Interview With Rita Dunn

7/22/2019 Interview With Rita Dunn

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An Interview with Rita Dunn about Learning StylesAuthor(s): Michael F. ShaughnessySource: The Clearing House, Vol. 71, No. 3 (Jan. - Feb., 1998), pp. 141-145Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30189335.

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n nterview w i t i t a unnabou t earningtyles

MICHAEL . SHAUGHNESSY

Editor'sNote:RitaDunn, nauthoritynlearning tyles, s apro-fessor n the Divisionof AdministrativendInstructionaleader-shipand he director f the Center or theStudyof LearningndTeaching tylesatSt. John'sUniversity,amaica, ewYork.Shehaspublishedmore han hreehundredrticles, hapters,mono-graphs, nd esearchapers nlearningtylesandon theresults fbeing aught ccordingo one'spreferredearningtyle.She wasinterviewedymailbyMichael haughnessyor thisarticle.

What are the main components of a person's learningstyle?A person's earningstyle is the way that he orshe concentrateson, processes, internalizes,and remembersnew and difficult academic information or skills. Stylesoften vary with age, achievement level, culture, globalversusanalytic processing preference,andgender.Dunn and Dunn (1992, 1993) describelearning style interms of individual reactions to twenty-threeelements infive basic strands hat includeeachperson'senvironmental,emotional, sociological, physiological, and psychologicalprocessing preferences.Do we learn differentlyor do we process informationdifferently?Humanbeings process informationdifferentlyfrom each other,but informationprocessingis only one oftwenty-threeelements in the Dunn and Dunn LearningStyle Model.How do we know that students achieve more when theirteachers teach to the students' learning styles? A meta-analysis of forty-two experimentalstudies conducted withthe Dunn and Dunn model between 1980 and 1990 bythirteen different institutions of higher education revealedthat studentswhose characteristicswere accommodatedbyeducational nterventions esponsiveto theirlearningstylescould be expected to achieve 75 percent of a standarddeviation higher than students whose styles were notaccommodated Dunnet al. 1995).

Michael F. Shaughnessyis a professor at Eastern NewMexico University,Pontales,New Mexico.

In addition,practitionersthroughout he United Stateshave reported statistically higher test scores and/orgradepoint averagesfor students whose teachers changed fromtraditional teaching to learning-style teaching at alllevels-elementary, secondary, and college. Improvedachievementwas often apparentafter only six weeks oflearning-style nstruction.Afterone year,teachersreportedsignificantly higherstandardized chievementandaptitudetest scores for students who had not scored well previous-ly. Forexample, priorto using learning styles, only 25 per-cent of the Frontier,New York, school district's specialeducation high school students passed the requiredlocalexaminations and state competencytests to receive diplo-mas. In the district's first year of its learningstyles pro-gram(1987-88) that number ncreased to 66 percent.Dur-ing the second year (1988-89) 91 percentof the district'sspecial educationpopulationwere successful; in the thirdyear (1989-1990) the results remainedconstant at 90 per-cent-with a greater ratio of "handicapped" studentspassing state competency exams than regular educationstudents(BrunnerandMajewski 1990).Two NorthCarolina lementaryprincipalspublishedsim-ilarlystartlinggainswiththe samelearning-stylesprogram.One principalbroughta K-6 school, whose studentswerefrom poor, minority-groupamilies, thathad scored in the30th percentileon the CaliforniaAchievementTestsup tothe 83rdpercentile n a three-yearperiod by responding ostudents' earningstyles (Andrews 1990). The otherprinci-pal taughthighly tactual earningdisabled(LD) elementaryschool studentswith hands-onresourcesand allowed themto sit informally n subdued ighting.Based on their learn-ing-style analyses,the childrenstudiedalone, with a class-mate ortwo, or withtheirteacher.Within ourmonths, hoseLD youngstersshowed four months'gainon a standardizedachievement est-better thantheyhadpreviouslydone andas well as normallyachievingchildren Stone 1992).

Finally,a U.S. Department f Education our-year nves-tigation hat ncludedon-sitevisits, interviews,observations,and examinationsof national est dataconcluded hatattend-ing to learningstyles was one of the few strategies hat had

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142 The Clearing House January/February1998

had a positive impacton the achievementof specialeduca-tion students hroughouthe nation(Alberget al. 1992).The gains describedhere were madeby using the Dunnand Dunn model, which has been researchedat St. John'sUniversityand more than 110 othercolleges and universi-ties since 1972.Whyshould we test or children's earning styles?Teacherscannotidentifystudents' earningstyles accuratelywithoutan instrument Beaty 1986). Some characteristicsare notobservable,even to the experiencededucator.In addition,teachers often misinterpret students' behaviors andmisunderstand heir symptoms.For example, it is difficultto determinewhethera youngster's hyperactivity s due toa needformobility, nformalseating,kinestheticresources,or "breaks," r to nonconformityor a lack of discipline.

