LEARNING STYLES AND EFFECTIVE
LEARNING HABITS OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS:
A CASE FROM TURKEY
AYTAC GOGUS
HATICE GUNES
Center for Individual and Academic Development (CIAD)
Sabanci University
Istanbul, Turkey
This study investigates leartiing styles and effective learnitig
habits in a Turkish University. Research based on a small private
utiiversity in Istanbul found that the percentages of undergraduate students examined by Kolb's Leaming Style Inventory listed
in rank order from most to least were convergers first, assimilators second, accommodators and divergers (almost equal
percentages) last. Moreover, this pattern remained stable when
gender, faculty, grade level, academic success, weekly time management and study planning variables were at issue. On the other
hand, it was observed that significantly higher levels of effective
leaming habits were revealed in women, seniors, academically
successful ones, and students who studied regularly as well as
engaged in social activities; however, using different learning
styles did not make any contribution to the level of the use of
effective learning habits. The results were discussed from an
applied perspective and in the current higher education admission system in Turkey.
Keywords leaming styles; leaming strategies; study habits; university students; study strategies
Introduction
the learner, but also on the individual's
Families, students, and institutions
invest enormous financial resources in
higher education. Moreover, this investment is not solely financial; students also
try to build up their adult life and gain
effective equipments in the higher education process. Motivation to protect this
investment and the rates of failing in university and dropping out from graduate
school force researchers to understand the
variables related to academic success and
failure, and share this knowledge with all
stakeholders, namely families, students,
universities, as well as policy makers.
Educational achievement depends not
only on the intellectual ability and skills of
leaming style (Kolb, 1984), which refers
to the consistent way in which a leamer
responds to or interacts with stimuli in the
leaming context, as a replacement of cognitive styles theorems from 1970s (Loo,
2004). Leaming styles are defined as different ways used by individuals to process
and organize information and as a sort of
way of thinking, comprehending and processing information (Kolb, 1984;
Sadler-Smith, 1996). In this sense, leaming style is related to both sensory and the
mental. Kolb's Leaming Cycle and Leaming Style Inventory (Kolb, 1984) are widely
used in order to understand the stages of
learning and the ways people prefer to
586
Learning Styles... / 587
receive and process new information.
In the literature, study skills refer to the
student's knowledge of study methods, the
ability to manage time and available
resources to meet the demands of academic tasks. Study habits reflect regular acts
of studying in which the students engage
in. Study attitudes are defined as attitudes
toward studying, and students' approval of
the broader goals of higher education
(Crede & Kuncel, 2008). Many researchers
are interested in identifying these variables
that contribute to the performance of a university student's academic success. Some
empirical findings, on the other hand, have
demonstrated that a significant number of
undergraduates possess inadequate study
skills, such as difficulties with time management, note-taking, understanding how
to prepare for different types of tests, and
managing anxiety. Eortunately, examples
of qualities or behaviors such as student
motivation, leaming habits, study skills
and beliefs about success, may be enhanced
via external instructions and support (Proctor, Prevatt, Adams, Reaser, & Petscher,
2006). As can be seen, university students'
approaches to leaming vary and their ways
of leaming may not always match those
that professors use in their teaching. Which
leaming styles do students prefer? How do
effective leaming habits relate to their individual characteristics and skills, like time
management and studying? The current
study explores leaming styles and effective
leaming habits in a Turkish university.
Learning styles, leaming skills,
and leaming habits
Application of leaming style theories
is a popular strategy for improving the education of university students and is
consistent with responding to individual
educational needs (Salter at al., 2006). Various theories were developed in order to
describe the observed differences of
approaches to leaming, such as Gardner's
multiple intelligences (1993), Kolb's leaming styles (1985), Gregorc's cognitive style
differences (1984), and various extensions
of Jung's psychological types (1970).
There is empirical and theoretical literature
on study skills, study habits, study attitudes, meta-cognitive skills (Crede &
Kuncel, 2008), leaming styles and leaming preferences (Kolb, 1985). Erequently
used inventories include the Survey of
Study Habits and Attitudes (Brown &
Holtzman, 1967), Learning and Study
Skills Inventory (Weinstein & Palmer,
2002), Inventory of Learning Processes
(Schmeck, Geisler-Brenstein, & Cercy,
1991), the Study Process Questionnaire
(Biggs, 1987), the Leaming Style Inventory (Kolb 1985), and other leaming style
inventories (e.g., Dunn & Dunn, 1978;
Felder & Silverman, 1988; Jung, 1970;
Kolb, 1985; McCarthy, 1987).
