Bridging the Students’ Differences in the EFL Classroom

Cubing Activity in Accommodating the Students with VAK

Learning Styles

Andyani Larasati

and Widyastuti Purbani

Graduate School, Yogyakarta State University

Keywords: Learning Styles, Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, Cubing

Abstract: The students have their own learning style. They can be distinguished into the types of learners, namely visual,

auditory, and kinesthetic (VAK). However, the students’ learning styles differences are seldom acknowledged

in the classroom. This results in their low learning performance. Thus, it is very important to adjust and differ

the teaching and learning process based on the students’ learning style. In line with this, this paper purposes

at providing the ideas of using cubing activity in accommodating the learning styles differences among the

students in the English language classroom. This paper is a library-based research study which collects several

theories on differentiated instruction, VAK learning styles, and the classroom activity which can be used to

accommodate the students with learning styles differences. As a result of reviewing the theories, this paper

ends by presenting a sample of lesson plan to bridge the individual differences among students based on their

learning styles by using cubing activity as it has several features which will be beneficial in bridging the

students’ individual differences. The lesson plan is developed to teach English in the context of Indonesian

education and is suitable for the skill of writing.

1 INTRODUCTION

The English language teaching and learning process

nowadays has more concerns on the students’

individual differences. The English language

classroom might consist of the students with

individual differences. It is believed that the students

are unique and have distinguished characteristics

from each other. Tomlinson (2001) states that the

students can be different in terms of their readiness,

learning interests, and learning profiles or learning

styles.

Today, the students’ variations in their learning

readiness, interests, and styles are highly valued and

acknowledged.

This

phenomenon

has led the teaching

and learning of English to distinguish instruction

which attempts to engage the students from different

backgrounds to be able to learn according to their

interests. The main goal of differentiated instruction

is to make sure that the teacher is able to address

effective learning for varied individuals, give the

students to learn at their full potential, and develop

instructional activities based on the students’

diversity as well as display multiple ways to learning

(Gregory and Chapman, 2012; Heacox, 2012;

Tomlinson and McTighe, 2006). Achievements in

educational field depend much on the ability to adapt

lesson based on each individual’s aspects (Othman

and Amiruddin, 2010).

One of the most highlighted issues in the

differentiated instruction is how to facilitate the

students with different learning styles into a well-

established learning process. Learning styles are the

situations in which the students are able to perceive,

process, store, and learn what they learn efficiently

and effectively (Wehrwein et al., 2007). A teacher

should be creating an environment to fulfill the

demand of students’ various learning styles, as well

as knowing the importance of teaching by using

various learning styles (Drago and Wagner, 2004).

Thus, it is very important to adjust the teaching and

learning of English according to the students’

Larasati, A. and Purbani, W.

Bridging the Students’ Differences in the EFL Classroom Cubing Activity in Accommodating the Students with VAK Learning Styles.

DOI: 10.5220/0008219700002284

In Proceedings of the 1st Bandung English Language Teaching International Conference (BELTIC 2018) - Developing ELT in the 21st Century, pages 439-444

ISBN: 978-989-758-416-9

439

learning styles to enable them to learn at their full

potential.

One way to administer a meaningful instructional

activity which fits the students’ learning styles is by

providing an appropriate activity which is able to

cover the students’ needs and preferences in the

classroom. Throughout this paper, the authors will

explain the use of cubing activity as one of the

activities to bridge the learners with different learning

styles. Therefore, in this paper, the authors will

provide several examples of cubing activities which

can be used as ideas for teachers to help the learners

able to learn based on their preferred learning styles.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Learning styles are often defined as the preferences

of the students to learn and study. It is supported by

Surjono (2011) who defines learning styles as the way

the students prefer to learn. Similarly, Honey and

Mumford (1992) state that learning style is the

attitudes and behaviors that affect the students’

preferred ways of learning and studying.

Other than that, learning style is also often defined

as the differences among the students’ learning

methods. McLoughlin (1999) explains that learning

style is the adoption of typical and different learning

modes that each student possesses. Furthermore,

Othman and Amiruddin (2010) believes that learning

style refers to the style or learning method that an

individual has and is used in the process of learning.

In addition, learning style is often acknowledged as

different styles of learning methods which exist

between the students (Drago and Wagner, 2004).

