The purpose of this study was to determine whether there were meaningful associations between teachers' ratings of their students' learning styles (as measured by the Learning Style Identification Scale) and their students' ratings of their learning preferences in 22 separate academic and academically-related areas (as measured by the Learning Style Inventory). In an effort to discover whether systematic relationships existed between the learning style and learning preference measures, a series of correlational statistics (Pearson r) were computed between each of the 22 learning preference items and each of the four categories of learning style assessed by teachers.
Only four significant findings were observed for the correlational analyses. These were:
(1) A significant positive correlation between Learning Style I and the noise level item (r=.46102; p<.05) indicating that as students' preferences for noise level moved from quiet to sound, teachers were more likely to view the student as utilizing Learning Style I. In other words, teachers were more likely to view the student as unresponsive to authority figures and aversive to structured teacher-oriented learning. Also, the student would be seen by the teacher as a loner who is very mobile with a limited attention span.
(2) A significant positive correlation between Learning Style IV and the design item (r=.515; p<.05) indicating that as student preference shifted from informal to formal design, teachers were more and more likely to view students as utilizing Learning Style IV. In other words, teachers were more likely to view the student as highly motivated, a self-starter and leader who listened to adults, respected his/her parents, and had a good self-concept. The student was also perceived as being capable of learning in a variety of ways and doing well in school because of strong cognitive development.
(3) A significant positive correlation between studying alo...