Experiential Learning Theory (ELT)
represents the work of twentieth century
theorists of human leaming and development-notably John Dewey, Kurt Lewin,
Jean Piaget, William James, Carl Jung,
Paulo Freiré, and Carl Rogers- who placed
conscious intentional action based on subjective experience at the center of the
leaming process (Kolb & Kolb, 2005). The
588 / College Student Journal
Concrete
Experience
7\
/ • '
Diverging
Accommodating
1
i
Reflective
Active
Experimentation
\
Assimilating
Converging
\
\7
\
••-....
..••••••
Abstract
Conceptualization
Figure 1. Kolb's Leaming Cycle (Kolb, 1984).
theory (Kolb, 1984) defends that leaming
is a combinafion of experience, cognition,
perception, and behavior. Based on ELT,
David A. Kolb (1984) developed Leaming
Cycle Model and Leaming Style Inventory in 1969. Kolb's Leaming Cycle model
presents a meta-cognitive experiential
leaming process based on adult leaming
and group dynamics. Kolb's Learning
Cycle model is a popular approach to defining and measuring leaming styles in higher
education (Salter et al., 2006). According
to Kolb's Leaming Cycle model, leaming
is perceived as a four-stage cycle including Concrete Experience (CE), Reflective
Observation (RO), Abstract Conceptualization (AC), and Active Experimentation
(AE) (Kolb, 1984). The model starts with
concrete experience, which forms the basis
for observafion and reflection on experiences (reflective observation); these
observations are assimilated into concepts
and generalizations (abstract conceptualization) that guide new experiences and
interacfions with the world (active experimentation) (Loo, 2004). Kolb's Leaming
Cycle model reflects two independent
dimensions based on (a) perceiving, how
one makes information meaningful, which
involves
concrete
experience (feeling) and abstract conceptualization (thinking), and (b) processing,
how one takes in information, which
involves active experimentation (doing)
and reflective observation (watching).
These two dimensions form the following
four quadrants reflecting four learning
styles (see Figure 1): accommodator,
diverger, assimilator, and converger. Leamers may prefer one component of each of
these two dimensions, resulting in a preferred leaming style. Preference for CE
and RO results in a divergent style (diverger); RO and AC results in an assimilative
Learning Styles... / 589
style (assimilator); AC and AE results in a
convergent style (converger); and AE and
CE results in an accommodative style
(accommodator). The model describes
divergers as people who tend to be imaginative, emotional, people-oriented, and
good in situations that call for generation
of ideas such as brainstorming; assimilators value the world of ideas and their
greatest strength lies in ability to induce
reasoning, integrate ideas and formulate
theoretical models; convergers, the opposite in many ways from divergers, are
drawn to technical tasks and problems and
tend to be good at decision making and
problem solving, especially when there is
a single correct answer or solution; accommodators, opposite in many ways from
assimilators, are action-oriented, risk-takers, comfortable with people, and excel at
carrying out plans and completing tasks
(Salter et al., 2006).
According to Kolb and Kolb (2005: 8),
main role of Learning Styles Inventory
(LSI) is 'to serve as an educational tool to
increase individuals' understanding of the
process of leaming from experience and
their unique individual approach to leaming. Thus, learners can monitor their
leaming process and select approaches that
work best for them in different leaming
situations (Kolb & Kolb, 2005).
In literature, study or leaming skills are
defined as competence in acquiring, recording,
organizing,
synthesizing,
remembering, and using information and
ideas, and are among the skills that can be
modified for leamers of all ages (Proctor
et al., 2006). As mentioned before, study
skills include a variety of activities, includ-
ing time management, setting appropriate
goals, selecting an appropriate study environment, employing appropriate
note-taking strategies, selecting main ideas,
and organization (Proctor et al., 2006).
