LEARNING STYLES, TEACHING

STRATEGIES AND ACADEMIC

ACHIEVEMENT OF GRADE 8
STUDENTS AT BULA
NATIONAL SCHOOL OF FISHERIES

JEFFREY C. SANTILLAN
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Educators traditionally seek ways to make their instructions more
relevant and meaningful to students. Few can deny that every
student learns and responds to information in a unique way.
Attempts to maximize educational effectiveness and meet
students' individual needs and abilities, in view of a student's
personal learning style, are becoming one of the promising
approaches to solve the problem. The problem of improving
students learning should not be stuck in any particular learning
style. By making students aware of the preferred learning styles,
students can independently modify the different styles (Anderson
and Bruce, 2009)
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
This study sought to find out the effectiveness of aligning the
learning styles and teaching strategies to Grade 8 students of
Bula National School of Fisheries in the Division of General
Santos City.
Specifically, it answered the following questions:
1. What is the learning style of Grade 8 Students at Bula National
School of Fisheries based on the result of the survey?
2. What is the level of academic achievement of students in the
pre-test and post-test in the control and experimental group?
3. Is there a significant difference in the pre-test mean scores and
post-test mean scores of the control and experimental group?
4. Is there a significant difference in the mean gain scores of the
control and the experimental group?
Hypothesis
The following null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of
significance.

H0: There is no significant difference in the pre-test and post-test

mean scores of control and experimental group.

H0: There is no significant difference in the mean gain scores of

control and experimental group.
 
Respondents of the Study
Flow process in Experimental Group
Flow process in Control Group
Table 2. Learning styles of Control Group of Grade 8
Students at Bula National School of Fisheries
• The result indicates that some of Grade 8 Students have mixed
and balance combination of learning style. This means that
they can learn best in both ways although control group have
mixed learning style but they can be grouped as one as they
shared a common learning style which is reflector.
• Students who were reflectors can learn best in activities
involving reviewing and as reflector they are imaginative
learners. As reflectors they learn by observing and thinking
about what happened. They like to look at all the potential
angles and effects before reaching a considered opinion. They
as well spend time listening and watching and tend to be
cautious and considerate.
• Furthermore, control group was taught in the usual method of
teaching.
Table 3. Learning styles of Experimental Group of Grade
8 students at Bula National School of Fisheries
• out of 25 students in the experimental group 100% were
reflectors, and 24% has mixed and balance learning styles but can
be treated as one group (Reflector group) for the purpose of
intervention. Based on the result, students are more likely to
observe first in terms of activities in the classroom; time allowed
to think and investigate before commenting or acting and having
the opportunity to review what happened and looks for new ideas
that can be applied to the problem in question. They also like to
continue with things and tend to get impatient with an open
discussion. They learn less when they are forced to take command
of a group, to do things without preparation, rushed by deadlines
and there are no clear instructions on how to do it.
• Since learning style was determined teacher can take advantage in
developing teaching strategies appropriate to preferred learning
style. Teacher was also aware of the strengths and weaknesses of
the students and can respond to increase student’s participation.
Table 4. Level of Learners Achievement in Araling
Panlipunan Before and After the Study
 The results based on table 4 further describes that the
experimental group which uses various teaching strategies
aligned based on their learning styles are more effective than the
usual method of teaching which garnered an increase of 97.27%
in the learners’ performance in the experimental group in
comparison to the control group after the conduct of the study.

