The relationship between individual learning preferences and academic achievement: A VARK model perspective among physical education and sports teaching students

Understanding the relationship between learning styles and academic achievement among students in Physical Education and Sports Teaching programs is crucial for designing more effective and student-centered instructional approaches. Accordingly, the primary aim of this study was to examine pre-service teachers’ individual learning styles and their relationship with academic performance. The study sample consisted of 548 undergraduate students from different year levels. Data were collected using a Personal Information Form and the VARK Learning Style Inventory (Version 7.0). The collected data were coded and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 27.0). Descriptive statistics were used to determine participants’ demographic characteristics, dominant learning modalities, and learning model types. To examine the relationship between dominant learning styles and academic achievement, chi-square and Linear-by-Linear Association tests were employed. The findings revealed that students predominantly preferred kinesthetic and read/write-oriented learning styles, and a considerable proportion exhibited multimodal learning preferences. Although no direct significant relationship was found between dominant learning styles and academic achievement, the influence of learning models on performance was observed particularly among students with moderate academic achievement levels. In conclusion, while learning styles do not solely determine academic success among pre-service teachers in sports sciences, they appear to be an influential factor in shaping the quality and flexibility of the learning process. Therefore, it is recommended that teaching practices incorporate applied and multidimensional approaches that take students’ individual learning preferences into account.