Numerous studies have demonstrated the
link between study skills and academic
success (e.g.. Grade Point Average) in university students (Kem at al., 1998; Proctor
et al., 2006). For instance, time management with study and social activity
planning has emerged as a predictor of college GPA and quality of academic
performance (Britton & Tesser, 1991 ; Proctor et al., 2006). Also, a significant
relationship was found between academic success and students' information
processing skills, ability to select main
ideas, self-testing, motivation, time management, amount of note taking and quality
of students' notes and concentration (Baker
& Lombardi, 1985; Proctor et al., 2006).
Overall, it has been suggested that these
and other types of study skills account for
approximately 15% of the variance in the
academic achievement of undergraduates
(Proctor et al., 2006).
Method
Research questions
The presented study mainly investigates
effective leaming habits and leaming styles
of undergraduate students in a Turkish university. This study aims to explore the
relationships between students' leaming
styles, their effective leaming habits, their
academic performance, and their skills and
demographic characteristics such as weekly time management, study planning.
590 / College Student Journal
gender, grade level, faculty and living
arrangements. The study addresses the following questions:
1. Which leaming styles do students present?
2. How do students' effective learning
habits relate to their demographic characteristics such as gender, faculty, grade
level and skills such as weekly time
management, and study planning?
3. How do students' effective learning
habits relate to their academic performance?
4. Is there a linkage between learning
styles and effective leaming habits?
Participants and procedure
Participants were the undergraduate students of a small private university in
stanbul, Turkey. The survey instrument,
the aim of the research and the consent
form were mentioned to undergraduate students via e-mail and also by means of
students who took the course Project 102
in the 2009-2010 Spring semester. 512 volunteer students participated in this study.
Each application lasted approximately half
an hour. From the total of 512 volunteer
participants, 94 students did not respond to
all items in the survey. Therefore, only the
responses of 418 students were analyzed.
There were three sections in the instrument: background information, leaming
style inventory (Kolb 1985), and leaming
habits. Excel and SPSS were used during
analyses of the data.
Measures
Demographic data. Demographic characteristics and academic performance
information were obtained through the
individual items reflecting gender, living
arrangement, grade level, faculty and
cumulative grade point averages. Cumulative GPA served as a measure of
academic performance.
Weekly time management and study
planning. Three items were designed to
assess students' weekly time management
(time spent for study and time spent for
social activities) and their preferences
about study planning. In order to assess
weekly time management, students were
instmcted to indicate how much time they
spent in a week for studying and for social
activities ranging from 1-5 hours, 6-10
hours to 11 hours and plus. With regard to
study planning, students were asked to
determine whether they generally study
regularly, during exam weeks, or just
before the day of exam.
Learning styles. The Leaming Styles
Inventory (LSI-2) (Kolb, 1985) was used
to examine students' individual leaming
preferences. The LSI is a self-report instmment designed to examine individual's
preference for learning along the four
dimensions of experiential leaming theory (Kolb, 1985). Kolb (1985) developed
the LSI based on his theory of experiential learning on peoples' different
approaches to perceiving and processing
information. The LSI is a self-report instmment and is composed of 12 short
statements followed by four possible sentence endings. The individuals are required
to rank order each of four sentence endings
based on their preference for using the four
distinct leaming modes. Every individual
utilizes each of the four leaming modes to
Learning Styles... /591
some extent, but she/he also has a preferred
learning style for perceiving and transforming the information. Turkish version
of The LSI-2 was adapted by Askar and
Akkoyunlu (1993). Turkish version is a
reliable and valid instmment; intemal reliability of four main leaming modes and
two bi-polar dimensions were found to be
high with a Cronbach alpha between .88
and .73 (see Askar & Akkoyunlu, 1993).
For the current study, it was observed that
the internal consistencies of four basic
leaming modes were between .73 and .84.
