Abstract
A conventional lecture course may be helpful to efficiently disseminate a huge body of content to a large number of students. However, it is possible for students to become passive recipients of knowledge. As a result, the traditional lectures can often produce undergraduates without the skills needed for professional success.
One of the recent reforms in mathematics education was the movement towards a student-centered instructional approach. Within this perspective, differences of students can be considered as resources for effective learning and teaching mathematics and learning and teaching style have been given great attention.
There has been much debate about the relationship between, and effectiveness of learning styles and teaching styles. Regardless of the inconsistent results from two constructs, there are many benefits for being aware of learning and teaching styles. It can lead to the improvement of various areas of learning and teaching; provision for different views of learning and teaching; aid for the learning process or enhancement of lecturer training, development and assessment. Considering the diversity of students’ backgrounds and abilities in South Africa, an awareness of the value of learning and teaching style will be helpful for more balanced instruction.
This study sought to weigh the extent to which such a vision exists in the reality of teaching and learning at university, within the context of the relationships between learning and teaching styles. The learning styles of students and the teaching styles of lecturers in mathematics class were examined at an urban South African university. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach was used to identify the prominent learning and teaching styles; and to provide different views of learning and teaching for a balanced instructional approach. The sequential explanatory mixed-methods design called for an initially round of quantitative data collection, which was followed by a qualitative bout of data collection.
Ph.D.