International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences, 2(8) August 2013, Pages: 654-659

TI Journals

International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences

ISSN
2306-7276

www.tijournals.com

Learning Styles of Students at FCT College of Education,

Zuba-Abuja Nigeria on Basic General Mathematics GSE 212
Maris Zakka Zinyahs 1, Noor Azlan Bin Ahmad Zanzali *2
1,2

Faculty of Education, Department of Sciences and Mathematics Education 81310, Malaysia.

AR TIC LE INF O

AB STR AC T

Keywords:

This study investigated learning styles of students on the General Mathematics (GSE212)
achievement of students from the school of Arts, and Social Sciences and students from the School
of Languages in FCT College of Education, Zuba-Abuja. 20 items on Basic General Mathematics
Achievement Test (BGMAT) GSE212 was used and each had five options in multiple-choice
formal. The Index Learning Styles (lLS) consists of 23 statements suggesting students preferred
learning styles was used. The sample (N= 250) comprised 130 (52%) students from school of Arts
and Social Sciences and 120 (48%) students from school of Languages. It was discovered that
students from school of Arts and Social Sciences and students from school of Languages with the
similar sequential/Global learning styles do not achieved equally well in GSE 212 test. This
implies that students offering Arts and Social sciences subjects have significant effect in their
achievement in Mathematics. It is therefore, concluded that students in both schools should be
given equal opportunities in learning of mathematics and lastly, there is need for more work to be
done on teacher teaching styles and students learning styles in the teaching and learning of
mathematics.

Achievement
Learning styles
Mathematics
Teaching styles

2013 Int. j. econ. manag. soc. sci. All rights reserved for TI Journals.

1.

Introduction

It is in recognition of the vital role of mathematics in all aspects of life that the teaching and learning of mathematics is made compulsory in
both primary and secondary schools in Nigeria. Mathematics is an important curricular area affecting all aspects of an individuals life
including formal education, leisure activities, employment, and day-to-day living [1]; [2]. Knowledge and effectiveness in mathematics,
particularly in problem solving, is necessary for an individual to function in a literate society.
Teachers today are faced not only with oversized classes, but with students of varying abilities who differ in the ways they process
information. The fostering of diverse styles of learning has been neglected in the teaching of mathematics. A significant number of theories
and researchers [3 have argued that learning styles are not determined by inherited characteristics, but developed through experience. Styles
are therefore not necessarily fixed, but can change over time, even from one situation to the next. Learning style is an individuals way of
learning or approach to learning in which it determines how the individual will utilize his various learning abilities to solve problems.
Difference in approach in solving problems comes as a result of learning styles. It has been established that there are a variety of
learning styles present in the classroom, such as Converger and Diverger, Assimilator and Accommodator, Field independence and Field
dependence, Active and Reflective, Concrete and Abstract, Internal and External, Sequential and Global, Sensing and Intuitive, Visual and
Verbal learners[4]. Students in the classroom have more than one learning style [5]. The students who have other learning styles expect
instruction appropriate to themselves. Students are capable of functioning in all four learning styles which include Active/Reflective,
Sensing/Intuitive, Visual/Verbal and Sequential/Global but the preferred learning style of a student varies from topic to topic and concept to
concept. Student learning styles vary among individuals, and it is important that teaching methods support a wide variety of learning styles
in order to facilitate the best education possible. In this study, only four (4) different learning styles which are Active/Reflective,
Sensing/Intuitive, Visual/Verbal and Sequential/Global would be considered.
Students come into the lecture hall with various different learning styles and also the lecturers with different teaching styles which may
conflict with the students learning style. Mathematics teachers should, therefore, use different styles of teaching to match their students
learning styles in order to enhance their performance in mathematics [6]. The researchers are concerned because learning styles are related
to students performance in mathematics. Approximate methods of teaching should be used by mathematics lecturers with reference to the
preference of students learning style.
Most mathematics teachers cannot pinpoint exactly why certain students do not understand clearly delivered sequential mathematics
lectures, which they sit and pay attention and do not remember what they have learned. However, teachers with knowledge on learning
styles would recognize these traits immediately and know how to help these students. Teachers knowing their students preferred

