Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM

Background of the Study

Learning is omnipresent. It is a course of study, a means of obtaining skills or simply
acquiring knowledge inadvertently. It has taken place only when learners observe a relatively
positive change in their behavior resulting from what has been experienced. Through experiences
in life more learning is adopted in such a way that can be applied in facing and in preparing for
the future.
All men can learn but not all men learn in the same way. In education they call it
individual learning differences. Students study more effectively through their own learning style
preference.

Learning style is an individuals natural or habitual pattern of acquiring and

processing information in learning situation (Gardner, 2011). It is a tool of the students to acquire
their learning to be more effective in their studies. It is also a technique or way of students to
study easily and a way to gain more knowledge. The idea of individualized learning style
originated in the 1970s and has great influence to education. Teachers teach the students how to
develop their own learning style preference in order to develop their confidence, attitude towards
learning, thereby improving academic achievement.
Teachers role is to implement or transfer positive learning to the students. Educating
students about their own learning styles has benefits that can extend beyond the walls of the
classroom (Dunn et. al., 2009). Dunn emphasized four learning styles which are visual, auditory,
tactile and kinesthetic. Visual learners must see teachers action and facial expression to fully
understand the content of a lesson. Auditory learner learns best through verbal lectures,

discussions, talking things through and listening to what others say. Tactile learners need hands on
activities and enjoy working with tangible objects. Kinesthetic learners require whole body
movement and real life experiences to absorb and retain the material to be earned. When students
are aware of their own styles they are more likely to take initiatives in their own learning process
and make judgement to learn in ways better suited to their preferences.
In Urdaneta City University, teacher education students having different packages of
intellect learn in different ways. Sometimes learning is a burdening process because students meet
failures in studying their lessons. These lessons vary depending on the courses which include
general education, major/core subjects, and professional education. Professional Education
courses are vital to students taking up teacher education because these will prepare them to
becoming teachers in the future. These entail a lot of preparation which include doing well in
class, making portfolio, demonstration teaching, to name a few.
Child and Adolescent Development is one of the professional education courses. This
course focuses on current research and theory on the biological, linguistic, cognitive, social and
emotional dimensions of development and the factors that affect the progress of development. The
coverage of the course is structured to the key dimensions of the development of children and
adolescents: physical, linguistic, cognitive and socio-emotional development. Particular emphasis
is given to the factors that have been identified as having positive or negative effects on the
natural course of these developmental processes. In addition, focus is given to exceptional cases
when children or adolescents vary from the natural course. The coverage of these ideas is
intended to provide the future teacher with a broad yet fairly detailed understanding of the
developmental processes that students undergo and do that such an understanding may be used to
guide all dealings with the students.

Graduates from other programs enrol in teacher education to obtain education units for
them to be able to enter the teaching profession. They are often called unit earners who enrol in
professional education such as Assessment of Learning, Child and Adolescent Development,
among others. The units they take depend on their previous baccalaureate degree earned in
college as evaluated by the college registrar. The courses they are enrolled in are the same with
the regular students who are taking straight Bachelor of Secondary Education or Bachelor in
Elementary Education, but they are not merged as one section.
In relation to this, the researchers conducted this study to determine the learning style
preference and performance of students enrolled in a regular class and unit earners. This study is
aimed at making comparative analysis on their learning styles and performance.

Statement of the Problem

This study was conducted to find out the learning style preference of teacher education
regular students and unit earners at the Urdaneta City University who were enrolled in Child and
Adolescent Development.
Specifically, it sought answers to the following:
1. What are the learning style preferences of teacher education student regular students and
unit eaners:
a. Visual learning
b. Auditory learning
c. Tactile learning
d. Kinesthetic learning?
2. What is the performance of regular students and unit earners in Child Adolescent
Development?
3. Is there a significant difference between the learning styles of regular students and unit
earners?
4. Is there a significant relationship between students learning styles and their performance
in Child Adolescent Development?

