A Study on Learning Styles of Individuals Receiving Vocational Music Education

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the learning styles of the students who take vocational music education and to determine whether the learning styles differ according to gender, age, high school, university, faculty, and class level and instrument variables. This research is a descriptive study conducted in a survey model. In this context, the conceptual infrastructure has been formed by searching the literature, studies on learning styles have been examined and Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory III has been used as a data collection tool. The study group consists of 423 students who study in faculties and conservatories which give vocational music education of 9 universities in Turkey. The results show that the students receiving vocational music education are mostly in the “Diverger” category, while the distribution of students in the “Assimilator”, “Accommodator”, and “Converger” categories is less. In this study, it has been found that the learning styles of the students receiving vocational music education have not differred according to gender, age, university, faculty, and class level and instrument variables. A significant difference has been found in the high school variable. Basing on Kolb’s learning approach, it can be said that providing education in accordance with the students’ preferred instructional approaches (using question-answer, using metaphor, discussion, expression, team work, project preparation, using visual materials, conducting individual research, collecting information from mass media, organizing seminars, utilization from experts etc.) in Diverger and Assimilator categories will have a positive effect on the complete and meaningful learning of the students.