* Corresponding author.
Email address: zakkamaris@yahoo.com, azanzali@utm.my

Learning Styles of Students at FCT College of Education, Zuba-Abuja Nigeria on Basic General Mathematics GSE 212

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Internat ional Jour nal of Economy, Mana ge ment and Social Sciences , 2(8) Au gust 2013

learning style will help them to treat all students in a similar way as well as motivate them. In knowing students preferred learning
styles, they can reach more students because of the better match between teacher and learner styles.
It has been the researchers experience as a teachers that many learners fail to achieve an acceptable level of success in mathematics.
It is possible that some students are failing to be successful at school because teaching methods do not cater for their learning
styles. According to[7], lack of success and frustration of students experience at school could be due to incongruence between the teaching
strategy of a teacher and their preferred learning styles. This inherent problem gave rise to the idea of this research topic.
1.1 Statement of the problem
Consistent poor performance in GSE 212 Basic General Mathematics of NCE 2 students from school of Arts and Social Sciences and
school of Languages need to be investigated. Mathematics teachers need to consider the learning styles of the students when
planning their instruction and curriculum contents in secondary school mathematics for the benefit of students .Students differ so much
in their reproductions of lectures, and thereby creating problems to teachers as they find that most of the well prepared lectures
given with the earnest hope that learning will take place fall short of students expectations. These are some of the problems that
mathematics teachers face in their everyday teaching. They must widen their views about these possible pitfalls in teaching and
learning of mathematics [8].
1.2 Research questions
Therefore, the problem of this research can be attributed to the following questions;
I.
II.

How do students from school of Art and social sciences and students from the school of Languages with similar learning styles
perform in General Mathematics (GSE 212) test?
How do students from school of Art and Social Sciences and students from school of Languages with different learning styles
perform in General Mathematics (GSE) test?

1.3 Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significant
Ho1: There is no statistically significant difference in the mean scores between students from the school of Arts and Social Sciences and
students from the School of Languages with the similar learning style.
Ho2: There is no statistically significant difference in the mean scores between students from the school of Arts and Social Sciences and
students from the School of Languages with different learning style.

2.

Research design

A survey design research was used. This design was appropriate because Basic General Mathematics Achievement Test (BGMAT) and
Index Learning Style Questionnaire (ILS) were used for data collection.
2.1 The Population
The population of this study comprised Two thousand, three hundred and six -two (2,362) NCE 2 students of ages between 17-24 years.
2.2 Samples and Sampling Procedure
Students from the School of Art and Social Sciences and School of languages in FCT College of Education, Zuba-Abuja Nigeria formed
the sample of the study. Random sampling method was used to select the sample departments and the subjects in the study. The sample
consisted of 250 students, 130 students from school of Arts and Social Science and 120 students from school of languages.
2.3 Instrumentation
Data collected for this study were obtained from the following sources;
a. Basic General Mathematics Achievement Test (BGMAT) GSE 212
b. Index Learning styles (ILS) questionnaires
Validation and Reliability of Basic General Mathematics Achievement Test (BGMAT) and Index Learning Style (ILS)
Five Mathematics educators validated the Basic general Mathematics Achievement test which has a validity index of 0.86.The BGMAT
instrument for this study consisted of 20 items and each had five options in multiple-choice formal. The Index Learning Style of
Active/Reflective, Sensing/Intuitive, Visual/Verbal and Sequential/Global had a reliability of 0.60, 0.73, 0.56 and 0.57 respectively. The
lLS consist of 23 statements suggesting students preferred learning styles.

3.

