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The identification of teaching styles of full-time tenured community college faculty in New England and their impact on the successful retention of Black students
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship, if any, between teaching styles of selected community college faculty and retention of African-American students with comparable learning styles. Other questions investigated were: (1) Was there a relationship between the match of students' learning styles to teaching styles and the student's expectation for success? (2) Did African-American students show a preference for a particular context of instruction? The study focused on teaching styles of full-time college faculty who teach core courses and learning styles of African American students enrolled in selected Massachusetts community colleges. Two companion instruments were used to gather data. They were: (1) The Canfield Instructional Styles Inventory (ISI) and (2) The Canfield Learning Styles Inventory (LSI). The ISI measured teaching style preferences; the LSI assisted in determining the student's preferred learning style. Faculty and student participants in this study were asked to complete a questionnaire prepared by the writer. The faculty questionnaire consisted of: (1) Biographical data and (2) questions concerning the faculty's learning and teaching styles. The student questionnaire consisted of: (1) Biographical data, and (2) questions concerning students' perception of classroom environment and students' classroom interaction with their instructors. Assumptions 1, 2, and 5 were not supported by the results the study. This study's findings supported Assumptions 3 and 4. According to the results, there seemed to be no correlation between learning and teaching styles matches and student classroom success. There was also no correlation between student expectation for success and matches of learning and teaching styles. A majority of faculty participants in this study indicated their belief that learning was primarily the student's responsibility. While a majority of the faculties' teaching style preferences clustered around a "mixed" or "pure" conceptual typology, a majority of the students' learning preferences clustered around the "mixed" or "pure" social typology. Student participants indicated minimal "in-class" and "out-of-class" interactions with their instructors. Faculty participants revealed a preference for utilizing reading as a primary method of information dissemination; students revealed a desire to obtain new information through visual, kenetic, and tactile approaches.
Subject Area
Higher education|Community college education
Recommended Citation
Rembert, Gloria, "The identification of teaching styles of full-time tenured community college faculty in New England and their impact on the successful retention of Black students" (1993). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9316710.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9316710