Learning Styles amongst Engineering Students in Malaysia, South Africa and Finland

Student learning styles play an important role in the process of teaching and learning. Many
students are unaware of their personal learning styles let alone their study styles. Research has
shown that students learn faster and perform better academically if their study styles fit their
personal learning styles. Thus, the need for students to know what their learning styles are and
to understand how these may influence their learning is emphasized. It is also important for the
faculty to be aware of their students’ learning styles, in order to design and strategize
appropriate, effective, delivery approaches and minimize mismatches of teaching and learning.
The objective of this research is to identify and compare the learning styles of engineering
undergraduates in three different parts of the world; Malaysia, South Africa and Finland. Three
universities are involved in the study: Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (Malaysia), Cape
Peninsula University of Technology (South Africa) and Turku University of Applied Sciences
(Finland). At least one hundred first year engineering undergraduates from each locality are
involved in this study. The instrument used for data collection is the Memletics Styles Quiz
containing seventy items. Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package for Social Sciences are used
for the analysis of results and graphical representation of the findings. Results of the
comparison study indicate a close similarity of learning styles preferences amongst these
engineering students but with significant differences in certain learning styles. It is anticipated
that these findings will be significant for future work in establishing a basis for discovering the
factors contributing to the significant differences (or similarities) in students’ learning styles. In
addition, it is hoped that the findings will be beneficial to students and faculty in enhancing and
improving student learning.