Abstract

Studies on the learning styles of pre-clinical medical students are very limited in medical colleges in Saudi Arabia. Student understanding and success in the examination could be related to learning techniques. Significant studies which are published define learning style as the “composite of distinct cognitive, affective, and physiological characters that serve as relatively stable indicators of how a learner perceives, interacts with, and responds to the learning environment.” To review published articles on the association between learning styles and academic achievement among medical students locally and internationally, we carried out a systematic literature search in the PubMed database, identified learning styles association with academic achievement studies published since the year 2004. Selected papers included any articles which touched our topic locally and internationally. Although many reviews were found talking about the correlation between learning style and academic performance, most of them showed a negative correlation mentioning, “No associations were found between learning styles and academic performance.” Being aware of student’s different learning modes will help medical instructors in the medical college to develop appropriate learning approaches and to explore opportunities so that they will be able to make the educational experience more productive.

Key words: Learning styles, academic achievement, medical students