goal of student learning, it is important to
use a combination of teaching methods and to make the classroom environment as stimulating
and interactive as possible. Students learn in many different ways. Some students are visual-
spatial learners, while others are auditory or kinaesthetic learners. Visual learners learn visually
by means of charts, graphs, and pictures. Auditory learners learn by listening to lectures and
reading. Kinaesthetic learners learn by doing. Students can refer one, two, or three learning
styles. With preferred learning styles, the students would be able to receive information and
determined their success in learning so it can takes place in order to achieve great results. Brown
( 2000) defines learning styles as the manner in which individuals perceive and process
information in learning situations. It was discovered that Approach to Learning was not
generally related to ability, although significant relationships with personality variables were
identified (Entwistle, 2001). This is similar to findings mentioned above in relation to Learning
Style. In addition it was identified that learning contexts could also influence students’
approaches to learning (e.g. Entwistle & Tait, 1990; Laurillard, 1997). Prosser and Trigwell
(1999) argued that students’ prior experiences, especially their experiences of learning and
existing understanding of the subject matter, would influence the approach
adopted in a particular learning context.

II. STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS

Learning is a dynamic process where the people involves in the process should gain the effect of
the learning itself. It is a process of expanding the content of the knowledge and bridging new
idea. At the meantime, the students of 6 Dinamic Sk Seri Mahkota are having difficulties in
receiving and processing information in the class. This situation would put them in a very critical
situation where they would not be able to achieve preferred levels of the school’s standard of
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achievement. The students showed poor results in every examinations and this would be
achieved without looking into their preferred learning styles. Slow learners are not equivalent
based on their level to the special education needs because they profoundly look normal
physically but low proficiency in learning due to family problem, health, learning readiness and
other problems which not consider as merely factors of low achievement levels but is it really
happening to the learners. But, the students showed with no signs of special education needs
attention. The learners however which basically come from low income family, are poorly
achieved in the aspect of performance in the class. Some of them still continue their learning of
the basic skills in remedial classroom.

III. TOWARDS THE DEFINITION OF LEARNING STYLES

Learning styles may be defined in multiple ways, depending upon one’s perspective. Here are a
few definitions of learning styles. Brown (2000) defines learning styles as the manner in which
individuals perceive and process information in learning situations. He argues that learning style
preference is one aspect of learning style, and refers to the choice of one learning situation or
condition over another. Celcia-Murcia (2001) defines learning styles as the general approaches—
for example, global or analytic, auditory or visual—that students use in acquiring a new
language or in learning any other subject. The manner in which a learner perceives, interacts
with, and responds to the learning environment. Learning style is sometimes defined as
thecharacteristic cognitive, affective, social, and physiological behaviors that serve as relatively
stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning
environment” (MacKeracher, 2004, p. 71).

IV. GENERAL LEARNING STYLES

There are three main learning styles; visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic. The definitions of these
learning styles are as follows:

A. Visual
Visual learners think in pictures and learn best in visual images. They depend on the instructor’s
or facilitator’s nonverbal cues such as body language to help with understanding. Sometimes,
visual learners favour sitting in the front of the classroom. They also take descriptive notes
over the material being presented (Ldpride,n.d.).
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B. Auditory

These individuals discover information through listening and interpreting information by the
means of pitch, emphasis and speed. These individuals gain knowledge from reading
out loud in the classroom and may not have a full understanding of information that is written
(Ldpride,n.d.).

C. Kinaesthetic Learner

Individuals that are kinaesthetic learn best with and active “hands-on” approach. These learners
favour interaction with the physical world. Most of the time kinaesthetic learners have a difficult
time staying on target and can become unfocused effortlessly (Ldpride,n.d.).

