Learning styles, difficulties and academic achievement of elementary school

Abstract

This is a causal-comparative research which aimed at determining the learning difficulties, styles and academic achievement of elementary pupils. It involved 28 elementary pupils, all were purposively chosen, who had some learning difficulties in Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. The data were gathered using the researcher-made Learning Difficulties Inventory (LDI) and the adapted VAK(Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic) Learning Styles Self-Assessment Questionnaire (VLSSQ). The analyses and interpretation of the gathered data were made by using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS Version 20). Descriptive analyses made use of frequency, percentage, rank, mean, and standard deviation while inferential analyses made use of the Kruskal-Wallis test. Results revealed that elementary pupils find it difficult to correctly pronounce some English words; they tend to reverse letters in a word and reverse number sequences when reading and writing; they could not master the basic operations in Arithmetic; they have a hard time extracting information from tables and graphs; they find it difficult to read math books, solve equations and word problems; they find it difficult to write numbers in numeral word names and to attain clear readable strokes; they stutter when reciting; slow in writing/copying and they have poor penmanship. Majority of the elementary pupils are visual learners, few of them are kinaesthetic, only one is auditory while there are also who have multiple learning styles. They have beginning achievement and they are at the initial stage of learning/coping. There is no significant difference in achievement when pupils are grouped according to learning styles and difficulties. Though the findings show that there is no significant difference, elementary school teachers may still be sensitive with the learning difficulties of their pupils. Likewise, teachers may vary their teaching styles so as to accommodate the varied learning styles of the learners and to be able to enhance their achievement.