LEARNING STYLES AS PREDICTORS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS IN OWERRI EDUCATION ZONE OF IMO STATE

Abstract

This study investigated the extent to which learning styles predict secondary school students’ academic achievement in mathematics. A predictive correlational research design was adopted. The population comprised 17,637 Senior Secondary School II students in government secondary schools within the Owerri Education Zone, from which a sample of 882 students was selected using a multi-stage sampling procedure. Data were collected using the VARK Learning Style Inventory and a Mathematics Achievement Proforma. Validity of the instruments was ensured through expert judgment, while reliability coefficients ranged from 0.72 to 0.79. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, multiple regression, and analysis of variance at the 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed a positive and statistically significant relationship between learning styles and students’ achievement in mathematics, with learning styles accounting for 9.9% of the variance in achievement. Among the individual dimensions, auditory, visual, and read/write learning styles significantly predicted mathematics achievement, while the kinesthetic learning style did not. Auditory learning emerged as the strongest predictor. The study concludes that learning styles are significant, though modest, predictors of secondary school students’ mathematics achievement in the study area. It is therefore recommended that mathematics instruction should emphasize auditory, visual, and read/write approaches to enhance students’ achievement outcomes.