Research Hypotheses
1. There is no significant difference between the learning styles of regular students and unit
earners.
2. There is no significant relationship between students learning styles and their
performance in Child Adolescent Development.
Importance of the Study
This study attempts to investigate the different learning styles and performance of regular
education students and unit earners in terms of learning Child Adolescent Development.
It gives importance to the following:

Students. By knowing their learning style preference, students can develop their
confidence, attitude towards learning, thereby improving their academic performance.
Instructors. Instructors can adjust their teaching styles to match with their students
learning styles to meet effective learning.
College Dean. It helps in academic planning to have more effective delivery of
instruction.
Future Researchers. They can include other learning styles and related learning strategies
for future researches. They may also take account of the teaching styles which may be salient in
the manifestation of students learning styles.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This study focused on the learning styles of teacher education students, both regular and
unit earners, enrolled in Child and Adolescent Development during the second semester, academic
year 2014-2015. It also looked into their midterm grade performance in the subject.

CHAPTER 2
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This part of the action research presents and discusses the research design, sources of data,
population and local of the study, instrumentation/data collection and tools for analysis.

Research Design
This action research used the descriptive survey method to describe the nature of the
situation as it exists at the time of the study and to explore the causes of particular phenomena. It
describes systematically a situation or area of interest factually and accurately and allows the
researcher to carefully describe and understand behavior (Calmorin, 2009).

Population and Locale of the Study

The subjects of the action research were fifty-six (56) students taking up Teacher
Education, 14 regular students and 42 unit earners and enrolled in Child and Adolescent
Development, second semester, academic year 2014-2015, at the Urdaneta City University,
Urdaneta City.

Data Gathering Tools and Procedures

In order to get the pertinent information to determine the learning styles of the two
sections, the researchers used the standardized questionnaires on learning styles by Dunn and
Dunn (2009). The researchers made comparative analysis of their learning styles and midterm
grade performance to find out if there exists a correlation between these variables.

Treatment of Data
The data collected were tabulated and treated with the proper statistical measures.

For problem number 1, the learning styles which are visual, auditory, tactile and
kinesthetic were computed using average weighted mean. Learning style preferences were
determined using frequency counts and percentages.
For problem number 2, the performance of education students was based on their midterm
examination and interpreted using the scale below:

Grade

Descriptive Equivalent

1.0

Excellent

1.25 1.75

Very Good

2.00 2.50

Good

2.75 3.00

Fair

Below 3.00

Poor

For problem number 3, significant difference between regular students and units earners
learning styles was determined using t-test.
For problem number 4, significant relationship between students learning styles and
performance was computed using Pearson r.

CHAPTER 3
PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

This chapter presents, analyzes and interprets the data collected from the respondents.

Learning Style Preference of Teacher Education Students

Table 1 shows the learning style preference of regular students in Child and Adolescent
Development.

Table 1
Learning Style Preference of Regular Students
LEARNING
STYLES
Visual learning
Auditory learning
Tactile learning
Kinesthetic
learning
Total

FREQUEN
CY
8
4
2

PERCENTAGE
57%
29%
14%

0
14

0%
100%

RAN
K
1
2
3
4

The result reveals that regular students are mostly visual learners with a rating of 57%. It
also shows that none of them are kinesthetic learners. Their dominant learning style is being
visual learners. They learn best by visual image association with the use of pictures, diagrams,
slides, posters and visual aids. These are translated easily on their minds which can make their
memory recall faster. Further, Child and Adolescent Development is a subject which involves
lecture method, brainstorming, visual and multimedia presentation. Most students use their visual
senses to learn. This strongly supports the findings why students are frequently visual learners.
The result runs parallel with the study conducted by Serquina and Peralta (2014) to students
enrolled in Bachelor of Secondary Education in Pangasinan State University. Most of the students
are also visual learners.

