“THE CORRELATION BETWEEN LEARNING STYLES OF GRADE 11

STUDENTS OF SPCMOI AND THEIR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE”

In partial fulfillment of

Inquiries, Investigations, and Immersion

Researchers:

Vallejos, Freyja Dane M.

Amarilla, Roque Stephen P.
Abao, Nelsie
Valmores, Jonas D.
Amahan, Elgie R.
Macas, Jhon Steven L.
Abacahin, Jonalyn C.
Gomez, Mitchelo G.

Grade 12 Humss- Rigel

Mrs. Rizza Mae C. Quilacio, LPT

Research Teacher
ABSTRACT

Learning Styles are widely accepted in education as a way to instill the

idea that every student or individual learns differently (GCU,2020). The
concept of learning styles dated back to 334 BC when Aristotle theorized
that “every child possessed specific talents and skills.” After Aristotle's
recognition that states that each child has these differences, the concept of
learning styles was formed, and many researchers began developing and
conceptualizing their own theories. This eventually started the contradiction
of the variety of theories to one another. Academic performance is an
important metric of a student's success and is often used to evaluate their
readiness for higher education or future career opportunities. It can be
influenced by the learning style used by the students, but is not applicable
for all, for there exists some students who tend to study but still get low
marks. Having low academic performance led us to this study. We need to
test and see if there really is a connection between the learning styles and
academic performance of the students. We discuss in this paper the
utilization of Pearson's correlation technique and Polynomial fitting for the
correlation testing of the variables. The dataset is acquired through a scalar
survey questionnaire made by the researchers to be later given to the
respondents the grade - 11 students and is utilized in formulating the
correlation coefficient "r” and the strength of the correlation. The use of the
Pearson's correlation technique accompanied with the polynomial fitting
gave the most satisfactory results, and clarified the correlation of the
learning styles and academic performance of the grade - 11 students.

Keywords: Correlation, Pearson's Correlation Technique, Polynomial Fitting,

Learning Styles, Academic performance.
I. INTRODUCTION

Learning styles refer to the different methods or as the name states, it

is the style used by not only students but people as well in gaining

knowledge or skills. The concept of learning styles dated back to 334 BC

when Aristotle theorized that “every child possessed specific talents and

skills.” (Western Governors University, 2022) After Aristotle's recognition

that states that each child has these differences, the concept of learning

styles was formed, and many researchers began developing and

conceptualizing their own theories. On the other hand, academic

performance is the measurement of an individual's success in meeting the

expected learning outcomes. There has been a longstanding debate about

whether there is a correlation between learning styles and academic

performance among students or not. Given the conflicting findings, it is

important to conduct further research to gain an understanding of what is

the relationship between learning styles and academic performance and to

furthermore help the students in improving their academic performance.

The lack of attention to the students Learning Styles may result in the

failure of the students' academic performance. Several studies have

examined the relationship between learning style and academic

performance. The results of some of these studies have shown a significant

relationship between these two variables, but in some other studies, no

relationship has been reported. (Kohan et al., 2021) Therefore, this study is

formulated to investigate whether there is a correlation between the

Learning Styles and Academic Performance among the G-11 students from
SPCMOI. We need to test and see if there really is a connection or

correlation between the learning styles and academic performance of the

students, so that they can be aided with proper guidance on how to improve

their academic performance. And since the term “learning styles” speaks to

the understanding that every student learns differently. (edX, 2020) We need

to know what learning style the student uses to get a higher academic

performance and which learning style also gives a low performance.

The VARK theory suggests that individuals who are aware of their

learning style can tailor their learning experiences to match their

preferences. VARK is a popular theory of learning styles that was developed

by Neil Fleming in 1987. VARK stands for Visual, Aural, Read/Write, and

Kinesthetic, and represents the four primary modalities through which

people learn. Therefore, in this study, we aim to see if there is a correlation

between learning styles and academic performance by using VARK theory of

learning styles. The study will explore the relationship between different

learning style and what learning style can help improved their academic

performances.

A variety of studies have investigated the relationship between

learning styles and academic performance, with some suggesting a positive

correlation while others suggesting little to no significant correlation at all.

In the study of Aboe (2018), she proposed a model of learning styles

that categorizes students into three dimensions: Visual, Auditory, and

Kinesthetic. They found out from their overall analysis that there is a
significant influence of 16%. So that it can be said that in their study,

learning styles affect the final value of student academic achievement.

However, a study by Mohd Isa, et al. (2021) they investigated the

impact of the relationship among the learning style preferences of the

undergraduate accounting students, awareness of their learning styles and

their academic achievements. And, their study found a significant

awareness of learning styles among students particularly for the kinesthetic

type of students. However, in the latter part of their study, through the basis

of the test conducted, it showed that there was no significant correlation

between the academic achievement and the learning style preferences of the

students. There was also no significant relationship between learning styles

and awareness of the learning styles.

