Learning styles as determinants of self-efficacy in children of primary school age

Abstract

The paper presents the results of research conducted on a sample of 126 students from the seventh to the ninth grade of the Elementary School in Mostar. The theoretical part of the paper discusses learning, learning styles and student self-efficacy. The aim of the work was to examine whether learning styles are a significant predictor for the development of self-efficacy in elementary school-age children, and we also examined gender differences in learning styles and self-efficacy. The results we obtained suggest that learning styles are significant determinants for explaining self-efficacy when it comes to auditory learning style. Thus, the results indicate that auditory style as a dimension of learning style is a significant determinant of self-efficacy (F3/109=3.00 p < 0.05, β =0.247, p< 0.05), while kinesthetic and visual style are not statistically significant predictors. Also, the results indicated that there is a statistically significant difference in self-efficacy with regard to gender. The self-efficacy of male and female students differs statistically significantly, p< 0.05, where girls (M = 26.82) had a statistically significantly higher score than boys (M= 21.06), (t=-2.845, p < 0, 05). The results show us that there are statistically significant differences between male and female students in the perception of the dimension of learning style when it comes to auditory style, where girls had a higher score (M=20.08) compared to boys (M= 18.57). (t=-2, 469, p < 0.05). Kinesthetic and visual style, as dimensions of learning style, did not show statistically significant gender differences.