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3. Learning Style
Various individuals possess various ways in understanding or mastering learning material. The learning style of the individuals represents the best way of
acquiring learning materials on the learners’ perspectives. Harmer 1983 states that learning style is personal character which differentiate the way the person
learns with other persons. Students at school become learners when they deal with certain subjects based on the school curriculum. The way students learn varies
based on from what they feel, see, hear, and concern in their previous learning experience. Learning style is a continuum in which the style can change along
with the duration of learning experience Kolb 1984. The process of learning is done to achieve certain goals. The process results to the preference of how
students learn and deal with the learning materials. Learning style keeps changing since the students expect more in their academic performances. The change can be
affected by the dissatisfaction of the previous learning styles and their academic performances.
The role of learners’ learning experience relates to how frequent the learners
deal with various learning situation. Kraus, Reed, and Fitzgerald 2001 states that an indi
vidual’s adjustment to receive information from different learning situation is the learning style of that individual. Then, learning environment gives
a big effect to form the learning style as well as to add the learning experience of the learners or the students at school. The students interact with their friends and
they are guided by their teachers to behave and position themselves appropriately based on the class condition. The class condition involves any learning materials,
other learners, and the teachers. The students’ learning style becomes structural if
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the teachers already establish the learning activities which must be followed at the class.
Learners use one of their senses or the combination of the senses to deal with different learning materials. Dunn and Dunn 1979 state that learning style
is the learners’ variation to use one or more senses to understand, organize, and retain experience. The learners choose their preferred learning styles based on
what they feel the most comfortable and sometimes the demand of using certain learning style to get good result in academic performance. The ability to
understand the learning materials is the way the learners have to define their preferred learning style. Once they understand the learning materials with specific
learning materials, they apply the same learning material in the next learning. Learning style also
relates to learners’ ability in processing information or knowledge. Processing means understanding and mastering the learning materials.
The learners are agents of transmitting learning materials to be comprehensible knowledge. The learners need to have continuous motivation to learn any learning
materials in order to get holistic picture of the materials. Claxton and Ralston 1978 define learning style as consistency of responding which is used as the
trigger to create learning context. Once the learners get good learning achievement and outcomes, they will apply the same learning styles as previous.
Learners regard learning materials as the starting point to conceptualize ideas of certain learning objective. Once the learners deal with learning materials,
automatically they deal with how to apply the content of learning materials into their environment. Learners are able to formulate the system of learning style
when they have sufficient learning experience with clear learning objective.
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Commonly, learners feel that their learning styles are the best rather than their fellows’. Learners commit learning activities by themselves before they are
affected by others’ learning styles. Hence, learners are able to improve their learning experience by interacting with other learners. Learning experience also
change learners’ trait related to their cognitive, affective, and physiological senses Keefe 1979. Once learning style preference is already formulated, behaviours of
learners change accordingly based on the demand of further academic performance. Learners keep interacting with their environment if they are not able
to find the preferred learning style yet. The difference of learning style among learners can also be used as the tool
to complement the learners’ learning style in order to formulate their preferred
learning styles although the combination of learning styles is sometimes inappropriate to face certain learning materials. Dunn and Griggs 2000:9 state
that “learning style is biologically and developmentally determined set of personal characteristics that make the identical instruction effective for some students and
ineffective for o thers”. The previous statement supports the idea that personal
learning style may not be applicable for other learners. Learning style relates to how the learners adjust their life habits to their learning activities. Learners from a
Vocational High School, with the characteristics of having practical ability, tend to apply practical study in facing learning materials. When they deal with English
materials, for example, they prefer to learn how to pronounce certain English words or how to apply the topic of learning materials in their daily activities.
Learning style is also the accumulation of structured learning system arranged by learners’ teachers. The learners change their learning systems based
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on the demand of learning activities. This idea is supported by Ladd and Ruby 1999 which state that certain learning style
occurs from the learners’ adjustment to their teachers’ instruction and learning task. The adjustment also relates to the
learners’ expectation to get good scores from their teachers since scoring system deals with how learners are able to follow learning activities. Here, learning style
is the reflection of cognitive learning activities to get determined learning objective. Personality of learners is also adjusted if the learning task requires
students to do certain instructions. Then, when a teacher knows students’ learning
style , they are able to provide more appropriate learning materials to the students’
need.
a. Kolb’s Learning Style
Learning style can be formed by the level of learning experience of the learners. Kolb’s learning style model represents the need of learning experience in
cycling the learning style. Kolb’s learning style model has been used in many
learning style researches and cover learning experience as the main learning style identification Cano-Garcia and Hughes 2000. Kolb 1984 introduces the
concept of learning style based on the experiences of learning that the students have. This theory is called experiential learning. Kolb states that Experiential
Learning Theory ELT, with the main foundation of experience added by the cognition, perception and behaviour, lays the foundation of learning style model.
The combination of experience, cognition, perception, and behaviour describes how the learners are able to change the way they learn based on their level of
education containing learning experience and their level of social activities.
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Kolb 1984 describes 4 cycles which individuals posses in order to identify their learning styles. The first cycle is Concrete Experience CE in which
individuals deal when they commit learning activities. The second cycle is Reflective Observation RO. This cycle deals with how individuals compare
their learning styless to others in order to have the preferred learning styles. The third cycle is Abstract Conceptualisation AC. This cycle deals with how
individuals start shaping their preferred learning styles. The last cycle is Active Experimentation AE. This cycle deals with how individuals commit continuous
learning activitie s to get the individuals’ preferred learning style.
Further, Kolb 1985 divides learning styles based on two dimensional scales of experiential learning. They are perceiving and processing information.
Perceiving information is the scale in which students experience varied learning styles from their learning environment. From this first scale, the cycles of CE and
AC are established. CE derives from the peer orientation and discussion among the learning participants. Then, the learners conceptualize in their minds what
preferred learning style should be applied and becomes AC cycle. The second scale is called processing information. This scale involves AE and RO cycles. The
cycle is started after the learners have various learning experience in their mind. Then, they commit new experiments as the collaboration of the various learning
experience they got before AE. They will reflect what they have done in the previous mode to take their preferred learning styles RO.
From previous scales and cycles, Kolb 1985 divides learning styles into 4 terms. The first one is diverging. Divergers tend to grasp the learning experience
through CE and transform it into RO. These groups use their imaginative ability
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