Coming up with this question was not a difficult task for me because culture has always been my curious topic. I was genuinely interested in finding the answer to this question and was excited to start my project.

When I initially began my research, I immediately faced some difficulties. First, I struggle to find articles regarding the effects of culture on learning styles. There were ample research papers on individuals’ learning styles, but not much that linked these two factors together. After spending some time researching, I was able to collect several articles. Second, the sample populations of these studies were all university students or corporate workers, which didn’t reflect the age group I would be working with.

Why can’t I find the articles I want?

I reflected on why this might be the case and concluded that this was because young children are still unaware of their learning styles. For research to be conducted, variables must be quantifiable, which means individuals must be aware of their learning styles. Young children are still in their developmental stages of their own unique learning styles. As a primary teacher, it is important to guide them so that they can become aware of their learning styles. It is in our interest to do so because being aware of their learning tendencies can benefit us by increasing the possibility of providing optimal learning opportunities.

Despite these studies not focusing on young children, all of them did confirm the relationship between culture and learning styles. There were significant differences across cultures in their dominant preferences of learning.

So we have no extensive research but I know there is a relationship between two variables. Now what? 

After researching and reflecting, I decided to look into what we can do as primary teachers to help students from different cultural background. When students enter the school system, they bring with them their culture. Teachers must be aware of this and that learning styles do get affected by varying cultural factors. Then I came across “culturally responsive teaching.”