ABSTRACT
The face of higher education worldwide is becoming increasingly multicultural. This is largely due to the continued growth in the number of internationally mobile students, which has increased by 59% between 2000 and 2007, going from 1.9 to 3.0 million (OECD, 2009), an average annual increase of 7%, and it is not showing signs of slowing down. The result of this ‘indelible influence’ (Nguyen, Terlouw, & Pilot, 2006) is not limited to an increasingly diverse student body but also has wide-reaching implications for teaching and learning. With respect to learning styles, it is no longer sufficient to look at the style dimension in isolation; rather, it is imperative to consider its relationship with the social and cultural contexts in education. In doing so, educators will have a solid basis upon which to embrace this change and look for ways of how best to deal with increasing diversity experienced in the classroom.