Table 2 depicts the learning style preference of unit earners in Child and Adolescent
Development.
Table 2
Learning Style Preference of Unit Earners
LEARNING
STYLES
Visual learning
Auditory learning
Tactile learning
Kinesthetic
learning
Total

FREQUEN
CY
22
9
9

PERCENTAGE
52%
21%
21%

2
42

5%
100%

RAN
K
1
2.5
2.5
4

The table shows that 22 (52%) unit earners exemplify visual learning. They learn best by
their visual senses, that is, through seeing and watching. These students consider visual
stimulation as the most significant factor in their learning. Nine (21%) of them are auditory and
tactile learners. They easily assimilate learning through hearing the teachers lectures and
listening to background music while studying. They also prefer working with tangible objects by
having group or individual activities. Two (5%) are kinesthetic learners. Learning becomes
apparent if whole body moves and real life experiences are involved. With their maturity level
being college graduates, they can easily relate to Child and Adolescent Development for they can
make their own life story the focus of discussion. Different teaching strategies like the traditional
blackboard, the emergence of different instructional materials such as multimedia presentation
and film viewing, the use of brainstorming, role playing, and many others may reinforce different
learning styles. Unit earners may have explored and utilized their different learning styles due to
the aforementioned reasons. Though how divergent the learning style preferences are, the
convergence of the perceptual channels of learners are still dominant that they pour in a lot of

manifestation of learning on visual matters. The result corroborates with that of the regular
students where visual learning is epitomized.

Performance of Students in Child and Adolescent Development

The performance of teacher education students in the Professional Education (Prof Ed)
subject Child and Adolescent Development is presented in Table 3.

Table 3
Performance of Regular Students and Unit Learners
PERFORMANCE

WM

Regular Students
Unit Earners

2.43
1.66

DESCRIPTIVE
EQUIVALENT
Good
Very Good

The findings disclose that regular students are good in the subject as indicated by the mean
rating of 2.43, while the unit earners are very good with an average grade of 1.66. Unit earners
perform better compared to regular students. This is due to the fact that unit earners are college
degree holders who are expected to have more experience in studying and they are more mature
as compared to college level students. Learning sometimes dictates the maturity of individuals
because maturity plays a vital role in learning. This is justified by the readiness in learning as one
of the principles of teaching. The mind is more receptive to things within the grasp of the learner.
Being older in age, unit earners can share more experience about Child and Adolescent
Development that they become more active and participative in class. They can spell out the true
meaning of child and adolescent development being adult themselves. Some of them are married
and have children that they can relate with the subject matter more closely. They can easily
interact and relate themselves to the topic. Child and Adolescent Development is a subject which
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interests many students for they are part of the development. Most discussions are focused on
how a human being developed from a blank tablet of infancy to becoming carefree adolescents.
Students put themselves on the shoes of the central issue of discussion. They become empathetic
for they, themselves, are the subject.

Significant Difference Between the Learning Styles

of Regular Students and Unit Earners
The significant difference between the learning styles of regular students and unit earners
can be gleaned on Table 4.
Table 4
Significant Difference Between the Learning Styles
of Regular Students and Unit Earners
t value
1.27

t critical
1.67

REMARKS
not significant

The findings reveal that the t value is less than the t critical which means that the result is
not significant. This suggests that there is no significant difference between the learning styles of
regular students and unit earners. It implies that no matter what type of students are enrolled in
the subject Child and Adolescent Development, students emulate the same learning style. Though
the performance varies significantly between these two types of learners, this is not affected by
their styles in learning.

Significant Relationship Between Students Learning Styles

and Their Performance in Child Adolescent Development
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The significant relationship between the learning styles of students and their performance is
shown on Table 5.
Table 5
Significant Relationship Between Students Learning Styles
and their Performance in Child Adolescent Development
r value
0.07

REMARK
not significant

The result shows that there is no significant correlation between the learning styles of
students and their performance. It means that their performance is not an indicator that dictates
what type of learners are they. There is no evidence showing that learning styles affect the
performance of students.

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CHAPTER 4
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
This chapter presents the summary, conclusions and recommendations of the study.

Summary
The main purpose of this study was to determine the learning style preference of education
students enrolled in Child and Adolescent Development during the second semester, academic
year 2014-2015 at the Urdaneta City University.
It sought answers to the following sub-problems:
1. Learning style preference of teacher education students;
2. Performance of regular students and unit earners in Child Adolescent Development;
3. Significant difference between the learning styles of regular students and unit earners; and
4. Significant relationship between students learning styles and their performance in Child
Adolescent Development.
The result of the midterm grade was used to determine the performance of education
students. A questionnaire checklist on learning styles was also used to find out the learning style
preferences of students. Fifty-six (56) education students were included in the study, 14 regular
students and 42 unit earners. The frequency counts, percentages, average weighted mean, t-test
and Pearson Product Moment of Correlation (Pearson r) were used in the analysis of the data.

