LIBERMAN, LINDA GRETA.

This study was designed to determine whether students' grades and retention in a community college are affected by the degree of congruence between their learning styles and their respective teachers' teaching styles. Using two instruments to identify learning style and degree of self-directed learning, 452 students and twenty-two instructors were tested. A multiple regression analysis, F-tests, T-tests, and cross-tabulation tables were the statistical procedures used to determine the predictive values of the congruence between learning and teaching styles and self-directed learning on retention and grades. The study's findings suggested that an instructor's age and teaching style and a student's degree of self-directed learning have a stronger relationship to academic achievement and retention in class than does congruence between learning and teaching styles, which is also statistically significant. Learning and academic achievement are very complex interactions and are influenced by a variety of factors. Understanding of congruence of learning and teaching styles is a crucial concept in terms of an overall view of student achievement in the academic environment. However, it cannot be used as an isolated factor in predicting a student's academic potential. Rather, it is one of many inter-dependent aspects of learning which includes teaching style, learning style, degree of self-directed learning, instructor age and sex, and type of class taken as well as level of cognitive development. These are the variables that students, instructors, and school adminstrators must understand and take into consideration in building and developing curriculum that encourages students to reach their academic potential. Further research into student learning style flexibility to determine if students adjust learning strategies to teaching styles at odds with their learning style is warranted. Another follow-up study would be to replicate this study with graduates to ascertain which styles are found among graduates and to determine the percentage of style changes between freshmen and graduates.