It is very prominent to adjust the teaching and

learning process into the students’ learning styles as

it is believed that the students will be able to learn

better and effectively if they are taught based on their

learning styles. Subban (2006) also mentions that it is

important to adapt the teaching and learning into the

students’ learning styles because the students’

performances are said to be significantly better when

they are given instruction through learning style

approaches rather than traditional teaching methods

(Subban, 2006). It is supported by a research study

conducted by Alavinia and Farhady (2012) which

showed that teaching vocabulary on the students by

differentiating instruction and focusing on learning

styles and multiple intelligences had positive effect

on the process of teaching and the students performed

better rather than those who were not taught by

focusing on learning styles.

2.1 VAK Learning Style

According to Wahrwein, Lujan, and DiCarlo (2007),

there are three types of learning styles on the students

which are based on the preferred way of receiving

information. These learning styles are regarded as

visual (V), auditory (A) kinesthetic which are later

commonly known as VAK learning styles. Similarly,

Sarasin (1999) claims that most learners can be

classified as visual, auditory or kinesthetic learners

according to how they receive and process

information. In line with this, VAK learning style

theory is now a preferred accelerated learning

community because its principles and benefits can

cover all types of learning (Gholami and Bagheri,

2013; Wehrwein et al., 2007). Hence, in this paper,

the activities proposed by the authors are focused on

accommodating the students with visual, auditory,

and kinesthetic learning styles.

2.1.1 Visual Learning Style

The students with visual learning style prefer to

obtain information associated with images and visual

displays. Visual learners learn best of what they see

and observe, such as pictures, charts, graphs,

diagrams, tables, maps, timelines, movies, and

demonstration (Felder and Silverman, 1988;

Vaishnav and Chirayu, 2013; Wehrwein et al., 2007).

According to Oxford (1995), visual learners learn

best through visual channels which implies that they

like to read a lot and thus needs concentration and

time spent alone. In order to function well in the

classrooms, visual learners need to have written

directions. Surjono (2011) adds that activities which

include seeing and reading are very important and

helpful for visual learners.the title.

2.1.2 Auditory Learning Style

Oxford (1995) claims that auditory learners enjoy the

oral-aural learning channel and work well with oral

directions. It means that the students with auditory

learning style are best perceiving their learning

through listening. It is in line with Surjono’s (2011)

statement that auditory learners prefer to absorb

information by listening. In recalling information,

these learners will remember the information the way

they heard it. They learn better based on what they

hear, what they say, and they prefer to have a lot of

discussions as well as verbal explanations (Felder and

Silverman, 1988). According to Wehrwein, Lujan,

and DiCarlo (2007), learners with auditory learning

BELTIC 2018 - 1st Bandung English Language Teaching International Conference

440

styles enjoy discussing materials and talking through

material with themselves or others. In addition,

Oxford (1995) also explains that these learners like to

engage in the activities like conversations and group

work.

2.1.3 Kinesthetic Learning Style

The kinesthetic students learn by practicing and doing

something. This type of learners like to learn through

physical experiences and involvement with the

learning environment, such as touching, feeling,

holding, doing, and practical hands-on experiences

(Kanninen, 2009). Therefore, these learners prefer lab

activities or field trips over classroom lectures

(Surjono, 2011). This is in line with the statement of

Kinsella (1995) that kinesthetic learners are those

who imply total physical involvement with a learning

environment such as taking a field trip, dramatizing,

pantomiming, or interviewing. Wehrwein, Lujan, and

DiCarlo, (2007) also state that kinesthetic learners

best by using physical activities like touching,

performing an activity, moving, lessons that

emphasize doing, and manipulation of objects.

2.2 Cubing Activity in Bridging

Different Learning Styles

One of the activities that can be used to accommodate

the learners’ differences in learning styles is cubing.

According to Tomlinson (2001), cubing is a teaching

and learning activity which requires a six-sided cube

in which each side contains different activities to be

done by the students and it allows the students to

consider the concept of various ways and

perspectives. It is very simple to make this kind of

instructional media and it can be used in any situation

or place because it does not require sophisticated

tools. Teachers could make different kinds of cubes

adjusted to the students’ different learning styles.

They might create more than one cube in the

classroom.

In addition, Tomlinson (2001) further explains

that the application of cubing is very useful in

accommodating the students’ individual differences

into a meaningful classroom activity through

differentiated instruction. Individual differences here

can be interpreted as different learning styles as well

since learning styles are one of the major issues in the

students’ individual differences. Cubing can

accommodate the students’ differences in learning

styles as it has some features which are able to

connect the students’ different learning styles through

differentiated instruction as the use of cubing as

media in differentiated instruction could cover the

needs of the students with different learning styles.