Effective learning habits. In the literature, there are numerous inventories which
tend to focus on measurement of study
skills, habits and attitudes. Some of them
are based on empirical approach and
include items that especially distinguish
between over and underachievers. Some
others are based on theoretical considerations or on qualitative analyses of the
articulated ways used by students while
learning (Crede & Kuncel, 2008). The
researchers of the current study preferred
to develop a measurement tool derived
from the verbalized leaming habits of the
Ttirkish students rather than adapt an inventory which was elaborated in a different
culture. The lead author, a specialist of the
Academic Support Program at Sabanci
University, generated 18 items based on
non-structured interviews conducted by
the peer moderators and students who took
her course (Project 102) in 2008-2009
Spring Semester. Peer assistants, as members of the Academic Support Program,
coordinate and execute active leaming and
peer study and discussion sessions, and
they are supervised by program special-
ists with regular meetings. These meetings
and discussion sessions served as fmitful
environment to exatnine common leaming habits used by students. Peer assistants
and students were asked to simply verbalize about their useful leaming habits, such
as how they leam effectively and which
useful strategies they engage in. The statements that were most commonly used by
students were selected. Some of the statements reflected overt behaviors such as
generating quesdons about reading materials, asking for help from peers and
instructors, doing library research; some
of them referred cognitive efforts like trying to build an interconnection between
different courses, using information to
solve practical problems and the like. The
18 items and a demographic form were
administered to 111 undergraduate students and they were instructed to indicate
how frequently they used each learning
habit on a scale ranging from 1 (never) to
5 (always). A total of 68 men and 43
women participated in the pilot study in
2008-2009 Spring Semester. Table 1 shows
the Effective Leaming Habits items' means,
standard deviations, and item-total correlation. Considering reliability, the intemal
consistency of the total scale was = . 83.
Deletion of individual items did not result
in a drop in alpha below .81, indicating
that all items contribute relatively equally
to the consistency of the scale. In order to
examine possible factor structure of the
scale, a principal component analysis with
varimax rotation with an eigenvalue 1.00
as the criterion, was conducted with no
limitation on numbers. In this analysis,
most items loaded highest on one general
592 / College Student Journal
Table 1. Effective Learning Habits items' means and standard deviations: pilot study
Items(N = l
Mean
20.1 underline useful information while reading and take notes from readings.
21.1 generate questions about reading materials.
22.1 come to class having reviewed the notes from the previous class.
24.1 seek help from teachers outside of class time regarding the course
material that I did not understand.
25.1 seek help from friends regarding the course material that I did not
understand.
26.1 ask questions during the class and try to actively participate into the
class.
27.1 try to answer the questions that teachers ask in class.
28.1 volunteer to make presentations and state my ideas in class.
37.1 can fmd places to study on campus.
39.1 use the study locations in the Information Center.
41.1 regularly attend lecture hours.
42.1 regularly attend labs and discussion/problem solving sessions of the
course.
43.1 use the materials I leam in class to understand events in the world
outside of the classroom.
44.1 use materials I leam in one class to better understand the material in a
different class.
45. As a college student I believe that I am the only person responsible for my
education.
48.1 make a study plan and I try to abide by it.
49.1 do not let my friends distribute my study plans.
50.1 try to fmd a balance between studying and social activities.
3.41
2.29
2.36
2.70
Item-total
correlation
.14
.40
.04
.51
999
.46
961
.62
3.37
946
.43
3.03
.00
.70
3.13
2.67
3.51
2.65
3.38
4.08
.01
.13
.01
.40
.18
825
.71
.65
.28
.49
.65
.35
3.37
.06
.50
3.41
.06
.69
3.59
.17
.29
2.65
3.17
3.59
.17
.39
.13
.60
.45
.46
factor. A similar pattem was also observed
according to scree plot test and it was concluded that the scale is unidimensional in
nature. According to the results of the pilot
study, it was thought that the scale is a psychometrically sound and a reliable
measure, and a total score served as an
index of leaming habits in the study which
was conducted in 2009-2010 Spring
Semester. For this study, Cronbach alpha
was found to be .83, as in the pilot study
(see Table 1).