V. LITERATURE REVIEW

“The Learning Styles Questionnaire (LSQ) derived by Honey and Mumford (1986) is based on
the work of Kolb, but 236 P. F. Cuthbert uses different items and a different method of scoring.
However, it is conceptually very similar and so will not be discussed separately. The Dunn,
Dunn and Price Learning Styles Inventory (Dunn, 1990) shares much of the same inheritance as
those of Kolb and Honey and Mumford. The key elements of the Learning Styles School are
that, firstly, individual differences are based upon psychological attributes that determine the
strategy the learner adopts for processing information (Kolb, 1984), and his/her preferences for
learning situations (Dunn, 1990). Secondly, an important common theme in both the work of
Kolb and of Dunn is that learning styles are seen as stable aspects of the individual’s personality.
By implication, the individual’s learning style is unlikely to change in the short term.”

VI. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. How slow learners can be able cope with their preferred learning styles?
2. Why slow learners in Year 6 Dinamik Sk Seri Mahkota having same problems
starting from their previous class, is it inappropriate methods of teaching or
difficulties in using sensory in learning?
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VII. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This study is about finding the data of 26 students of 6 Dinamic from SK Seri Mahkota
which preferred to targeted areas of learning styles and also the 12 of volunteered teachers of SK
Seri Mahkota. The students were given questionnaire and answered them in specific time.
Teachers were also given the opportunity to clarify and identify which suitable areas beneficial
for the students with different preferred learning styles. With the finding and the results, the
students with the help of the teacher would definitely able to tackle the learning process more
meaningful whereas the teachers also could be able to adjust their teaching styles to suit the
students’ need. The study also would help the teachers and also the administrators to plan more
suitable and meaningful activities for the students in the future and also finding the balance
environment to more helpful situation where everybody especially teachers know deeply their
students’ weaknesses.

VIII. DATA ANALYSIS

The results showed that 15 out of the 26 students are visual- spatial which is the highest,
3 out of 26 are auditory and 8 out of the 26 students are kinaesthetic. The 15 students’ represent
58 % visual-spatial learners, the 3 students represent 12 % of auditory learners while the 8
students accumulated with 30 % which are kinaesthetic. The questionnaire is an appropriate way
of eliciting the opinions of a large number of respondents. It is also an efficient research method,
in terms of the timeit takes to collect and analyze data (see Dörnyei, 2003; Bryman, 2001 for
further discussion of questionnaires).The finding based from the data showed that most of the
students in 6 Dinamic are visual-spatial where they need to see the real figures or realia to
comprehend the information, use more of their eyesight to get the job done and learn well when
they see in front of their eyes. While the less number than visual-spatial is the kinaesthetic where
the students learn well when they can practice the skill with movement that suit them best
whereas they are also active and enjoy moving around. Finally the least number which is 12 % is
auditory where they always having difficulties in interpreting the sound information or verbal
instruction where most of the students are not good listener and processing the information from
the ears to the brain.
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THE STUDENTS DATA BASED FROM VAK

STUDENTS

VISUAL-SPATIAL 58 %

AUDITORY 12 %

KINAESTHETIC 30 %

26 GENDER
25
24
23
22
21
20
19
18
17
16 15
15
14
13 BOY
12 11
11 GIRL
10
9
8
7
6
5
4 3
3
2
1
0
VISUAL-SPATIAL AUDITORY KINAESTHETIC
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TEACHERS

15%
VISUAL-SPATIAL AUDITORY

28% 57%
KINAESTHETIC

IX. ABSTRACT-

The ability to comprehend student learning styles can increase the educational experience.
Teachers might adjust their teaching style so that it is more congruent with a given student’s or
class of students, learning styles. One of the most important uses of learning styles is that it
makes it easy for teachers to inculcate them into their teaching. There are variations of learning
styles. Three of the most popular ones are visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic in which students
take in information. Some students are visual learners, while others are auditory or kinaesthetic
learners. While students use all of their senses to take in information, they seem to have
preferences in how they learn best. In order to help students learn, teachers need to teach as
many of these preferences as possible. Teachers can incorporate these learning styles in their
curriculum activities so that students are able to succeed in their classes. This study is an analysis
of learning styles for Sk Seri Mahkota Year 6 Dinamic students. The objectives of this study is
to increase and develop an awareness and understanding of the effect of learning styles on the
teaching process. A review of the literature along with analysis of the data will determine how
learning styles affect the teaching process.

Keywords: Learning styles, visual, auditory, kinaesthetic.