Learn between learning styles and teaching practices: Case of qualifying students

Abstract

In a classroom, individual differences manifest themselves in learners at two levels: a rather quantitative level, that of learning performance, and a rather qualitative level, that of the form that learners give to their learning. The notion of learning styles is therefore based on the idea that different learners have different ways of learning. That is, what can explain their success or failure is not only a question of level of efficiency, but also the different ways in which they perceive, store, process and render information, the way which they build their knowledge base. The discipline underlying thinking about learning styles is differential psychology. We will refer to it often. First, we will briefly review the work that was carried out with a view to dealing with learning difficulties by taking into account differences in efficiency. We will then present two scientific concepts that shed light on the notion of learning styles: cognitive styles and vicarious processes. Then we will present statistics specific to the work of trainee teachers at TAZA CRMEF on the dominance of learning styles in the qualifying cycle. We will end by justifying with a few examples the pedagogical adaptations recommended to take into account the styles of learners in pedagogical practice.