Cross-Cultural Comparison of Learning Style Preferences between American and Chinese Undergraduate Engineering Students

Student learning styles are an important factor to consider when designing pedagogy and course curriculum to optimize or maximize student learning outcomes. As online and distance education expands rapidly across national borders to reach a global audience, a cross-cultural, comparative study of learning style preferences among different nations helps provide insights into whether diverse cultural backgrounds and experiences affect student learning styles, and if so, how. The present study focuses on a cross-cultural comparison of learning style preferences between American and Chinese undergraduate engineering students. A total of 132 sophomore (second-year) engineering students from two comparable universities in the United States and China participated in the present study. The 44-item Felder-Silverman Index of Learning Styles questionnaire survey was employed to measure the students' learning style preferences. Students' exam scores in two foundational core engineering courses (statics and dynamics) were also collected. The results of statistical t-tests show that there existed statistically significant differences between American and Chinese students in four learning style dimensions: reflective (p < 0.01), sensing (p < 0.01), visual (p < 0.01), and verbal (p < 0.05). These differences represented a medium-sized effect. On average, American students had a higher preference than Chinese students in all these four learning style dimensions. The results of correlation analysis show that a statistically significant correlation (r = 0.286, p < 0.05) existed between American students' active/reflective learning style preferences and the average statics exam scores. It is suggested that instructors use diversified teaching styles to accommodate the diverse learning style preferences of students, and that students develop a balanced (or well-rounded) learning style preference in each learning style scale (active/reflective, sensing/intuitive, visual/verbal, and sequential/global) to accommodate the teaching styles of instructors, as well as the needs of particular engineering courses.