Data analysis

Null Hypothesis I
Ho1: There is no statistically significant difference in the mean scores between students from the school of Arts and Social Sciences and
students from the School of Languages with the similar learning style.
To analyze this hypothesis, t-test was used from the mean scores of BGMAT of students from the school of Arts and Social Sciences and
students from school of Languages with similar learning Style. The results of the t- statistic obtained are shown below

Maris Zakka Zinyahs and Noor Azlan Bin Ahmad Zanzali

656

Int ernational Journal of Ec onomy, Mana ge me nt and Soci al Sc iences , 2(8) Au gust 2013

Table 1. Student t-test of the mean scores of BGMAT of two schools students with similar learning styles
S/n

Learning style

Active/Reflective

Sensing/Intuitive

Visual/Verbal

School

No.

Mean

S.D

Art and social sciences

40

25.82

11.32

Languages

36

26.50

11.32

Art and social sciences

37

28.48

10.27

Languages

36

27.30

10.82

Art and social sciences

34

24.07

11.72

Languages

25

27.19

11.07

Art and social sciences

21

24.83

13.84

Languages

21

30.24

13.05

Sequential/Global

t-calculate d

t- critical

Remark

0.52

1.65

Fail to reject

0.36

1.65

Fail to reject

0.12

1.67

Fail to reject

1.74

1.67

Rejected

= 0.05

The t computed for the mean scores of students from the school of Arts and Social Sciences and students from the school of languages
with Active/Reflective Learning styles was 0.52 which is less than the t-critical = 1.65 read from the table. We therefore fail to reject
the hypothesis. The students from Arts and Social Sciences and students from school of languages with Active/Reflective learning style
performed equally well in the GSE 212. Courses combination does not seem to matter to the performance of students with
Active/Reflective learning styles.
Students from both schools with Sensing/Intuitive learning style, the t-calculated was 0.36 which is less than the t-critical value =
1.65 . We fail to reject the null hypothesis. This means that both students in these schools with Sensing/Intuitive learning style performed
equally well in the test. Since t-calculated = 0.12 for students with Visual/Verbal learning style is less than t-critical value which is 1.67,
we fail to reject the hypothesis. There is therefore no statistically significant difference in the performance between Arts and Social science
students and students from school of languages with Visual/Verbal learning styles. It can be concluded that both students from both schools
performed equally well in the test.
The tabulated value t at degree of freedom = 40 is 1.67. Since the calculated value = 1.74 is greater than the tabulated value, it is
concluded that there is a statistically significant difference in performance of Arts and social sciences students and students from school
of languages with Sequential/Global learning styles. The hypothesis is being rejected. This means that students from the school of Arts
and Social sciences performed better than students from the school of languages. it can be concluded that the course combination of
students with Sequential/Global learning style do affect their performance
Null Hypothesis II
Ho2: There is no statistically significant difference in the mean scores between students from school of Arts and social sciences and students
from the school of languages with different learning styles. This hypothesis was tested using two ways Analysis Variance.
Table 2. Two way ANOVA on the BGMAT scores of students with different learning styles per School
Source of variation
Between treatment(LS)
Between blocks (schools)
Sampling Error
Total

Sum of squares
16.12
14.03
24.74
54.89

Degree of freedom
6
2
4
12

Mean square
2.69
7.02
8.25

F ratio
0.38
0.21

Fcritical
19.33
19.25

Remark
Fail to reject
Fail to reject

=0.05

The computed F value is 0.38 and at = 0.05 significance level, with (2,6) degree of freedom F0.05 =19.33. Then, since 0.38 is less than
19.33; we fail to reject the hypothesis that the difference in achievement among students with different learning style is not significant. This
means that the students with different learning styles performed equally well.
The computed F ratio which is 0.21 is less than F critical which is 19.25. Since 0.21 less than 19.25 at 0.05 level of significant with
(2, 4) degree of freedom, we fail to reject the hypothesis that the different learning styles do not seem to affect students performance in
Mathematics. This means that irrespective of the type of learning style a student has, his or her performance will not differ
significantly from that of students with a different learning style.
3.1 Discussion of Findings
The results showed there is statistically significant difference between students from the school of Arts and Social Sciences and students
from the school of Languages with Sequential/Global learning styles. It is interesting to note that students from school of Arts and social
sciences achieved better than students in the school of languages in BGMAT. Those who did poorest in the test were the Visual/Verbal
learners. These results suggested that academic performance may be predicted by ones learning style. According to[9] that
Sequential/Global learners were the most successful achievers in mathematics