Only a reliable and valid instrument anprovidereliableand valid information,and only a comprehensive nstru-ment can diagnosethe manylearning-style raits hat influ-ence individuals.Teacherswho use instruments o identifyonly one or two variables on a bipolarcontinuumrestricttheirabilityto prescribefor the manyelements other thanthe one or two they identified.Learningstyle is a multidi-mensional construct;many variables have an impact oneach other and produce unique patterns.Those patternssuggest exactly how each person is likely to concentrate,process, internalize,and retainnew and difficult informa-tion.Thepatternsndicatewhichreadingormathmethod smost likely to be effectivewith each student.

Only threecomprehensivemodels exist, and each has arelated instrumentdesigned to reveal individuals' stylesbased on the traitsexaminedby that model. Duringthepasttwo decades,the most frequentlyused instrument n exper-imental research on learning styles, and the one with thehighest reliability and validity, is the Dunn, Dunn, andPrice Learning Style Inventory(LSI),with its subtestsforstudents n grades3-12 and the ProductivityEnvironmen-tal PreferenceSurveyfor college studentsandadults.Tell us about your testfor identifying earning styles. TheLearning Style Inventory (grades 3-12) was developedthroughcontent and factoranalysisand is one of the threecomprehensiveapproacheso identifyingstudents' earningstyles. Differentgrade-levelforms permit analysis of thespecific conditions under which studentsprefer to learn.This easy-to-administerand interpretnventoryuses morethan one hundreddichotomous tems (e.g., "WhenI reallyhave a lot of studyingto do, I like to work alone" and "Ienjoy being with friends when I study") hat are rated on afive-point Likert scale and can be completed in ap-proximately hirty o fortyminutes.In an analysisof the conceptualizationsf learningstyleand thepsychometric tandards f nine different nstrumentsthat measure earning-stylepreference, he LSI was ratedashaving good or betterreliabilityandvalidity (Curry1987).A series of age-appropriate torybooks s available romthe Center orthe Studyof LearningandTeachingStyles at

St. John's University for primary, elementary, middleschool, and secondary students and adults to clarify theconceptof style and to demonstrate hat there is no bad orbetter style. Most people can learn anything when theyknow how to capitalizeon theirlearning-stylestrengths.Describe whatthe LSI reveals. The LSI assesses individualpreferences in the following areas: (a) immediate en-vironment(sound, light, temperature, nd seating design);(b) emotionality (motivation,persistence, responsibility/conformity,and need for internalor externalstructure); c)sociological (learningalone, in a pair, as part of a smallgroup or team, with peers, or with an authoritativeorcollegial adult; also, in a varietyof ways or in a consistentpattern); d) physiological (auditory,visual, tactual, and/orkinesthetic perceptual preferences;food or liquid intakeneeds; time-of-day energy levels; mobility needs); and (e)indications of global or analytic processing inclinations(throughcorrelationwith sound,light, design, persistence,peer-orientation, ndintakescores).How does the LSI affect learning? The LSI does thefollowing:* Permits students o identifyhow they preferto learnandalso indicates the degree to which their responses areconsistent* Suggests a basis for redesigningthe classroom environ-ment to complementstudents'diversestyles* Describes the arrangements n which each student is

likely to learnmosteffectively (e.g. alone, in a pair,withtwo or moreclassmates,witha teacher,or,dependingonthe task,with studentswith similar interestsor talents; talso describes whetherall or none of those combinationsis acceptable or a particular tudent)* Explains which students should be given options andalternativesand which students need direction andhighstructure* Sequencesthe perceptualstrengths hroughwhich indi-viduals shouldbegin studying-and then reinforce-newand difficult information; t explains how each studentshouldstudyanddo homework HomeworkDisc 1995)* Indicates the methods through which individuals aremost likely to achieve (e.g., contracts, programmedlearning, multisensoryresources,tactualmanipulatives,kinestheticgames,or anycombinationof these)* Provides information concerning which children areconformingand which arenonconformingand explainshow to work with bothtypes* Pinpoints the best time of day for each student to bescheduled for difficult subjects (thus, it shows how togroup studentsfor instructionbased on their learning-style energy-highs)* Identifies hose students or whom movementor snacks,while the studentsarelearning,may accelerate earning

