ABSTRACT
Eric Jensen (1996) suggests that aspects of learning styles are influential at different stages of the learning process. The first aspect will be related to the context for learning, the second to the type of input preferred, the third to the processing of information
and the final aspect to the way in which the learner responds to what has been learned. Jensen’s aspects are summarised in the table below:
Contextual factors
• Field dependent v. Field independent
Field dependency maximises the importance of the context in which learning takes place: students learn best in real-life contexts such as field trips and practical experiments. NVQs and other work-based learning programmes are reliant on a high level of field dependent learning. For field independence, the context for learning is unimportant and could be a PC station, library or classroom.