Therefore, in this study, we aim to see if there is a correlation between

learning styles and academic performance by using VARK theory of learning

styles. The study will explore the relationship between different learning

style and what learning style can help improved their academic

performances.

This will address research questions such as:

1. Do students find learning styles helpful with their academic

performance?

2. Is mental capacity or focus of a student a factor for the

improvement of their academic performance?

 3. What type of learning style can help a student in improving their

academic performance?

4. Does the preferred style have impact on their academic

performance?

Given these questions, we aim to be able to have significant insights

that will aid us in proving if the correlation between the learning styles of

the students and their academic performance are existent or non-existent.

Assumptions:

● Students with less attention from their teachers perform poorly.

● Students who use learning styles outperforms students who do not.

● Students focus is a factor in their academic performance.

Hypothesis:

Ho1: There is a correlation between the learning styles of students and

their academic performance.

H1: There is no correlation between the learning styles of students and

their academic performance.

This study focuses among the Grade 11 students of St. Peter’s

College of Balingasag Misamis Oriental (SPCMOI). Grade 11 students will be

the respondents of the study for our study focuses on them as our
respondents.

Next, the researchers will come up with the procedures on for the data

collection, data analysis and data interpretation.

It seeks to identify what type of learning styles do students use for

them to have a high academic performance and low academic performance.

The information needed will be gathered using the checklist style research

made questionnaire. All information and conclusions drawn from this study

were obtained only to this particular group of students.

The research study would be significant to the following:

Students: The study intends to know how does learning styles affects or

is correlated to the students’ academic performance, knowing that SPCMOI

students doesn’t have the same intellectual capacity as others. By doing so,

this study will be proven beneficial in potentially improving the students’

academic performance/s.

Teachers: The study intends to provide insights to teachers/instructor

regarding their plan/attempt to set academic standards to their students

that they should match their methods to the intellectual differences of their

students in order to increase student’s academic

performance/achievements.
 Researchers: The study intends to provide to further more information

to the researchers if whether or not a learning styles can potentially

influence a SPCMOI student’s academic performance using the different

concepts of processing effective information by careful thinking and in-depth

processing.

Future Researchers: The study intends to provide further information,

given the current researchers study as a reference/guide to future

researchers who also plan to gain a deeper understanding on the correlation

of Learning styles and Academic performances in vicinity.

To facilitate the understanding of this study, different terms are defined

herein.

Asses; verb. to judge or decide the amount, value, quality, or importance of

something:

Correlation; noun. a connection or relationship between two or more facts,

numbers, etc.:

Nonexistent; adjective. completely absent:

Lack; noun. a condition of not having any or enough of something, esp.

something necessary or wanted:

Contradictory; noun. so, related to another that if either of the two is true

the other is false and if either is false the other must be true

Retain; verb. to keep or continue to have something:

Readiness; noun. the quality or state of being ready: such as : a state of

preparation

Retention; noun. the ability to keep or continue having something:

Dominant; adjective. more important, strong, or noticeable than anything

else of the same type:

Outperform; verb. to perform better or do better than someone or

something:

Implies; verb. to express indirectly

Circumstances; noun. a condition, fact or event accompanying,

conditioning, or determining another: an essential or inevitable

Aural; adjective. Or relating to the ear or the sense of hearing

Kinesthetic; adjective. connected with the ability to know where the parts

of your body are and how they are moving:

II. Methodology

This study discovered the correlation between the learning styles and

the academic performance of the G-11 students of SPCMOI. A statistical and

mathematical method was utilized for the fulfillment of this study.

The study focuses to find the correlation of two variables, namely

Learning styles and Academic performance, so two methods were utilized by

the researchers, Pearson’s correlation technique and polynomial fitting. The

Pearson correlation technique is a statistical method used to measure the

strength and direction of the linear relationship between two continuous

variables. While on the other hand, polynomial fitting, is a method used to

fit a polynomial function to a set of data points. It aims to find the best-

fitting curve that represents the relationship between the independent and

dependent variables.

Since this study has a small number of respondents, a purposive

sampling technique was used, for it was suitable for this study. For, when

working with a limited number of respondents, purposive sampling can be

advantageous. It enables researchers to target and include participants who

possess unique perspectives, expertise, or characteristics that are crucial to

the research question or objectives.

The respondents of this study were the sixty (60) Grade 11 students

from the campus of St Peter’s College of Misamis Oriental Inc.

The main tool that was used in this study was a handmade survey

questionnaire by the researchers, which is a set of 15 questions that is

aiming to discover the preferred learning styles of each individual which is

based from the VARK theory of learning styles and the 1 st semestral general

average of the students from SPCMOI.

From the research title down to the contents of this paper was

thoroughly checked and has gone through major and minor revisions done

by the researchers.