* Suggeststhose students or whom analyticversusglobalapproachesarelikely to be important



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Vol.71, No. 3 Interview with Rita Dunn 143

How canschools order heLSI?Discusspurchasing ndcostpossibilitieswith PriceSystems n Lawrence,Kansas.Whenordering he LSI, stipulate he gradelevel andtotal numberof studentsyou plan to test; the cost decreases when morestudentsaretested. The LSI is availableon IBM andAppleself-scoringdiscs;if you planto test three hundredpersonsormore,the disc maybe considerablyess expensive.How does learning style influence homework?St. John'sUniversity's Center for the Study of Learning andTeaching Styles developed IBM and Apple softwarepackages that translate LSI scores into prescriptionsforhow students should study and do their homework(HomeworkDisc 1995).Is it possible to identifythe styles of children in gradesK-2? For young children in K-2, use the Learning StyleInventory:PrimaryVersion LSI:P)(Perrin1982), which isobtainable from St. John's University's Center for theStudy of Learningand Teaching Styles. The LSI:P is apictorialassessmentof youngchildren's earningstylesandis accompaniedby a researchmanual thatexplainshow toadminister it. Although there are decided advantagestohavingteachersadminister he test on an individualbasis-because of all the information each child reveals-theassessment's questions are written so that an intelligentparentcanelicit the same informationand assist the teacherin compilingthe hand-scorabledata.How do teachersadapt or each child's style? Teachersdonot need to adapt o each child's style. Rather, heyneed todo the following:* Understand the concept, its related practices, and its

implementation trategies* Explain learning styles to their students so that theyoungsters understand hat there is no such thing aseithera "good"or a "bad" tyle* Prepare tudents or takingtheLSI(PriceSystemsinter-prets the students'print-outs,and the Homework Discprovidestheirprescriptions)* Have alternative nstructionalmethods and resources toteach the identical informationdifferentlyto studentswithdiverselearningstylesSt. John's Universityhas many such resources at variedgrade evels andsubjects.Theycan be adaptedorparalleledfor a particular lassroom. In addition,manyof our books

provide directions for developing resources (Dunn andDunn 1992, 1993;Dunn,Dunn,and Perrin1994). We alsoteach students o createtheirown instructional esources.How do learning-styleteachers differfrom conventionalteachers?Unlike traditional eacherswho teach an entireclass in the same way with the same methods (or the"brain-based"practices where every student is taughtnontraditionally),learning-style teachers actually teachdifferentchildrendifferently.Teachersdo two importantthings: Using the resources and methods that best match

each child, theyteach students(1) to recognizeandrely ontheir personal learning-style strengths and (2) to teachthemselvesand each otherby using those strengths.What s a learning-styleschool like,and how does it differfrom conventionalschools? Althoughstudents n the sameclass may be mastering he same informationand skills atthe sametime, in learning-styleschools they work in thosesections of the classroom that best respond to theirenvironmental ndphysiological styles.A varietyof tactualand kinesthetic resources are available for masteringthecurriculum,but children work only with those resourcesthat best complement their own processing, perceptual,emotional,andsociological styles-and studentsoftenwillhave made the materials hey useIt would be rare to see whole classes engaged in eitherteacher-directed nstruction or cooperative learningwhenthe studentsarebeing introduced o new anddifficult mate-rial. Instead,childrenbegin learningalone, with a class-mate or two, in a small, cooperativeor competitivegroup,or with their teacher through their primary perceptualstrengths or the first ten to fifteen minutes.Theythen rein-force the new informationwith a differentresource hroughtheir secondary strengths.Studentsmay vary their choiceof resources but are encouraged o begin learning throughtheirstrengthswhenever the academicmaterial s complexor difficult for them.

In learning-styleclasses, students'strengthsare identi-fied and then transferred o a computersoftwarepackage,the HomeworkDisc (1995). Thatpackage generatesa per-sonalized,printedprescriptionor each child thatdescribeshow to studyandconcentrate hroughhis or her strengths.Gradually, ach child learnshow to teach him-or herself orhow to work with a classmate who learnssimilarly.Chil-dren study, learn, complete in-class assignments,and dotheirhomeworkthroughtheirstrengths-instead of as theteacherhappens o teach.Whathappenswhenteachersteach in a different tyle romthe wayin whichstudents earn? When studentsare unableto learnwithcomplementary esources-such as textbooks,films, orvideotapesforvisualpreferents;manipulativesortactualpreferents; apesor lecturesfor auditorypreferents;or largefloorgamesfor kinestheticpreferents-they do notachieve what they are capable of achieving. Researchreveals thatthe closerthe matchbetweenstudents' earningstyles and their teachers'teaching styles, the higher thegrade pointaverage(Dunnet al. 1995).How do giftedchildren earn? Althoughall gifted studentsdo not have the same style, theirstyles differsignificantlyfrom those of underachievers. When comparing thelearning styles and multiple intelligences of gifted andtalented adolescents in nine different cultures, we foundthat,regardlessof culture,adolescentsgifted in a particulardomain-athletics, dance,leadership, iterature,mathemat-ics, and music-had essentially similar learning styles.



