Ask any number of educators in the U.S., from elementary to higher education, and you're likely to hear practice being shaped by theories advocating different "learning styles." This is nothing new, and certainly, learning style-based teaching doesn't seem to be waning in popularity, at least among the majority of practitioners. In fact, a significant body of academic literature supports the concept of learning styles, which furnishes instructors with a sense of scientific validation. One question, however, continues to creep out of the discussion: how accurate is the concept of preferred learning styles, and perhaps more importantly, what effects are they having on student learning?

Learning Styles

There are multiple theories espousing different learning styles, but perhaps the most influential and widely accepted and implemented is Neil Fleming's VARK model. This theory suggests that individuals learn primarily by one of four methods: visually, auditory, through reading/writing, and kinesthetically (or tactile). Shortly after its genesis, critics subsequently panned Fleming's model as being too simplistic, and a combination of styles (multimodal) was included to reflect the more realistic nature of learning. In other words, a student might be a dominant visual learner, but also benefit from auditory or any other mode.