Learning styles of high achievers at the Seberang Perai Polytechnic: A study of Malaysian students based on the Felder Silvermen model

Producing a cadre of high achievers in the technical and vocational field would certainly help a fast developing country such as Malaysia widening and deepening its industrial potentials. The Felder-Silverman Learning Style (1988) categorizes learning styles into four dimensions of processing (active/reflective), perception (sensing/intuitive), input (visual/verbal) and understanding (sequential/global). This study examined the learning styles practiced by high achieving Seberang Perai Polytechnic students. Primary data were gathered from the responses of 16 high achieving students to in-depth developed comprising 44 items developed by Felder and Solomon (1996) to measure the learning styles practiced by the students. The results showed that the students’ learning styles were not the determining factor but their ability to use their strengths to improve their weaknesses in each dimension of their learning styles did determine their academic achievement. This study also indicated that students were more likely to adopt a balanced learning style for each dimension (except input) where visual dominated the verbal learning style. The study concluded that students might choose and practice any learning style for each dimension as long as they were aware of their weaknesses in it and strive to overcome them. The ability of students to adapt themselves to this practice of balanced learning styles would enable them to adapt to any lecturer’s teaching approach and thus become high achievers. field interviews. An Index of Learning Style (ILS) was