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ERIC Number: ED330535
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1990-Aug-13
Pages: 22
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Learning Styles of Native Americans and Asians.
More, Arthur J.
This paper reviews the literature on learning styles of Native Americans and Asian-Americans. Four different operational definitions of "learning style" or "cognitive style" are presented, related terms are examined, and inconsistencies of usage in the literature are discussed. Noting the great diversity among Native American cultures, aspects of Native American learning style are described: (1) visual-spatial mode of information processing; (2) tendency toward the global end of the global-sequential continuum; (3) high levels of field independence; (4) tendency toward the imaginal end of the verbal-imaginal continuum; and (5) tendency toward reflectiveness on the reflective-compulsive continuum. These five aspects are also examined in the literature on two Asian-American cultural groups--Cantonese Chinese (primarily from Hong Kong) and South Asians (from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh). This paper finds considerable support for the proposition that culture affects learning style. However, the available research has a number of problems: (1) inconsistency in operational definitions; (2) lack of comparability among studies; (3) possibly inappropriate use of bipolar continua to describe learning styles; (4) validity of test instruments across cultures; and (5) dearth of cross-cultural studies on aspects other than field independence/dependence. This paper contains 83 references. (SV)
Publication Type: Information Analyses; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A