Introduction: Students exhibit a range of learning styles, explaining differences in how they absorb information in classroom settings. The VARK model identifies different learning styles and is one of the most widely used methods of measuring learning style. Based on the need to identify learning styles and enhance educational effectiveness, and due to contradictory findings in previous studies, researchers aimed to examine the relationship between academic performance and VARK learning styles.
Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate male and female students in the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery. Sampling was performed using a census method. Inclusion criteria were undergraduate students willing to participate, and the exclusion criterion was incomplete questionnaires. The sample included 385 students. Data collection instruments included a demographic questionnaire and the VARK learning styles questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS software. Frequency, Percentage, Mean, Standard deviation, Kruskal–Wallis and Regression were used.
Results: A total of 385 students participated in the study, with a mean age of 20.67 ± 1.83 years and a mean cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 16.17 ± 0.79. The most prevalent learning styles were multimodal (48.3%) and auditory (30.4%), whereas the visual learning style was the least common (2.9%). Learning styles were significantly associated with sex, field of study, family economic status, study time, and study pattern (P < 0.05). However, no significant differences in cumulative GPA were observed across the different learning styles (P > 0.05). Furthermore, after adjusting for age, sex, field of study, interest in the field of study, family economic status, and study time in a multivariable linear regression model, VARK learning style was not independently associated with academic performance (P > 0.05). In contrast, sex and socioeconomic status were independently associated with academic performance. Male sex was associated with lower academic performance compared with female sex (B=-0.253, 95% CI: -0.441 to -0.064, P=0.009). Furthermore, compared with students with poor socioeconomic status, those with moderate socioeconomic status (B=0.380, 95% CI: 0.065 to 0.695, P=0.018) and good socioeconomic status (B=0.429, 95% CI: 0.111 to 0.747, P=0.008) demonstrated higher academic performance.
Conclusions: No significant association was found between VARK learning styles and academic performance. In contrast, several individual and contextual factors, including sex, economic status, and study time, were significantly associated with academic performance. These findings suggest that academic performance is likely influenced by a combination of factors beyond learning preferences.