Results
Students' characteristics, weekly time
management and study planning
Forty-three per cent of the participants
were (n = 181) female and 57% were male
SD
(n = 237). A large majority of the students
were living in dorms (n = 345). The survey was administrated to students from
two different faculties: (1) Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (FENS); (2)
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
(FASS), and Faculty of Management
(FMAN). Sixty two per cent of the students (n = 260) were participated from
FENS and 37.8% (n = 158) were participated from FASS and FMAN. Students
from FENS were overrepresented, since
they form the majority of university population. With regard to academic
performance, 17.4% (n=73) students had
a cumulative GPA between 1-2, 45%
(n=188) had a cumulative GPA within the
range of 2-3, and 37.6% (n==157) had a
cumulative GPA between 3-4. Academic
Learning Styles... 7 593
Table 2 Sabanci University students' characteristics, weekly time management and study planning profile (N =
418)
Variable
Gender
Living in Dorms
Faculty
Grade Level
Academic
Performance
(Cumulative GPA)
Hours Spent For
Study
Hours Spent For
Social Activities
Study Planning
Women
Men
Yes
No
FENS*
FASS & FMAN**
Freshmen
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
1.00-2.00 (pass)
2.00-3.00 (successful)
3.00-4.00 (very successful)
1 -5 hours
6-lOhours
10 +hours
1 -5 hours
6-10 hours
10 +hours
Regularly
Exam weeks
Before the day of exam
Frequency (n)
181
237
345
73
260
158
113
107
118
80
73
118
107
145
126
147
166
112
140
60
258
110
Percentage (%)
43.3
56.7
82.5
17.5
62.2
37.8
27.0
25.6
28.2
19.2
17.4
45.0
37.6
34.7
30.1
35.2
39.7
26.8
33.5
12.0
61.7
26.3
: FENS: Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences
••: FASS & FMAN: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences & Faculty of Management
performance was classified into three
groups, namely; pass, successful and very
successful. The percentages for time spent
for studying and engaging in social activifies were relatively similarly distributed
among the students. Most students prefer
to study for exams, in other words, during
mid-term weeks; only a small percentage
(12%) is prone to studying regularly. Other
features of the sample are described in
Table 2.
Learning styles
Knowledge of individual leaming styles
can help instructors and advisors to design
a leaming environment that can be suited
to students with different interests and pref-
erences. With this in mind, an attempt was
made to describe the leaming styles of students according to gender, grade level,
faculty, cumulative GPA, weekly time management and study planning. Kolb's
Leaming Styles distribufions are shown in
Table 3. As can be seen from the table,
there were more students with a converging preference (60.5%). The second most
prevalent style was assimilafing (30.1%);
distributions of diverging (4.55%) and
accommodating (4.78%) styles, on the
other hand, were considerably similar to
each other for all participants. Moreover,
this pattem was observed across all variables. As a result, it can be proposed that
Turkish students generally like to learn
594 / College Student Journal
Table 3 Kolb's Leaming Styles distributions
: FENS: Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences
Assimilalor
Accommodator
Converger
Variable
(%)
(%)
(%)
30.14
4.78
60.53
All Students
Gender
Women
61.88
27.07
6.08
Men
59.49
32.49
3.80
35.00
5.00
Faculty
FENS*
55.38
FASS&
22.15
4.43
68.99
FMAN**
Freshmen
64.60
24.78
6.20
Grade Level
Sophomore
55.14
37.38
3.74
Junior
60.17
29.66
3.39
Senior
62.50
28.75
6.25
2.74
1.00-2.00
56.16
36.99
Academic
4.79
2.00-3.00
53.19
37.76
Performance 5.73
3.00-4.00
71.34
17.83
Cumulative GPA
33.10
6.90
Hours Spent For Study 1 -5 hours
55.17
30.16
2.38
6-10 hours
61.90
27.21
4.76
10 +hours
64.63
33.74
4.82
Hours Spent For Social 1 -5 hours
55.42
6-10 hours
62.50
25.89
7.14
Activities
10 +hours
65.00
29.29
2.68
2.00
Study Planning
Regularly
68.00
18.00
6.59
Exam weeks
61.24
29.84
1.82
Before the
55.46
36.36
day of exam
*: FASS & FMAN: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences & Faculty of Management
through practical application like solving
problems, trying to make correct decisions
and preferring to deal with technical works
or problems as opposed to working with
social relations (converging). Second dominant learning style was focusing on
abstract concepts, making reflective observation and assimilating them into an
integrated explanation (assimilating). Turkish students rarely prefer leaming through
carrying out experiments, taking risks
(accommodators); generating new ideas,
observing situations from different perspectives, and bringing different ideas
together (divergers).
