learning-styles

8
There is little or no serious research to show the
usefulness of the styles. In Sternberg’s own words
(1999, 155): ‘Theories and research on styles are
at the fringes of the psychological world’. In this area
of psychology, ‘there is a high ratio of theory to data –
in everyday terms, that means “big talk, no show” …
Many schools are buying into systems for assessing
students’ learning styles and for teaching the students
that have no solid research base at all’ (1999, 155).
(This is our central criticism of Sternberg’s own work.)
9
The theories do not seem to be theories of styles at all,
but rather of the variables that affect styles. Sternberg
is right to claim that this criticism applies most clearly
to the theory of Dunn and Dunn, who concentrate
on environmental variables which may affect learning
styles.
10
The styles specified by the theories do not satisfy
some or even most of the 15 principles listed above.
Measurement by the author
Description
Sternberg has administered his inventory
of thinking/learning styles in schools and elsewhere.
In all, four measures have been used and these
are described briefly below.
1
The Thinking Styles Inventory: 13 inventories with
eight statements rated on a 1–7 scale.
2
The Thinking Styles Tasks for Students which, Sternberg
claims, measure styles via performance rather than via
an inventory; for example, ‘When I’m studying literature,
I prefer…’. The student chooses from a legislative,
executive or judicial response or some other response.
(The response, however, does not comprise observed
performance, but self-reports of likely performance.)
3
The Thinking Styles Questionnaire for Teachers which
assesses ‘the styles teachers use when they teach’
(1999, 124) or rather the styles which teachers report
that they use.
4
Students’ Thinking Styles Evaluated by Teachers.
Ver y little information is provided on the second, third
or fourth of these instruments and yet Sternberg claims
that these four measures ‘meet the criteria for being
good tests’ (1999, 125).
Reliability and validity
There are few details given about the reliability
and validity of these inventories. What data is provided
is summarised below. In The MSG Thinking Styles
Inventory by Sternberg and Wagner (1991), which
is unpublished; the learner completes each of the
13 inventories on a 7-point scale from the statement
‘…fits me not at all well’ to ‘fits me extremely well’.
Each style may vary‘ across tasks, situations and your
time of life’ (1999, 30).
With regard to the TSI, Sternberg (1999, 125) claims
that the 13 scales had ‘internal-consistency reliabilities
ranging from .57 to .88 with a median of .82’. Factor
analysis was employed and identified five factors,
three of which were predicted and consistent with the
theory; one was not predicted, but was consistent;
while the last was neither predicted nor consistent.
Sternberg concludes: ‘Thus the statistical analysis
generally supported the theory, although the second
factor remains unexplained’ (1999, 126).
Sternberg also claims that his scales correlate
with scores on other tests, thus demonstrating good
external validity. With the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator,
for example, 30 out of 128 correlations were
statistically significant; and 22 correlations out
of 52 were significant with the Gregorc Style Delineator
(see Zhang and Sternberg 2001 for further details).
In general, the position of Sternberg and his associates
is that ‘The TSI has been shown to be reliable and
valid for US samples’ (Zhang and Sternberg 2001, 204).
External evaluation
Reliability and validity
Porter (2003) tested the reliability and validity
of the TSI in a study of 150 first-year psychology
undergraduates at Westminster University. According
to Porter, the theory of mental self-government (MSG)
and the TSI instrument ‘have been presented in
the literature as potentially powerful tools for use
in higher education’ (2002, 296) and so need to be
independently evaluated. Porter describes other
studies (eg Zhang and Sternberg 2001), which
concluded that thinking styles contribute to academic
achievement and that this contribution is differentially
related to culture and gender. Porter’s study, however,
offers ‘only limited support for the theory of MSG
and the reliability and validity of the TSI’ (2002, 301);
he argues, therefore, that both will have to be improved
before the TSI can be used in educational practice.
Porter’s students found the MSG theory both
plausible and interesting, but they considered the
13 inventories to be both too long and boring. Porter
also questioned whether first-year students understand
their own learning well enough to complete the
inventories satisfactorily.