Learning Styles

Historical Perspective

The learning style perspective gained momentum during the 1970s as a way to explain individual and group differences among populations in public schools, as well as the underperformance of certain populations. This perspective has been linked to Gordon Allport's work in which he described the personality trait theory. According to this theory, individuals develop habitual patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion that distinguish them from others. The cognitive styles perspective is similar in purporting that individuals develop habitual patterns of problem-solving, thinking, perceiving, and remembering. The learning styles perspective is the application of habitual patterns of cognition to problem-solving and task completion. Many scholars contend, however, that recent conceptualizations of learning styles are directly linked to Herman A. Witkin and associates' concept of psychological differentiation that introduced the concepts of field-dependence and field-independence, which are based on an individual's ability, when tested by means of an instrument such as the Embedded Figures Test or the Group Embedded Figures Test, to distinguish an object from the background field in which it is positioned. Manuel Ramirez and Alfredo Castañeda employed cross-cultural psychology to bring attention to the cultural context as part of differential and cognitive theory in psychology. This theory supported a focus on cognitive differences and diversity in [Page 1372]approaches to learning among individuals and groups based on culture, experience, and socialization practices.

Explaining Differences in Academic Performance

What causes the difference in patterns of learning and learning outcomes between one group of students and another? Proponents of the learning style perspective argue that traditional school practices are a cultural construct that emanates from the experiences, values, practices, and perspectives of the culture in power, and are designed to serve the purposes of this particular group. Those who have been socialized into the practices and values of the culture of power are more likely to develop the learning preferences, mental processes, habits of mind, and worldview that support learning from traditional school practices. Others, it is argued, have been socialized in different ways and have different learning preferences, mental processes, habits of mind, and worldviews that are not supported by traditional school practices. Differential socialization results in variations in academic learning outcomes in school situations employing traditional instructional practices.

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