The measurement of adult learning styles : perceptual modality

While Gilley's research was conducted with third grade students, subjects in this study were adult volunteers. They varied in age, education, and geographic background. Represented were 31 different states, an age range of 19 through 68 years, and a formal education range of eighth grade to advanced degrees. The population included 76 males and 20 females. Volunteers were used because adult learners are

¹ Russell L. French, Teaching Style and Instructional Strategy. Unpublished paper. Department of Curriculum and Instruction, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1975.

² Daryl V. Gilley, Personal Learning Styles Exploring the Individual's Sensory Input Processes. Ed.D. Dissertation, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, August, 1975.

generally self-directed and self-motivated towards learning and because the focus of investigation was the measurement of learning style within individuals rather than adults in general.

The revised MMPALT was used to identify the dominance pattern of the seven perceptual styles in each subject. The PMPS was used to measure the pattern of each subject's personal preferences among styles. In both assessments, patterns for the entire subject population were determined by simple summations of individual subject data. Patterns within various recognizable sub-groups were also established using the summative approach. Because of the nature of the subject population, the group and sub-group derived conclusions are not generalizable to other adult learner populations. The study did, hov;- ever. produce the following findings:

1. The seven perceptual styles conceptualized by French did exist as perceptual learning styles in this adult population.

2. There were measurable variations in perceptual learning styles of individual adult learners in this study.

3. Overall, the most dominant perceptual style found empirically in these adults was the visual; the second most dominant style was the haptic.

4. Patterns found in these adult subjects were com parable to those found by Gilley in third grade children; however, variations apparently influenced by differences in age, experience, maturity, and education did appear. Vll

5. Correlations between subject self-reports (preference data) and empirical test data were low to slight.

6. Correlations between self-report data and empirical test data increased with subjects' years of formal education and knowledge of learning style concepts.