Since evaluating individual differences
Diverger
(%)
4.55
4.97
4.22
4.62
4.43
4.42
3.74
6.78
2.50
4.11
4.26
5.10
4.83
5.56
3.40
6.02
4.64
2.86
12.00
2.33
6.36
in leaming styles was a core objective of
the current study, we compared percentages of converger, assimilator,
accommodator and diverger styles according to school, gender and academic
performance. A series of two-sample t-test
were performed to determine whether there
were significant differences between
groups in terms of proportions of four
learning styles (see Table 4). When we
looked at faculties of Sabanci University,
the results showed that there were significantly greater numbers of students in the
converger style among the social science
students (FASS and FMAN) (68.99%)
compared to engineering students (FENS)
Learning Styles... /595
Table 4 Comparison of leaming styles percentages according to faculty and gender
Converger
Assimilator
Accommodator
Diverger
Converger
Assimilator
Accommodator
Diverger
Engineering and
Natural Sciences
(n = 260)
55.38
35.00
5.00
4.62
Women
(n=181)
61.88
27.07
6.08
4.97
Arts and Social Sciences
and Management
(n=158)
68.99
22.15
4.43
4.43
df
/
416
416
416
2.72**
1.11**
0.26
0.09
Men
df
t
(n = 237)
59.49
32.49
3.80
4.22
416
416
416
416
0.41
1.10
0.90
0.40
416
Table 5 Comparison of leaming styles percentages according to academic performance
Leaming Styles
Converger
Assimilator
Accommodator
Diverger
Converger
Assimilator
Accommodator
Diverger
Converger
Assimilator
Accommodator
Diverger
Pass
56.16
36.99
2.74
4.11
Pass
56.16
36.99
2.74
4.11
Successful
53.19
37.76
4.79
4.26
Successful
53.19
37.76
4.79
4.26
Very Successful
71.34
17.83
5.73
5.10
Very Successful
71.34
17.83
5.73
5.10
(55.33%). For the assimilator style, the
opposite pattem was observed in that there
were significantly more students in FENS
(35%) compared to FASS and FMAN
(22.15%). For accommodator and diverger styles, the proportions were found to be
similar to each other across the faculties.
Women and men, on the other hand, did not
show any preference with respect to leaming style.
When academic performance is considered, students who had a cumulative
GPA between 3-4 revealed a clear prefer-
189
189
(
0.40
0.10
0.70
0.01
178
178
178
178
2.09*
2.89**
0.94
0.30
223
223
223
223
2.79**
3.31**
0.31
0.29
df
189
189
ence for converger style iJ\.lsA%') compared to students who had a cumulative
GPA between 2-3 (53.19%), and to students with a cumulative GPA between 1-2
(56.16%). Conversely, students who had
a cumulative GPA between 2-3 (37.16%)
and students who had a cumulative GPA
between 1-2 (36.99%) reported predominantly assimilator leaming style compared
to the very successful group (17.83%) (see
Table 5).
596 / College Student Journal
Table 6 Varying degrees of effective leaming habits and cumulative GPA
Academic Performance- Cumulative GPA
Pass
Successful
Very Successful
Effective Leaming Habits
Mean
SD
48.34'
11.78
9.500
54.69''
59.47'
10.45
Note. Within column, numbers with different subscripts differ at .05 level using Bonferroni procedure.
Effective leaming habits and
academic achievement
From an empirical approach, an instmment is expected to distinguish among
different levels of academic achievement.
At a practical level, identifying variables
that are most strongly related to academic performance may enable educators as
well as students to improve leaming practices. One-way ANOVA was performed,
comparing the three cumulative GPA
groups as the independent variable and
total score of effective leaming habits as
dependent variable, in order to find out
whether varying degrees of effective leaming habits related to different levels of
academic performance. The ANOVA for
academic performance and effective leaming habit was significant, F(2,417) = 33.5,
p < .001. Post hoc comparisons (Bonferroni) were conducted tofindout the source
of difference, and the results revealed that
students with high academic performance
significantly reported higher levels of effective learning habits (M = 59.47, SD =
11.78) than those with low cumulative
GPA's (pass group, M = 48.34, SD = 11.78;
successful group, M = 54.69, SD = 9.50)
(see Table 6). These results also supported the criterion-related validity of
instrument, because the instrument was
supposed to measure effective learning
habits, and students were asked about their
useful learning habits during the item
development process.
