The role of learning styles in the classroom remains a heavily debated topic within education. Notable problems with using learning styles to inform classroom instruction include a lack of empirical support and potential negative effects on student learning and motivation. This content analysis focused on the presence and quantity of learning styles discussion in 20 texts commonly used in educator preparation programs (i.e., introduction to education and educational psychology texts); definitions, models, stances on usage, and recommendations for usage provided; and whether references cited in the texts were empirical studies. Eighty percent of the reviewed textbooks included a discussion of learning styles. Half of the textbooks defined learning style as a preference or approach, whereas the other half defined it as an individual style. Introduction to education texts tended toward a more positive stance on learning style usage whereas introduction to educational psychology texts exhibited a more neutral stance. A quarter of the textbooks recommended matching instructional methods to learning styles. Texts with higher numbers of both empirical and non-empirical references were more likely to describe learning styles in terms of how students prefer to gather information rather than as innate differences in information processing. Given that most textbooks did not recommend matching instructional methods to learning styles, future research should examine the source of the continued prevalence of teachers’ beliefs that student learning improves with the matching of learning styles to teaching approach.

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教育心理学和教育教科书导论中学习风格的流行：内容分析

学习风格在课堂中的作用仍然是教育领域争论不休的话题。使用学习风格为课堂教学提供信息的显着问题包括缺乏经验支持以及对学生学习和动机的潜在负面影响。该内容分析侧重于教育准备计划中常用的 20 篇课本（即教育导论和教育心理学课本）中学习风格讨论的存在和数量；提供的定义、模型、使用立场和使用建议；以及文中引用的参考文献是否为实证研究。80% 的复习课本包括对学习风格的讨论。一半的教科书将学习风格定义为偏好或方法，而另一半则将其定义为个人风格。教育导论对学习风格的使用倾向于更积极的立场，而教育心理学导论则表现出更中立的立场。四分之一的教科书建议将教学方法与学习风格相匹配。具有更多经验和非经验参考文献的文本更有可能根据学生更喜欢收集信息的方式而不是信息处理的先天差异来描述学习风格。鉴于大多数教科书不建议将教学方法与学习风格相匹配，未来的研究应该检查教师认为学生学习随着学习风格与教学方法的匹配而改善的持续盛行的根源。