Learning Styles of Students at FCT College of Education, Zuba-Abuja Nigeria on Basic General Mathematics GSE 212

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Internat ional Jour nal of Economy, Mana ge ment and Social Sciences , 2(8) Au gust 2013

4.

Conclusion and recommendation

It was found that students from school of Arts and Social sciences with Sequential/Global learning styles achieved better than students from
the school of languages with the similar learning style. This could be as a result of some mathematics concepts that are involved in some
subjects such as Geography and Economics for students from the school of Arts and social sciences. The researchers are of the opinion that
attention should be given to teachers teaching styles as this may influence students achievement in mathematics with different learning
styles.

References
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[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]

[9]

Miller, S. P; Butler, F. M. & Lee, K. (2009). Validated practices for teaching mathematics to students with learning disabilities:A review of the
literature. Focus on Exceptional Children, 31(1), 1-24
Rivera, D. P., Smith, R. G., Goodwin, M, W., & Bryant, B. R. (2008). Mathematical word problem-solving: A synthesis of intervention research
for students with learning disabilities. Advances in Learning and Behaviour Disabilities, 12, 245-285
Honey, P. and Mumford, A. (2010). Using your learning styles, Peter Honey Publications,. Frames of mind. London Penguin Book
Wehrwein, D. M ( 2006). Assessing learning styles to improve the quality of performance of community college students in developmental writing
programs: A pilot study. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 27, 665-677.
Peker, M. (2003b). Kolb renme stili modeli. Milli Eitim Dergisi, 157, 185-192.
Zinyahs,M.Z.(2010). The Relationship between Learning Styles and Mathematics Achievement of Junior Secondary School Students in Federal
CapitalTerritory Abuja. Unpublished M.Ed Dissertation, Nasarawa State University Keffi Nigeria.
Dasari. P. V.(2006). The influence of matching teaching and learning styles on the achievement in science of grade six learners. Thesis at
University of South Africa.
Zinyahs, M.Z.(2011). The Relationship between Gender Learning Styles and Mathematics Achievement of Public and Private Junior Secondary
School Students. Current Issues on Nigeria Education and Vision 20-20-20. Abuja International Journal of Education and Management Sciences
Vol.1 No. 1 Pg 409-419
Peker, M. (2005). Mathematics teaching based on learning styles. The Journal of Turkish Educational Sciences, 1(4), 371-384. (In Turkish)

Maris Zakka Zinyahs and Noor Azlan Bin Ahmad Zanzali

658

Int ernational Journal of Ec onomy, Mana ge me nt and Soci al Sc iences , 2(8) Au gust 2013

Appendix A
INDEX LEARNING STYLES (ILS) QUESTIONNAIRES
Below are some statements meant to help you to know your learning styles. Please tick only one answer for each question. If both a and b seem to apply to
you, choose the one that applies more frequently.
S/NO.
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