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Conclusions
Based from the analysis and interpretation of data, the researchers arrived at the following
conclusions:

1. Teacher education regular students and unit earners are visual learners;
2. Regular students are good in the subject Child and Adolescent Development while the unit
learners are very good;
3. There is no significant difference between the learning styles of regular students and unit
earners;
4. There is no significant correlation between students learning styles and their performance.
Recommendations
From the conclusions of the study, the researchers recommend the following:
1. The students should develop more of their auditory and tactile learning styles and strengthen their
kinesthetic learning style to open doors for better learning opportunities;
2. Regular students may have advanced reading and determine experiences of others during their
child and adolescent years to be able to fully relate themselves with the subject. This may improve
their performance and consequently increase their grades.
3. Other studies may be conducted as regards teaching styles which may give effect on students
learning styles to enrich the present study.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. Books

14

Bondoc, Victoriano, P., et al. (2014). Action Research Made Easy. Quezon City: Lorimar
Publishing, Inc.
Calderon, Jose F. and Gonzales, Expectacion C. (2010).Methods of Research and Thesis
Writing.Mandaluyong City. National Bookstore, Inc.
Calmorin, Laurentina P. and Piedad, Ma.Laurenmelch C.(2009). Statistics with Computer.
Manila. Rex Book Store, Inc.
Corpuz, Brenda B., et al. (2010). Child and Adolescent Development.Quezon City: Lorimar
Publishing, Inc.
C. Unpublished Thesis
Serquina, Mario and Peralta, Sushmita (2014). Learning Styles of Students in Pangasinan State
University. Unpublished Thesis. Pangasinan State University.
D. Others
Dunn and Dunn (2009). Learning Styles. Retrieved on March 20, 2015 at etd.lsu.edu.
Gardner, R., et.al.(2011). Special Education. Retrieved on April 16, 2015 at etd.lsu.edu.
Gardner, J. (1995). Learning Styles: Implications for Distance Learning. New Directions for
Adult and Continuing Education.
Learning Theories. Retrieved March 20, 2015 at www.emtech.net.

APPENDIX
QUESTIONNAIRE
(Learning Style by Dunn and Dunn)
Name : _________________________
Course : _________________________
Directions: Please check what type of learner you are in each of the learning preferences given using the
following scale.
15

1 Always

2 Frequently

3 Occasionally

4 Rarely

Learning Styles Preferences

1. I learn best by seeing, reading and watching.
2. I need to construct and use strong visual image association to
learn.
3. I need to create a picture on paper or in mind to remember it.
4. I like to create pictures to match with the words.
5. I need to see the words rather than images.
6. I daydream to imagine what things look like.
7. I like demonstrations, seeing diagrams, slides, posters and
visual aids.
8. Reading or seeing the words best describes me.
9. I learn best by listening to verbal instructions or explanations.
10. I form the sound of words to recall them.
11. I remember information by hearing myself say the words.
12. I read aloud instead of silently talking to myself.
13. I memorize information or associate my memories with
songs.
14. I take active part in discussions.
15. I learn best by talking to other people.
16. Saying the words out loud makes me at ease.
17. Using my hands feeling/touching is my style in learning.
18. I like to play with objects while learning.
19. I learn by taking down notes while listening.
20. I underline ideas while listening.
21. I need to highlight pertinent information.
22. I doodle, fold a paper, play with pencil or ballpen while
learning.
23. I manipulate objects while studying.
24. Moving my fingers, pencil or ballpen stimulates my learning
abilities.
25. I need to be physically involved to learn.
26. I learn by walking around or moving my legs.
27. I act out what needs to be learned.
28. I learn while in motion, like swivelling in chair.
29. I put ideas into action in order to learn them.
30. I like to be directly involved in activities like role playing,
mime and the like.
31. I can memorize well while moving or walking.
32. I can memorize well by moving in my chair.

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5 - Never