The result shows that learners learn better if their learning

styles match the pedagogy of instruction. Indeed it reveals that
learning styles and teaching strategy are related and helped
improve academic performance and stimulate cognitive and
affective diversity among students and the promotion of more
versatile teaching techniques. Inversely, inconsistency between
learning and teaching styles leads to learning failure,
demotivation and frustration.
Table 5. Difference in the Pre-test Scores of the
Control Group and the Experimental Group
• As evident in Table 5, prior to the conduct of the experiment
based on the result of the pre-test there is no significant
difference in the pre-test mean scores between control and
experimental group since t-computed (t=0.20) is lesser than the
t-tabulated (t=2.0), the scores of the control and experimental
groups are comparable.
• As revealed in Table 6, this explains that the experimental
group who were exposed to treatment using various
teaching strategies aligned on students learning styles had
greater improvement based on their academic
achievement in Araling Panlipunan. The higher post-test
mean gain score of 34.48 of the experimental group
revealed that learners in this group had better performance
in the said subject when they were taught in various
teaching strategies based on their learning styles compared
to control group. Thus, study implies that there is
significant difference in the post test mean scores between
control and experimental group since t-computed (t=5.09)
is greater than the t-tabulated (t=2.0), where the
experimental group has higher mean scores (M=34.38,
SD=2.49).
Table 6. Difference in the Post-test Mean Scores of
the Control Group and the Experimental Group
The table further denotes that in terms of teaching strategy both
methods have positive features that bring the best out of instruction (the
use of usual method and the use of various teaching strategies aligned
to learners’ style), but the mean gain scores of the experimental which
was exposed to treatment in teaching Araling Panlipunan, learners had
greater improvement when taught according to learning style and
aligned teaching strategy compared to the control group which simply
used usual method of teaching got only a mean scores of 28.04.
With that, learning styles play an important role in the lives of students
when combined with appropriate teaching strategies. When students
recognize their own learning style, they can integrate it into their
learning process. As a result, the learning process will be easier, faster
and more effective.
Another advantage is that it helps learners solve problems more
effectively. The more successful students are in dealing with their
problems, the better they will control their lives.
Table 7. Difference in the Mean Gain Scores
of the Control and Experimental Group
• The findings in the table above revealed that there is significant
difference in the mean gain scores between control and
experimental group since t-computed (t=3.50) is greater than
the t-tabulated (t=2.0), where the experimental group has
higher mean gain scores (M=17.04, SD=4.33). It reveals that
aligning the learning styles of the students to the teaching
methodology of teachers improve learners academic
performance.
• A possible explanation of the results of the study indicates that
understanding student learning preferences can provide
effective learning strategies for teachers to use like aligning
teaching strategies to reflector style in which teachers can plan
appropriate activities and / or method of teaching to provide
meaningful learning experiences for a longer and more
optimistic learning period.
 CONCLUSION
• Findings of the study led to the conclusion that most students learn best when
the learning style is aligned with their preferred teaching strategy. It is important
for teachers to understand students' learning styles and also for students to
understand their own learning styles. By understanding different learning styles,
teachers can get information on how to make academic information more
accessible to different groups of students and a greater awareness of individual
learning styles can help which in turn impart new information in a memorable
way.
• Similarly, if students are aware of their preferred learning styles, they will be
able to recognize their strengths and weaknesses and, by doing so, will be able
to develop strategies for effective learning. This reinforces the claim that when
teachers 'teaching styles are consistent with students' learning styles, they will
promote learning and educational effectiveness. Moreover, results of the study
shows the use of appropriate teaching strategies aligned to learners’ learning
styles promotes active learning, fun, interesting, engaging, motivating and
challenging for the students.
• Finally, aligning the teacher’s way of teaching to the learning styles of students
provide a range of powerful tool that can help transform usual lecture and text-
based classes into interactive and student-rich learning environment.
 Recommendations
Based on the findings and conclusion of the study, the following are
highly recommended.
Teachers must use various teaching strategies based on students
learning styles to enhance the performance of the learners especially
in Araling Panlipunan, known to be a boring subject, to motivate,
engaged and hook students’ interest.
• The school particularly the school head must provide support and
trainings and or programs for the teachers to further enhance their
skills by aligning teaching strategies based on students learning
styles and to gain more knowledge about learning styles.
• Finally, further study on the effectiveness of aligning the teaching
strategy to the learning styles of students in other subjects such as
English, Mathematics, Filipino and Science with longer exposure of
the experimental group to treatment at least two (2) grading period
to better examine its effectiveness.
THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS!