Do you agree that teachers should tailor instruction after diagnosing individuals learning style(s)?

Learning Styles is widely used to describe how learners gather, process, comprehend and retain information.

Among over 70 different learning styles inventories (Coffield, 2004), VARK is one of the most popular inventories and it is often categorized by sensory approaches: Visual, Aural, verbal (Reading/writing), and Kinesthetic. Another learning style inventory is Felder and Silverman's Index of Learning Styles: active-reflective, sensing-intuitive, verbal-visual, and sequential-global.

VARK Summary (Image from Pinterest)

Felder & Silverman's Learning Style Summary (Image from Pinterest)

The fundamental idea behind learning styles is that each learner has a specific learning style and s/he learns best when information is presented in the preferred learnig style. Therefore, "optimal instruction requires diagnosing individuals learning style(s) and tailoring instruction accordingly (Pashler, et al., 2009, p.105)."

However, there is no evidence to support the idea that matching activities to one's learning style improves learning.

In 2009, Psychological Science in the Public Interest commissioned cognitive psychologists Harold Pashler, Mark McDaniel, Doug Rohrer, and Robert Bjork to evaluate the research on learning styles They came to a startling but clear conclusion: “Although the literature on learning styles is enormous,” they “found virtually no evidence” supporting the idea that “instruction is best provided in a format that matches the preference of the learner. (From the article of Nancy Chick, CFT Assistnat Director) ”

There is, however, still something we can take away from the approaches to learning, not based on the learner, but instead on the content being learning (Nancy Chick).

Dr. Bill Cerbin, Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, pointed out that the labels in the learning style inventories are more appropriately connected to the nature of the subjects/discipline.

“There may be evidence that indicates that there are some ways to teach some subjects that are just better than others, despite the learning styles of individuals…. If you’re thinking about teaching sculpture, I’m not sure that long tracts of verbal descriptions of statues or of sculptures would be a particularly effective way for individuals to learn about works of art. Naturally, these are physical objects and you need to take a look at them, you might even need to handle them.” (Cerbin, 2011, 7:45-8:30, From the article of Nancy Chick, CFT Assistnat Director)

Click the links below to learn more:

• Learning Styles: Fact and Fiction: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/2011/01/learning-styles-fact-and-fiction-a-conference-report/https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/2011/01/learning-styles-fact-and-fiction-a-conference-report/
• All You Need to Know about the "Learning Styles Mith" in two minutes: https://www.wired.com/2015/01/need-know-learning-styles-myth-two-minutes/

References 

Cerbin, William. (2011). Understanding learning styles: A conversation with Dr. Bill Cerbin. Interview with Nancy Chick. UW Colleges Virtual Teaching and Learning Center.

Chick, N. Learning Styles, Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University. Retrieved from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/learning-styles-preferences/ 

Coffield, F., Moseley, D., Hall, E., & Ecclestone, K. (2004). Learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning. A systematic and critical review. London: Learning and Skills Research Centre.

Pashler, Harold, McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2008). Learning styles: Concepts and eviden. Psychological Science in the Public Interest. 9.3 103-119.