LEARNING THEORIES

Learning Theories and Learning Styles

Learning Theories and Learning Styles

Introduction

Learning is a dynamic domain with innumerable learning theories and learning styles; which characterizes the learning disposition of people. Learning primarily occurs when the individual or student is presented with a stimulus that is new and thus different in some way or other from what they have earlier known. Many a time it is seen that it becomes challenging for students/ learners to modify or add to what they have already known; existing knowledge, as it could emerge as contradictory to the newer knowledge that the individual is usually inclined to assimilate (Illeris, 2007, pp. 22). However, it could be subjected to either of three responses that constitute incorporation, adaptation or rejection (www.ukcle.ac.uk). As interpreted by the motives of teachers or educationalists, incorporation or adaptation is preferred over rejection, which has in turn laid the foundation to seek effectiveness attached with disparate learning theories and styles (Maslin, 2001, pp. 11).

Discussion

Comparison of Learning Styles

Briefly defining learning styles, it is considered as cognitive and psychosocial behavior which effectively indicates how learners perceive or recognize, interact with and subsequently respond to the stimuli presented by the learning environment surrounding them. As could be extracted from this discussion, learning styles are numerous with no common or standard learning style existing to the date, but several learning styles are more effective on the basis of the classifications and the scales that underlie them. For clear understanding pertaining to learning styles to be demonstrated, it is important to confine the discussion to more reliable ones (Latour, 1987, pp. 21).

Kolb's Experiential Learning Model (ELM)

This learning style has been considered as a valuable contribution in the field of education and academia, which is precisely known as learning centered process based approach. The model primarily boasts of a learning cycle consisting of four stages, where individuals are expected to perform; in some stages, better than those in other stages; where the stages mainly comprise Concrete Experience (CE), Abstract Conceptualization (AC), Active Experimentation (AE) and Reflective Observation (RO). The measurement scale that is used to identify the styles mentioned above is based on a questionnaire including 12 items (Romanelli, Bird and Ryan, 2009, pp. 9). Each item outlines four sentences which in the end indicates the score of the respondent with respect to each of the four styles/ orientations. Numerous studies have reinforced that the orientations used by Kolb are indicators of student performance, and even though psychometric concerns have been raised for LSI, this learning style remains reliable (Cook, 2005, pp. S99).

Honey and Mumford

Honey and Mumford drew their inspiration and subsequently derived their model from the Kolb's model which is evident in their Learning Styles Questionnaires (LSQ). Kolb's theory was used by Honey and Mumford, however noticing that their measurement scale LSI is less reliable, they developed their own measurement scale namely LSQ (Coffield, Moseley and Hall and Ecclestone, 2004, pp. 15). Honey and Mumford focused on exploring and probing general behavioral tendencies of people through their ...