Relationship Between Students’ Learning Styles and Academic Performance in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Technology University of Nigeria Enugu Campus

Abstract

This study was aimed at determining the relationship between students’ learning styles and academic performance in Faculty of Health Sciences and Technology, University of Nigeria Enugu Campus. The study was carried out in four Departments in the faculty (Nursing Sciences, Medical Radiography, Medical Laboratory Sciences and Medical Rehabilitation). A descriptive design was adopted for the study. Five objectives and seven hypotheses guided the study. Kolb’s learning style inventory was used to collect data on the learning styles of 251 undergraduate students where as a researcher designed proforma was used to collect data from students’ academic records. Academic records of 157 health science students who were admitted in the 2008/2009 academic session and whose results were ready and approved by the University senate as at January 2013 were studied. Data were analyzed with the aid of Computer Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Analysis of variance, chi square and t- test for independent data were the statistics used. A probability level of P < 0.05 was considered significant. Findings indicated that majority of Health Science Students in the Faculty preferred the assimilating learning style. There was no significant difference between the preferred learning style of male and female students (P = 0.738). There was a significant difference in the learning styles of students across different departments (P = 0.034) There was no significant relationship between students final cumulative grade point average and their learning styles (P =0.300). Also there was no significant difference in gender, learning styles and final cumulative grade point average (P > 0.05). It was recommended that educational programs should be designed, planned and implemented based on students’ preferred learning styles. Students should also be made aware of their preferred learning styles as this will help them gain control of it thereby improving their academic performance. The major limitation of the study is that some students failed to write their correct registration numbers and some of them were referred in many courses thus had incomplete results. A conclusion was drawn and suggestions for further studies were highlighted.