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144 The Clearing House January/February1998

Surprisingly, he gifted in each intelligence domain hadessentially similar styles--but those were different fromthe styles of othergifted groupsand from the styles of thenongifted (Milgram,Dunn,and Price 1993).Are there perceptual differences between the gifted andnongifted students? Although gifted students preferkinesthetic (experiential/active) and tactual (hands-on)instruction,manyalso are able to learnauditoriallyand/orvisually-although not as enjoyably.On the other hand,low-achieving students who prefer kinesthetic and/ortactual learning can only master difficult informationthroughthose modalities. In addition,low achievers oftenhave only one perceptualstrength,or none, in contrasttothe multiperceptual trengthsof the gifted.Are theresociological differencesbetweengiftedand non-gifted students? Gifted adolescents in nine cultures pre-ferredlearningeitherby themselves or with an authorita-tive teacher. If those students are representativeof giftedstudents across nations, cooperative learning and small-group instructionalstrategies should not be imposed onthem;few wish to learnwith classmates. Inaddition,whenpermitted o learnalone,withpeers,or with a teacherbasedon their identified learning-style preferences,even giftedfirst and second graders revealed significantly higherachievement and aptitude test scores through their pre-ferredstyles-and few preferred earningeither via whole-class instructionor with theirnongiftedclassmates.Are therechronobiologicaldifferencesbetweengifted andnongifted students? Although some gifted adolescentslearned well in the morning, many more preferredlatemorning,afternoon,and/orevening as their best times forconcentration.At no educational evel (K-12) didwe find amajorityof early-morning tudents,andthis is particularlytrue for poor achievers. Conventionalschooling appearsto be unresponsiveto the majorityof both gifted adoles-cents and low achievers,whose best time of day rarelyisearlymorning.Are theredifferencesbetweentheprocessing styles of giftedand nongiftedstudents?Of the giftedand talented studentswe tested forprocessingstyle, 19percentwereanalytic,26percent were global, and 56 percent were integratedprocessorswho functionedin eitherstyle-but only wheninterested n the content. Both global andanalyticstudentscan be gifted, buttextbooksand teachers'styles tendto beanalyticrather hanglobal.Do the learning styles of able and at-risk studentsdiffer?Seven learning-styletraits significantly discriminate be-tween at-risk studentsanddropouts,and studentswho per-form well in school. A majority of-but not all-lowachievers anddropoutsneed (a) frequentopportunitiesormobility, (b) reasonablechoices of how, with what, andwith whom to learn,(c) a varietyof instructional esources,environments, and sociological groupings rather than

routines andpatterns, d) opportunitieso learnduring atemorning, afternoon,or evening hours (rarelyin the earlymorning), (e) informal seating-not wooden, steel, orplastic chairs and desks, (f) soft illumination(bright lightcontributesto their hyperactivity),and (g) either tactual/visual introductoryresources reinforced by kinesthetic/visual resources, or kinesthetic/visual introductory re-sourcesreinforcedby tactual/visual esources.Underachievers tend to have poor auditory memory.When they learn visually, it usually is through pictures,drawings, graphs, symbols, comics, and cartoons ratherthan book text. Althoughunderachievers ften want to dowell in school, their inability to rememberfacts throughlecture, discussion,or readingcontributes o their low per-formance in conventionalschools, where most instructionis deliveredby teacherstalking and studentslistening orreading. (Although underachieversearn differentlyfromhigh achieversand the gifted, it should also be pointedoutthatthey can learndifferently rom each other.)What role does motivationplay in the learning-stylecon-struct?Motivation s one of the twenty-threeelements oflearning style. Unlike at least three-quartersof the re-mainingelements,motivation s not biologically imposed.Ratherit develops as a reaction to each learner'sexperi-ences, interest n the content that is being learned,and theease with which it can be mastered.How does culturecontribute o achievement?The Milgram,Dunn,andPrice(1993) studyof thelearning tylesof almost6,000 gifted and nongifted adolescents in nine diverseculturesrevealed that opportunity nfluences individuals'ability to develop specific areas of talents that mayeventually lead to giftedness. For example, if access tocreative activities, information,or role models was notreadilyavailable n a specific culture,few adolescentsde-veloped giftedness in that domain. Thus, in culturesthatrespectedart,higher percentagesof artisticallygifted stu-dents were identified.The same finding held firm acrossothergifteddomains-athletics, dance,mathematics,itera-ture, music, and science-across eight countries (Brazil,Canada,Greece, Guatemala, srael,Korea,the Philippines,and theUnitedStates)andthe cultureof theMaya.Itmaybeimportant o acknowledgethat most communities in theUnited Statesfinanciallysupportathleticsregardlessof thestate of the economy but rarelyhesitate to eliminatepro-gramsin music, art,or drama.Is it any wonder that mostyoungAmericanboys seem to aspireto becomingbaseball,basketball, rfootballplayersrather hanscientistsor artists?How importantwill learning styles be in the year 2000?Given the statistically higher reading and mathematicsstandardized chievementtest scores of previouslyfailingand poorly achieving students in the United States aftertheir learning styles were addressed, learning styles arelikely to become a mandatedprerequisitefor schoolingwithin the next decade. It will only take one class action