This paper has gone through proofread by our research adviser to

guide us in formulating the best research possible. The permission to

conduct a survey for each class of the Grade – 11 students during their

class hours was permitted by our OIC school principal through the letter

that was made to ask

We collected their academic performance through asking for their first

semestral grades.

The data was gathered from the survey about the situations that target

the learning styles of students. The researchers took the average for each

category of learning style, they averaged the responses of the respondents to

the questions that target specific learning styles, which consists of 3

questions per learning style that were answerable through the checklist

provided. Afterwards they were plotted in the Microsoft excel for furthermore

preprocessing of the data for the preparation of the final presentation to the

experts of this field of specialization.

III. RESULT

The correlation of the learning styles and academic performance were

checked individually, meaning we checked the correlation of each category

of VARK learning styles by using the Pearson’s correlation technique and the

polynomial fitting to provide an accurate visualization of the scatterplot for

the correlation of our variables. To help us understand easily how strong a

correlation might be, here’s a table provided to help us pinpoint the

correlation strength.
The table above shows the amount of “r” (correlation coefficient) and

determines how strong the correlation may be if it reaches a certain amount

of r.

Table 1 (VISUAL)

r = 0.2637973568246393

The correlation plot above shows the strength of the correlation is for

the visual learning style and the academic performance. The “r” value shown
below the plot clearly shows that the visual learning style and the academic

performance has a low positive correlation.

Table 2 (AURAL)

r = -0.10245027610075831

In the aural category of the Learning styles, its correlation strength is

a low negative correlation, because as shown the data points are scattered
and its “r” clearly belongs to the low correlation, which means the

correlation of the Aural learning style and academic performance has a low

negative correlation.

Table 3 (READ/WRITE)

r = 0.10951463596343734
In the read/write category of the Learning styles, its correlation strength is

still a low correlation, but now it’s not a negative correlation. It is a low

positive correlation. Because as shown again, the data points are scattered

which means the correlation of the read/write learning style and academic

performance has a low positive correlation.

Table 4 (KINESTHETICS)

r = 0.3462930721705328
 Even in the kinesthetics learning style, it is still the same. The value of

the “r” shows that the correlation of the kinesthetics learning style and the

academic performance still has a low positive correlation. Even if it’s not a

3.0, It still cannot be considered as medium for it cannot be rounded off

because the number next to the 3 is a 4 that is why we couldn’t consider it

as a medium positive correlation.

IV. DISCUSSION
This study was conducted in St. Peter’s College of Balingasag, a non-

random purposive sampling was used for the data collection along with a

checklist scalar survey questionnaire. For the data analysis the methods

used were Pearson’s correlation technique and polynomial fitting for both

these methods helps check to see the correlation between two variables.

The study was formulated for the improvement of one’s academic

achievement. This study aims to answer questions like: Is mental capacity

or focus of a student a factor for the improvement of their academic

performance? What type of learning style can help a student in improving

their academic performance? Does the preferred style have impact on their

academic performance? Do students find learning styles helpful with their

academic performance? For, it has already been a long debate to whereas

learning styles have a correlation to the academic performance of an

individual, and some say that learning styles greatly helped with their

academic performance, while others say that learning styles have no effect

to one’s academic performance.

To solve the problems, the researcher conducted a survey using the

Grade – 11 Students of SPCMOI as the respondents. After the conduction of

the survey, the researcher plotted the responses and took the average for

each category of the VARK learning style, and afterwards the researchers

ran a correlational test with each category of the VARK with the academic

performance. In order for the researcher to find the strength of the

correlation between both variables, find the “r” value of the plot and finally

clear the long debate so that the people may be able find a way to improve

their academic performance.

Based from the Results of the study, it is shown that the

correlation between the learning styles and the academic performance is

minimal, or the two variables have shown little correlation. Basing from the

scatterplot too, it really shows how scattered the data points are, and the

more the data points are scattered, the more weak or low their correlation

can be.

And thus, concluding that the correlation between learning styles

and academic performance is minimal, therefore, there is a significant

relationship but it is less significant.

 Based on the Results and the conclusions made, the following

recommendations are given: Exercise caution when generalizing the findings

due to the small sample size and acknowledge the limitations of the study,

Explore additional factors that may influence the relationship between VARK

learning styles and academic performance, Supplement quantitative

analysis with qualitative methods to gain deeper insights into individuals'

experiences and perceptions, encourage future research with larger sample

sizes to improve statistical power and validate the findings.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

First and foremost, praise and appreciation to God, the Almighty, for

his showers of blessings during our study effort, which enabled us to

successfully undertake the research.

This paper would not have been feasible without the exceptional

assistance of our Research Teacher, Mrs. Rizza Mae C. Quilacio, LPT. We'd

want to thank her for her consideration and for keeping our growth on

track. We'd like to express our gratitude to our ever superb and

compassionate Research Teacher for all of her efforts that have contributed

to our accomplishment.

