Factors Influencing the Learning Style Preferences among Business School Students

Abstract

Educational researchers postulate that every individual has different learning style. Learning style models over the past 25 years have resulted in increasing attention to the idea that students learn in diverse ways. One approach to teaching does not work for every student or even most students. Thus this study aims to determine the influence of peer, technology in the classroom and cultural background on the learning style of business students. The learning style is based on the VARK survey, consisting of the V(isual), A(ural), R(ead-Write) and K(inesthetic) learning styles. Non-probability sampling was used for this study and the sampling technique conducted was convenient sampling on 406 students from the Business School. A descriptive analysis using t-test was utilized to analyze the correlation between cultural background with VARK learning style. Meanwhile, bivariate statistics method using Pearson Correlation coefficient was employed to analyze peer and technology in classroom influence on VARK learning style. The study found that peer influences all four types of learning styles. In contrast, technology in the classroom only influences the R(ead-Write) learning style. On the other hand, cultural background influences the V(isual), A(ural) and K(inesthetic) learning styles of business students. The findings draw attention to facets of learning that may exist in pre-university and tertiary levels which could have an impact on teaching and managing business students.