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Vol.71, No. 3 Interview with Rita Dunn 145

suit, led by one small group of angry parentadvocates,whose nontraditional hildrenhave been demoralizedbythe imposition of traditional schooling, to cause thatchange. And it will happen,because learning style is notsomething that affects other people's children. In everyfamily, mothers' and fathers'learning styles are dramati-cally different rom each other.Siblingsdo not necessarilyreflect theirparents' styles, and siblings' styles differ sig-nificantly.In most families,one child does extremelywellin traditionalschooling and another considers academicsdull and uninteresting.A third child may be extremelydifferent from the first two; thus, one in three is likely topursue a path totally different from the parents'and thesiblings'. Style affects everyone. Whetheror not we ac-knowledgethatwe eachlearndifferently, ertainresources,approaches,and teachers are right for some-and verywrongfor others.

REFERENCESAlberg,J., L. Cook,T.Fiore,M. Friend,S. Sano, et. al. 1992. Education-al approachesand options or integratingstudents with disabilities:Adecision tool. TrianglePark, N.C.: ResearchTriangle Institute,P O.Box 12194,ResearchTrianglePark,North Carolina27709.Andrews,R. H. 1990. The developmentof a learning styles program n alow socioeconomic, underachievingNorth Carolinaelementaryschool.

Journal of Reading, Writing,and Learning Disabilities International6(3): 307-14.Beaty,S. A. 1986. The effect of inservicetrainingon the ability of teach-ers to observe learning styles of students. Doctoraldiss., OregonStateUniversity.Dissertation AbstractsInternational47:1998A.Brunner,C.E., andW. S. Majewski.1990.Mildly handicappedtudents ansucceed withlearning tyles.EducationalLeadership48(02): 21-23.Curry,L. 1987. Integrating concepts of cognitive or learning styles: Areview with attention to psychometric standards. Ottowa, Ontario:CanadianCollege of Health Services Executives.Dunn,R., andK. Dunn. 1992. Teachingelementary tudents hrough heirindividual earning styles.Boston:Allyn andBacon.- . 1993. Teaching secondary students through their individuallearning styles. Boston:Allyn and Bacon.Dunn, R., S. A. Griggs, J. Olson, B. Gorman, and M. Beasley. 1995. Ameta-analyticvalidation of the Dunn and Dunn learning styles model.Journal of EducationalResearch 88(6): 353-61.Dunn, R., K. Dunn,and J. Perrin. 1994. Teachingyoung children hroughtheir individual earning styles. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.Dunn, R., K. Dunn, and G.E. Price. 1972, 1975, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1989.Learning Style Inventory.Lawrence,Kan.:PriceSystems.HomeworkDisc. 1995. Jamaica,N. Y.:St. John'sUniversity'sCenterforthe Studyof LearningandTeaching Styles.Milgram,R. M., R. Dunn,and G. E. Price,eds. 1993. Teachingand coun-seling giftedand talented adolescents: An international earning styleperspective.Westport,Conn.:Praeger.Perrin,J. 1982.LearningStyle Inventory:PrimaryVersion. amaica,N.Y.:St. John'sUniversity'sCenter for the Studyof LearningandTeachingStyles.Stone, P. 1992. How we turned arounda problem school. ThePrincipal71(2): 34-36.


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Interview With Rita Dunn