Although this research study was primarily interested in the interplay between
academic performance and using effective
learning habits, it also examined other
demographic variables in an attempt to
understand individual differences in using
effective leaming habits. An independent
t-test was conducted to determine possible
gender differences. It was found out that
women's mean (M = 57.66, SD = 9.32)
effective leaming habits score was significantly higher than men's mean score (M
= 53.62, SD = 10.94, i(411) = 4.06, p <
.001). One way ANOVAs were performed
to compare the three faculties and four
grade levels. Although the ANOVA for faculty was not significant F(2, 417) = .66,
p>.05, comparisons of the four grades on
effective leaming habits levels yielded significant differences F(2, 417) = 7.18, p <
.001. Post hoc comparisons (Bonferroni)
yielded that senior students reported significantly greater use of effective leaming
habits (M = 58.75, SD = 10.88) than freshmen students (M = 52, SD = 10.10). On the
other hand, mean scores of sophomore (M
= 55.14, SD = 9.55) and junior students
Leaming Styles... / 597
Table 7 Varying degrees of effective leaming habits and grade levels
Grade Levels
Freshmen
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Effective Leaming Habits
Mean
SD
52.00°
10.10
55.14»
9.55
55.40°
9.96
58.75'
10.88
Note. Within column, numbers with different subscripts differ at .05 level using Bonferroni procedure.
Table 8 Varying degrees of effective leaming habits, weekly time management and study planning
Variables
Hours Spent For Study
1 -5 hours
6-10 hours
10 + hours
Hours Spent For Social Activities
1-5 hours
6-10 hours
10 +hours
Study Planning
Regularly
Exam oriented (exam weeks)
Before the day of exam
Effective Leaming Habits
Mean
SD
50.18°
10.48
57.04''
9.49
59.06''
9.15
53.78°
56.31''
56.52"
10.87
8.99
10.86
62.90°
56.72''
48.80'^
9.24
9.26
10.05
Note. Within column, numbers with different subscripts differ at .05 level using Bonferroni procedure.
(M = 55.40, SD = 9.96) were found to be of effective leaming habits compared to
similar (see Table 7). According these students who spent less time for social
results it can be proposed that students activities. It is also not surprising that par"leam" to use effective leaming habits pro- ticipants who study regularly reported
gressively.
significantly higher levels of effective
Similarly, one way ANOVAs were con- leaming habits than those who study only
ducted to compare three levels of weekly during exam weeks, or just before the day
time management and study planning. The of exam F{2, 417) = 44.43, p < .001 (see
analyses yielded significant differences for Table 8).
all variables. Firstly, it was found that stuThe effective leamer can use any of the
dents who spent 6-10 hours for study in a four styles in different leaming situations
week reported significantly higher level of rather than relying only on his/her preeffective leaming habits than those who ferred style (Kolb 1985). This shows that
spent less time studying F(2,417) = 33.03, leaming styles are neither better, nor worse
p < .001. Similar results were yielded for than each other. Nevertheless, four leamweekly social activities F{2, 417) = 3.25, ing styles are compared in terms of using
p < .05, in that students who were social- effective ways of leaming by conducting
ly more active also engaged in high levels a one way ANOVA. As expected, no sig-
598 / College Student Journal
exceeds the capacity of the university system, nationwide university placement
examination
is
held
on
an
annual basis. The nafional exam is multiple-choice in nature, and consists of verbal
and quantitative aptitude tests. High school
education is unfortunately devoted to prepare students for the ultimate goal, which
Discussions
According to Kolb's Leaming Styles is to be successful on this exam. Students'
distributions (Kolb, 1985), there were more main endeavor is to be good at choosing
students with a converging preference, and the correct answer or solufion to a question.
the second most prevalent style was assim- Success in high school courses are generilating. However, there were fewer students ally undermined by students, families, even
with diverging or accommodating prefer- instructors due to the current system. Thus,
ences. As the most dominant leaming style students were not provided with a leaming
of the university students at Sabanci Uni- environment that facilitates creating theoversity (SU), convergers are best at finding retical models, assimilafing models into
pracfical uses for ideas, they need to per- an integrated explanation, carrying out
ceive the whole, and move from the whole plans and experiments, taking risks, viewto the part. As the second dominant leam- ing situations from many perspectives,
ing style, assimilators are best at being imaginative, emotional, and finally,
understanding a wide range of informa- being able to relate to people.
