Learning styles and academic performance in university students of Psychology in Talca

Abstract

The concept of learning styles is interesting because it offers a theory based on suggestions and practical applications with the potential to achieve a more effective way of learning. The objective of the present study is to evaluate the learning styles presented by Psychology students of the Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Talca campus, according to their academic performance and admission year. The study is a quantitative cross-sectional design. The samples were constructed of 164 students, admitted in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, of which 113 were women and 51 men. The Honey-Alonso Learning Styles (CHAEA) questionnaire was used, with adaptions for the local Chilean system. The academic performance expressed in the cumulative average, was obtained from the corresponding files of a university Psychology course in Talca. The evaluation of the scores obtained by students in learning styles related to the academic performance, the year of admission, and student’s gender. The results showed that students do not have a distinctive learning style, but present a moderate preference towards each type of learning style. In conclusion, there is no evidence to establish that a single learning style could be a useful teaching tool to generate appropriate methodologies to achieve better academic performance.