LEARNING STYLES AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS IN A DISTANCE EDUCATION COURSE

Learning style is an important variable in students' academic performance. In a study done by Graham, Garton, and Gowdy (2001), learning style was reported to be important on how students learn and teachers teach, student-teacher interaction and students' academic achievement. This study aims to determine the correlation of learning styles and academic performance of students in a distance education course at the University of the Philippines Open University. Seventy-five students answered the Memletics Learning Style Inventory. Their total scores in academic requirements such as participation in discussion forums, submission of assignments and sitting in long exams were taken as indicators of academic performance. Results show that both males and females rated high on solitary learning styles. Females always rated higher than males in all learning styles (visual, social, physical, aural, verbal) except on solitary and logical learning styles where they are equal. Positive correlation was found between visual (0.09) social (0.04), aural (0.20), verbal (0.02), solitary (0.18) and logical (0.08), except that of physical learning style, which was negatively correlated (-0.04) with academic performance. Diverse learning styles of students require different teaching strategies to improve academic performance of students.