A Study of the Relationship of Learning Styles of Undergraduate Medical Students to Academic Achievements

Abstract

Objective: To find out whether learning styles influence the academic achievements of students of medical schools.

Study Design: Cross-sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Medical College, Mirpur, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan, from Jun 2018 to Jun 2019. Methodology: Two hundred medical students participated in the study by completing VARK (visual, aural, read/write, kinaesthetic) questionnaire. The learning styles were assessed based on the questionnaire. The performance grades were obtained from the students' Department of the college.

Results: Most students preferred unimodal learning 104(52%). However, there was a statistically significant gender difference. Most male students preferred unimodal learning (62.7%), whereas female students preferred bimodal (41.4%) learning styles. Aural learning was the most prevalent in the unimodal group 42(21%) in both male and female groups. The academic achievement was labelled as low (<50% marks in annual tests) and high (>50% marks). There were 72.5% (n=145) of highachievers. More male students were high-achievers than female students (80.5% vs. 68.4%). There was no significant relationship between learning style and academic outcome.

Conclusion: There was no difference in the outcome of academic achievement in subgroups of different learning styles. Further analysis revealed no gender differences in the effect of learning style on academic achievement.