don and putting it into a concise and logical
Although our aim was not to diagnose
form. SU students rarely prefer leaming students on the basis of their learning
by their feelings (accommodators and styles, Kolb and Kolb (2005) suggest that
divergers) or viewing concrete situations the effective leamer can use each of the
from many different perspectives. As a leaming styles in different leaming situaresult, it can be proposed that emphasiz- tions rather than rely only on his/her
ing feeling and an intuitive approach were preferred style. Leaming is an ongoing and
not favored by SU students. This pattem holisfic process of adaptafion to the envidid not show any variation according to ronment; it is not only the result of
certain crucial characteristics such as cognifion but also the result of the ability
school, grade level, academic success, to move back and forth between different
skills like time management and study modes of thinking, feeling, perceiving, and
planning. Although it is a mere specula- behaving. In that sense, a leamer is supfion, it could be proposed that students, at posed to create social knowledge and
least in SU, seemed very conservative when recreate personal knowledge through the
leaming styles were at issue. At present, transformation of experience. From this
Turkey has 156 universities (103 public, perspective, a dominant leaming style (con53 private) and since the number of stu- verging) across all variables in higher
dents motivated to get into higher education education may be a sign of limited reper-
nificant differences were yielded F(3,417)
= .359, p > .05. In other words, using different learning styles (diverging,
accommodafing, converging, assimilafing)
did not make any contribufion to the levels of using effective ways of leaming.
Learning Styles... / 599
toire, and this issue needs to be considered
by instmctors and policy makers, at least
in Sabanci University.
Other than investigating leaming styles
of students, this research study was interested in the interplay between academic
performance and using effective leaming
habits, and examined other demographic
variables such as grades, gender, time management skills, study and social activity
planning skills in order to understand individual differences in using effective
learning habits. Academic performance
increased when students used effective
leaming habits. Students who spent time
for study and social activities for about ten
hours a week were found to use higher levels of effective leaming habits. The findings
supported that developing study skills and
time management skills are key factors in
using effective leaming habits. It was found
that women's effective learning habits
score was significantiy higher than men's
score, but there were no significant differences between their leaming styles. Study
skills, time management skills and leaming habits exhibited strong relations with
academic performance in university. Therefore, providing workshops and advising
sessions intended to help students acquire
appropriate study skills and effective leaming habits gain importance. In addition,
recognizing the leaming styles of students
contributes to effectiveness (Kazu, 2009).
Leaming styles must be kept in mind during the education and training process, and
student's interests, expectations and needs
should not be ignored. We also examined
possible linkage between leaming styles
and effective learning habits, but results
recommended that there was not a significant contribution of using different
leaming styles to the varying level of using
effective leaming habits. It could be said
that this finding is in line with literature
(e.g. Loo, 2004) and a possible relationship
between two constmcts needs further investigation.
In conclusion, knowing the learning
styles of students is highly important both
for students and instructors. Knowledge
of leaming styles affects students' awareness of how they leam best and contribute
to their taking responsibility of their own
leaming. Since instmctors prefer to teach
in a cognitive style that matches their own,
knowing the preferred leaming styles of
students can help instmctors to adjust their
teaching methods and evaluation tools to
best match the different needs of their students (Wolfe et al., 2006). Finding out
students' learning styles may empower
their leaming experiences, which should be
the ultimate goal.
Corresponding Author
Aytac
Ggogus
E-mail(s):
agogus@sabanciuniv.edu or aytacgogus@yahoo.com. Phone: 90 216 483
9485 (office) & 90 539 723 5245 (cell).
Fax: 90 126 483 9480
Short Biographies
Aytac Gogus has been an educational
researcher and instmctional designer at the
Center for Individual and Academic Development, Sabanci University since
September 2007. She received her doctoral degree in Instructional Design,
Development, and Evaluation (IDD&E) at
Syracuse University in May 2006.
Hatice Gunes has been a student counselor at the Center for Individual and
Academic Development, Sabanci Univer-
600 / College Student Journal
sity since October 2007. She received her
doctoral degree in psychology at Ankara
University in October 2009.
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