STATEMENT
I understand something better after I
a) Try it out
b) Think it through
I would rather be considered
a) Realistic
b) Innovative
When I think about what I did yesterday I am most likely to get
a) A picture
b) Words
I tend to
a) Understand details of a subject but may be clear about its overall structure
b) Understand the overall structure, but may be clear about details
When I am learning something new, it helps me to
a) Talk about it
b) Think about it
If I were a teacher, I would rather teach a course
a) That deals with facts and real life situations
b) That deals with ideas and theories.
I prefer to get new information in
a) Pictures, diagrams, graphs or maps
b) Written directions or verbal information
Once I understand
a) All the parts, I understand the whole thing
b) The whole thing I see how the part fit.
In a study group working on difficult material, I am more likely to
a) Jump in and contribute ideas
b) Sit back and listen
I find it easier
a) To learn facts
b) To learn concepts
In a book with lots of pictures and charts, I am likely to
a) Look over the pictures and charts carefully
b) Focus on the written text.
When I solve mathematics problems
a) I usually work my way to the solutions one step at a time
b) I often just see the solutions but then have to struggle to figure out the steps to get to them.
In classes I have been
a) I have usually gotten to know many of the students
b) I have rarely gotten to know many of the students.
In reading non fiction, I prefer
a) Something that teaches me new facts or tells me how to do something.
b) Something that gives me new ideas to think about.
I like teachers
a) Who put a lot of diagrams on the board
b) Who spend a lot of time explaining
When I am analyzing a story or novel
a) I think of the incidents and try to put them together to figure out the themes.
b) I just know what the themes are when I finish reading and then I have to go back and find the incidents that demonstrate
them.
When I start a homework problem I am more likely to
a) Start working on the solution immediately
b) Try to fully understand the problem first.
I prefer the idea of
a) Certainty
b) Theory
I remember best
a) What I see
b) What I hear
It is more important to me that a teacher
a) Lay out the material in clear sequential steps
b) Give me an overall picture and relate the material to other subject.
I prefer to study
a) In group
b) Alone
I am more likely to be considered
a) Careful about the details of my work
b) Creative about how to do my work.
When I get directions to a new place I prefer
a) A map
b) Written instructions.

Tick a or b
a
b

Learning Styles of Students at FCT College of Education, Zuba-Abuja Nigeria on Basic General Mathematics GSE 212

659

Internat ional Jour nal of Economy, Mana ge ment and Social Sciences , 2(8) Au gust 2013

PROCEDURE OF USING INDEX LEARNING STYLES AND SCORING SHEET

1.
Put Is in the appropriate spaces in the table below
2.
Total the columns and write the totals in the indicated spaces
3.
For each of the four scales, subtract the smaller total from the larger one, write difference 1 to 11 and the letter (a, or b) for which the total was
larger on the bottom line.

ACT/REF
Qab
1
5
9
13
17
21

SEN/INT
Qab
2
6
10
14
18
22

VIS/VRB
Qab
3
7
11
15
19
23---

SEQ/GLO
Qab
4
8
12
16
20

ACT/REF
a b

SEN/INT
a b

VIS/VRB
a b

SEQ/GLO
a b

Total (sum Xs in each column)

(Larger small) + letter of larger. Example if you total 3 for a and 8 for b you enter 5b in the space below.
Finally, transfer your scores to ILS form by placing Xs at the appropriate locations on the four scales

ILS REPORTS FORM.

ACT _________________________________________________________________REF
11a
9a
7a
5a
3a
1a
1b
3b
5b
7b
SEN _________________________________________________________________INT
11a
9a
7a
5a
3a
1a
1b
3b
5b
7b
VIS _________________________________________________________________VRB
11a
9a
7a
5a
3a
1a
1b
3b
5b
7b
SEQ _________________________________________________________________GLO
11a
9a
7a
5a
3a
1a
1b
3b
5b
7b

9b

11b

9b

11b

9b

11b

9b

11b

Source: Adapted from Felder and Soloman (1991)

If a student score on a scale is 1 3, means the student is fairly well balanced on the two dimensions of that scale.

If a student score on a scale is 5 or 7, means the student have a moderate preference for one dimension of the scale and he will learn more easily
in a teaching environment, which favours that dimension.

If a student score on a scale is 9 or 11, means the student have a very strong preference for one dimension of the scale. The student may have real
difficulty learning in an environment, which does not support that preference.
Key:
ACT = Active REF = Reflective SEN = Sensing INT = Intuitive VIS = Visual VRB = Verbal SEQ = Sequential GLO = Global