The Barsch Learning Style Inventory (BLSI) (Barsch
learning style inventory) is an assessment used to measure an
individual's learning style. There are
many different theories on how people learn and the different types of
learners. The BLSI organizes people into
the categories of visual, auditory or kinaesthetic learning and is widely used
and promoted in school systems.[1] In theory, by knowing the preferred learning
style of the students in a classroom, a teacher can better construct their
teaching methods to match and thus help facilitate better learning. This matching of preferred learning style
with the same teaching method is known as the meshing hypothesis(Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer, & Bjork, 2008) . In order to meet all of the learning styles
present in a group of children a lot of preparation would need to be undertaken
by teachers. However, before working on
all these changes, it is important to consider the research on the use of the
BLSI which yields mixed results. Some researchers
demonstrate evidence that matching an individual's learning style benefits memory
(Korenman & Peynircioglu, 2007) whereas others have
found little evidence for the meshing hypothesis
(Krätzig & Arbuthnott, 2006; Pashler et al., 2008; Stahl, 1999). Ultimately, at this time, there is little
foundation for the use of the BLSI in classroom settings.
First, there is little empirical evidence for the meshing
hypothesis. Korenman and Peynircioglu
(2007) examined whether learning style influences an individual's ability to
learn and remember music. They did find
that participants were better able to remember melodies when the information
matched their main style of learning. However,
the results of this study cannot be generalized to other disciplines as the
experimenters were looking at short lines of music and poetry. Other materials such as math, geography or
history may not experience the same benefits.
As well, in a classroom setting students would have to be responsible
for a lot more information than a couple of lines of text or music notes.
In his paper, Stahl (1999) reports the results from numerous
review papers on the use of learning styles with regard to teaching children to
read. In each of the cited papers no
significant effect for matching the visual or auditory learning styles with the
same type of teaching was found (Stahl, 1999) . Furthermore, Krätzig and Arbuthnott (2006)
sought to test the learning style hypothesis by having participants learn
material and then complete a test in all three modalities. The researchers found no evidence for the
meshing hypothesis; there was no relation between participants' learning style
and the individual memory tasks.
Reported visual learners did not score significantly better on the
visual memory task nor did auditory learners on the auditory memory task and
the kinaesthetic learners on the kinaesthetic memory test (Krätzig & Arbuthnott, 2006) . Their results do not support the learning
style hypothesis.
Second, in order to collect evidence that would provide strong
support for use of the BLSI, a certain type of study should be conducted. According to Pashler
et al. (2008), to properly assess theories of learning styles specific criteria
need to be incorporated into an experiment.
The learners need to first be divided into their proposed styles and
then they need to be randomly assigned to different learning
conditions. The measure of assessment,
Pashler et al. (2008) state, needs to be the same across all of the learning
groups otherwise the learning benefit could be attributed to the type of test
and not the learning styles hypothesis.
The researchers would then need to find an interaction between the
learning style and the method used. Any
form of additive results would indicate that one form of teaching is better
than the others and would not support the use of the BLSI. After outlining these criteria, Pashler et
al. (2008) conducted a literature review of studies that assessed learning
style hypotheses. Of the countless
articles that examined different learning styles, they only found one that could
be said to follow these criteria and that study was not examining the use of
the BLSI but another learning styles hypothesis. Both Korenman and Peynircioglu (2007) and
Krätzig and Arbuthnott (2006) do not meet these criteria as different testing
measures were used depending on the learning modality. In order to make more conclusive statements
regarding the use of BLSI, more research is still needed.
Third, the BLSI has low reliability and validity (Krätzig & Arbuthnott, 2006; Stahl, 1999). If the measure was reliable, we would expect
the same results from the same participants each time they do the test, but
this is not always the case (Stahl, 1999) . The implication is that a person's learning
style is constantly changing. In a
classroom setting this would be problematic for teachers as by the time they
alter their lessons to match a certain learning style, the children's styles
may already have changed. The BLSI is
also more of a measure of what individuals prefer
over what they are, meaning it's not
a valid measure. In their second
experiment, Krätzig and Arbuthnott (2006) asked participants the reasoning
behind their choices in completing the BLSI and found that participants tended
to answer the BLSI using their preferences or beliefs about their learning
habits. To be a valid measure of how an
individual best learns, the BLSI cannot merely be an assessment of personal
experience or preference (Pashler et al., 2008).
In addition, the items used in the measure are somewhat
vague. For instance, one of the items
says, "Do better at academic subjects by listening to lectures and tapes"
(Barsch
learning style inventory) .
This is a very ambiguous sentence and interpretation may differ among
individuals. Consider the following: in
scenario one a student who is stronger in English or history courses may think
back to his experiences in these types of classes where the teaching style is
mainly audio lectures or discussion groups.
In scenario two, a student who enjoys math or chemistry courses may
think of the visual diagrams or hands-on labs that she is more likely to see in
the science-based courses. When
completing the questionnaire, the students' background experiences and
preferences may then influence their interpretation.
In conclusion, research of the
use of the BLSI is not substantial enough to endorse the use of the meshing
hypothesis in the classroom. The current
research does not show that matching a teaching method to an individual's
learning style will facilitate better learning.
As well, more research into the area is needed as the methodology and
design of these studies is put into question by Pashler et al. (2008). However, before more research is conducted,
it would the BLSI itself should be reevaluated as it is not a reliable or valid
measure.
References
Barsch learning style inventory. (n.d.).
Retrieved January 26, 2014, from University of Utah School of Medicine:
http://medicine.utah.edu/learningresources/tools/barsch_inventory.pdf
Korenman,
L., & Peynircioglu, Z. (2007). Individual differences in learning and
remembering music: Auditory versus visual presentation. Journal of Research
in Music Education, 55(1), 48-64.
Krätzig,
P., & Arbuthnott, K. (2006). Perceptual learning style and learning
proficiency: A test of hypothesis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98(1),
238-246.
Pashler,
H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2008). Learning styles: Concepts
and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9(3),
105-119.
Stahl, S.
(1999). Different strokes for different folks? A critique of learning styles. American
Educator, 1-5.
[1] As reported by many of the
students in Trent University's Psychology 4590 course. Though the students come from different
geographic regions, many reported having learned about or taken the BLSI at a
previous level of education.
**This was written February 2014 for a fourth year course at Trent University
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