Our special thanks to all the researchers and teachers who help us, give

us time to finish our research paper. The researcher would like to thank all

the students who participated in this study. Finally, we wish to thank our

parents for their encouragement and support throughout the research

process.
REFERENCES

Grand Canyon University., 2020. How to Recognize and Support Learning

Styles in the Classroom. https://www.gcu.edu/blog/teaching-school-

administration/how-recognize-and-support-learning-styles-classroom

Western Governors University., 2022. Learnings About Learning Styles.

https://www.wgu.edu/blog/learnings-about-learning-styles2201.html#close

Kohan, N., Janatolmakan, M., Rezaei, M., & Khatony, A., (2021).

Relationship between Learning Styles and Academic Performance among

Virtual Nursing Students: A Cross-Sectional Study. Education Research

International, vol. 2021, Article ID 8543052, 6 pages, 2021.

https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/8543052

edX., 2020. Learning Styles.

https://teach.com/what/teachers-know/learning-styles/

Aboe R., 2018. Correlation Between Students Learning Styles and Their

Learning Achievement.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330410976_Correlation_Betwee

n_Students_Learning_Styles_and_Their_Learning_Achievement
Mohd Isa, N. S., Omar, N., Mohd Fatzel, F. H., Mohd Ghazali, Z., & Anas, N.

(2021). The relationship between students’ learning styles and academic

performance: Final year accounting students. EDUCATUM Journal of Social

Sciences, 7(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.37134/ejoss.vol7.1.1.2021

APPENDICES

Appendix A: Letter of Request to Conduct the Study

ST. PETER’S COLLEGE OF MISAMIS ORIENTAL,

INC.
15th de Septiembre St., Brgy. 2, Balingasag, Misamis Oriental
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
SCHOOL YEAR 2021-2022

May 05, 2023

Niezl Jia O. Ermita, LPT

OIC – SHS Principal
St. Peter’s College of Balingasag INC.
Juan Santiago Paguio Bldg., 15th de Septiembre St. Brgy. 2, Balingasag, Mis. Or.

Dear Ma’am,

Good Day!

We are researchers from Grade 12 deparment under HUMSS Strand, and we would like to
ask for permission to conduct a survey on the Grade 11 students of our school. It will not
take too long for the answers are already provided and it is convenient for them also. It will
be a big factor in the accomplishment of this research, since our research involves them as
our respondents.
I am hoping for your kind consideration.

Respecfully,
Freyja Dane M. Vallejos Elgie Amahan
Jhon Steven Macas Jonalyn C. Abacahin
Nelsie Abao Jonas Valmores
Roque Stephen P. Amarila Mitchelo G. Gomez

Attested by:
Rizza Mae C. Quilacio, LPT
Research Teacher
 Appendix B: Letter of the Respondents and Questionnaire

THE CORRELATION BETWEEN LEARNING STYLES

OF GRADE 11 STUDENTS OF SPCMOI IN THEIR
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Survey Questionnaire

Name (optional):___________________________________________________
Grade/Section:____________________________________________________
Strand:___________________________ Age:________
Sex: Male ___ Female ___ Average Grade First Sem:___

Directions: Please read and understand carefully the statements below. After
reading, State how much you agree or disagree with the statements by simply
putting a check (√) on the check boxes provided after every question. Rest
assured that all your answers will be confidential and will remain anonymous and
there are no right nor wrong answers.

Scale: 5 – Strongly Agree (Indicates that the characteristic is always manifested)

4 – Agree (Indicates that the characteristic is often manifested)
3 – Neutral (Indicates that the characteristic is sometimes manifested)
2 – Disagree (Indicates that the characteristic is seldom manifested)
1 – Strongly Disagree (Indicates that the characteristic is never manifested)

Questions 5 4 3 2 1
1. Are you performing well academically?

2. Do you study for your upcoming quizzes

or exams?

3. Does visualizing information in your mind

help you remember it better?

4. Are your scores high every time you have

a quiz or exam on your school?

5. Do you find the quizzes easier if you are

prepared?
6. Does reading out loud help you remember
information better?

7. Do you enjoy making lists, reading

definitions, and creating presentations?

8. Are you good at applied activities such as

painting, cooking, mechanics, sports, and
woodworking?

9. Do you have to actually practice doing

something in order to learn it?

10. Do you prefer it when teachers make use

of overheads and handouts?

11. Do you create songs to help remember

information?

12. Would you prefer to listen to a recording

of your class lectures or a podcast rather
than going over your class notes?

13. Are art, beauty, and aesthetics important

to you?

14. Do you pay close attention to body

language?

15. Do you prefer to listen to class lectures

rather than reading from the textbook?