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theories since they tend to have direct justification of their basic ideas using practical experiment rather than finding various relevant theories.
The accommodators tend to interact with their environment and clarify the information or knowledge they get directly with other people. This group focuses
on the repetitive actions of having information justification. Therefore, they sometimes ignore theories relevant to the information. In addition, they are
interested in concrete things which support the justification of the information. Concrete things here include people who become the direct source of the
information. Hence, they tend to have intensive conversation with other groups of people which can give them effect of how to analyze the information. They are
easy to adapt to any situation since they are flexible in thinking and constructing their ideas of information and knowledge.
b. Kolb’s Learning Styles Inventory
Kolb’s Learning Styles inventory KLSI is based on the Experiential Learning Theory ELT. The main element of KLSI is the learning experience of
the learners. Kolb 1984 proposes ELT which is built in six ideas. The first proposition is the framework that learning is best conceived as a process, not in
terms of outcomes. The process is the emphasis of learning activities in which by engaging students to enhance the qualities of their learning activities, the students
are able to give their own feedback of their learning effectiveness and to drill their learning outcomes. Dewey 1897 states that learning outcomes are the continuing
process of learning experience since the outcomes changes periodically based on
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the learning activities. Scores of academic achievement or performance are the concrete
reflection of the students’ learning outcome levels. The second proposition is stated that all learning is relearning. This
proposition deals with the continuum of learning as a process to find more references to fulfil the curiosity of the learners. The learners feel the need of
getting further learning materials to enrich their previous learning understanding. Learning is regarded as the process of deeper understanding of the topic that the
learners have learned previously. The process is completed with the new and additional learning materials. Therefore, there is a process of believing and
reconstructing of new ideas in their learning. This process may never end if the learners keep curious in finding the best reconstruction of the new ideas.
The third proposition states that learning requires the support of conflicts between the learners and their adaptation to the world. This support encourages
the learners to criticize themselves to search for new ideas of learning. The learners will have their own rebellion to prove that their previous ideas of the
material are correct. They may face different realities with those on their learning materials. The rebellion is actually the trigger for the learners to have more
learning materials and to conduct more effective learning activities. The result of the third proposition is the adaptation of the learners’ learning materials to the
world which becomes the forth proposition. The learners have different behaviours as the adjustment of their response to the world. They have various
options to think, feel, perceive, and also behave supported with their knowledge from their learning materials.
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The fifth proposition is a framework that learning is the result of connection between the learners and their academic performances. This proposition relates to
the better expectation of the learners’ academic performance. The learners
formulate their own analysis to gain higher scores in the next academic performance. The learners have to be aware that academic performance can be
better if they develop their learning activities more systematically. The systematic learning activities are established by providing clear lesson plans supported by the
sufficient learning materials and structured learning environment. The learners are able to formulate their own knowledge by using the learning materials they have
learned and the analysis of their academic performance. This knowledge formulation is the sixth proposition which becomes the autonomous level of
learners’ learning activity. The learners have capability to formulate the confirmation or answers to their curiosities in defining learning materials.
From the Kolb’s six propositions of ELT, learning experience and its result
on the form of academic performances are the main factors of grasping learning styles. The learning experience also affects to the behaviours of the learners
meaning how they will respond to their actual learning styles to get better academic performances. This behaviour awareness emerges if the students are
able to recognize their learning styles. Learning experience is a continuum of four cycles in learning styles started from CE to RO. The combination every two
modes reflect a specific learning style Diverging, Assimilating, Converging, and Accommodating.
To arrange KLSI, the correlation between learning style and behaviour level of the learners needs to be described in order to see the factors that shape and
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influence the learning style. Behaviour levels consist of 5 indicators. The first one i
s personality types which reflect the learners’ learning tendency in social activities. The second one is educational specialization showing the interest of
learners in focusing to certain subjects. The third one is professional career which relates to the job field choice of learners after they have passed certain education
level. The forth one is current jobs showing the activities that learners prefer to do. The fifth one is adaptive competencies which show the specific skills that the
learners have in learning. Table 2.1 summarizes the correlation of behaviour level and characteristic of the
Kolb’s Learning Styles. Table 2.1
Relationship of Behaviour Level and Characteristic of Kolb’s Learning Styles
Behaviour Level Diverging
Assimilating Converging Accomodating
Personality types Introverted
Feeling Introverted
Intuition Extroverted
Thinking Extroverted
Sensation Educational
Specialization Arts, English,
History Psychology
Mathematics Physical
Science Engineering
Medicine Education
Communication Nursing
Professional Career
Social Service Arts
Sciences Research
Information Engineering
Medicine Technology
Sales Social Service
Education Current Jobs
Personal jobs
Information Jobs
Technical Jobs
Executive Jobs
Adaptive Competencies
Valuing skills
Thinking skills Decision
Skills Action
Skills Since the research was conducted at school as formal educational institution,
then the learners were positioned by the students which became the main target of learning and teaching process. The arrangement of KLSI is to fulfil the
educational tool in identifying the roles of learning experience and the students’
approach to learning. After the students are able to recognize their learning styles, they are expected to enhance their awareness in controlling their learning process
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and monitoring the learning activities. The students are able to choose which learning approaches are better for them adjusted with the learning situations.
Educators or teachers can identify their students’ learning style by asking the four
modes of learning experience and the behaviour levels. KLSI is arranged
to open the students’ perspective on their future behaviours and how to respond. On the contrary, KLSI is not used to direct the
students to have certain behaviours or to select certain jobs after they graduate. Therefore, the identification of
students’ learning style based on KLSI is a self- assessment exercise. Teachers or researchers are not allowed to direct any answer
of the inventory. This free-to-chose method in KLSI is also to get the trustworthiness of the inventory as a research instrument. The exercise is
organized by certain time so that the students are able to finish the exercise in manageable condition. The previous organization is also done to avoid any
influence by other people to the students to choose certain answers. The format of KLSI is arranged to measure the difference of learning styles
derived from the students’ learning experience. The KLSI must be brief and straightforward. It will help the researcher to formulate the learning process of the
students and to give feedback since the inventory formulation is easy to read and understand. The inventory must be constructed in a way as if they face their daily
learning situation which involves the four modes of learning experience. The result of KLSI is not used for
the students’ behaviour prediction but to construct validity of students’ learning experience. The validity of KLSI was already
internally proven in KLSI 3.1 in 2005 by showing significance level of correlation of the learning styles. The KLSI also showed external validity showed by the