First of all, cubing can be used in many different

ways and it is helpful to be implemented by the

teacher due to its practicality and its ability to reach

the students with different learning styles for it can be

differentiated based on the students’ learning styles,

interests, and preferences. Cubing is beneficial to

differentiate learning according to the students’

different learning profiles, for instance, visual,

auditory, and kinesthetic (Cockroft, 2010a). The cube

could be modified that the teacher could differentiate

the tasks and activities to meet the students’ styles of

learning without reducing neither the essence nor the

objective of the lesson. For instance, the classroom

consists of the students with visual, auditory, and

kinesthetic learning styles. The teacher could make

three types of cubes to cover each learning style.

Therefore, the students with visual learning style will

get tasks or activities provided in the cube which

support their preference of learning. In this way,

cubing activity can encourage differentiation and

stretch the students’ thinking, extends the students’

ideas, and help the students to make the learning

process successful.

Second, cubing provides the students with a

meaningful and interesting activity. It is fun,

attractive and stimulating for learners because it can

teach and challenge both problem-solving activity

and thinking (Chapman et al., 2003). Cubing allows

the students to learn while putting the students into a

situation in which they would feel like playing a

game. This helps students to relax and to feel less

pressured towards the teaching and learning activity.

The students are also given activities which enable

them to study based on their preference. This will

enhance their learning motivation since they will not

feel burdened and anxious during the instructional

activity. The students will be able to learn at their

optimal level because the activities in which they are

required to do are varied according to their learning

styles and the learning

environment

is very supportive

for them to learn which later leads them to deepen

their understanding about a certain concept, skill, or

learning objective easily. Other than that, the

students are also given challenging and interesting

activities which will improve their problem-solving

skill and lead them into higher order thinking skill. To

teach the students with different learning styles, it

would be a good idea to give the students an option of

cooperating on tasks or assignments as learners they

learn well when they interact with others (Felder and

Silverman, 1988). This assumption works extremely

well with cubing as the students are also given

Bridging the Students’ Differences in the EFL Classroom Cubing Activity in Accommodating the Students with VAK Learning Styles

441

chances to work their own or in groups to solve the

given activity.

Third, cubing is good media to reinforce the

students into the teaching and learning process. The

use of cubing can strengthen the students’ strengths

and the students’ weaknesses (Chapman et al., 2003).

When a student finds it difficult to understand a

concept or a skill, the use of cubing could be

embodied to make it easier for the students to learn.

Cubing itself can be used as an activity to foster

the students thinking about a certain topic to be

discussed in the English as a foreign language

classroom (Zygouris-Coe, 2014). As an example, in

the essay writing class, the students might find out

that it is hard to produce a descriptive essay in writing

skill. The teacher might use different cubes for

different learning styles to foster the students into

writing. For visual learners, the teacher could employ

a task or activity which asks the students to draw

something and give description of the picture that

they make in the cube. For auditory learners, the

students might be asked to watch and listen to a video

and make a description about the character that they

watch after that. Meanwhile, for the students with

kinesthetic learners, they could be assigned with the

task of going around the school and find an interesting

object to be described. Thus, the use of cubing could

facilitate and help the students with some activities

that enhance the instructional process in the

classroom.

2.3 Putting Cubing Activities into

Practices

In this part of paper, the authors intend to propose a

lesson plan to apply cubing activity in the classroom

to accommodate the students with different VAK

learning styles. The cubing activity in the lesson plan

is designed based on the theories of the students’

visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic learning styles.

Therefore, the activities are developed by considering

the students’ characteristics according to the theories

of VAK learning styles.

There are several considerations that the English

language teachers need to take into account in

implementing the lesson plan. First, the lesson plan

proposed in this paper is a sample activity which can

be used in teaching English as a foreign language in

the context of Indonesian education. Second, this

lesson plan is designed for grade X students of senior

high school and it applies for teaching writing skill,

particularly writing a descriptive text. Third, in

implementing the cubing activity in this lesson plan,

the teachers need to create several cubes consisting of

several tasks which are appropriate to accommodate

the students’ VAK learning styles. The tasks given in

the cubes can be adapted and adjusted according to

the topics of the lesson, the skills taught, and the

learning objectives. Lastly, the teachers are also

required to understand and recognize the students’

learning styles. To find out the students’ learning

styles, the teachers can administer the test of the

students’ learning styles. Other than that, the teachers

can also observe the way the students in the

classroom.

Furthermore, in the lesson plan, there are two

options of activities offered in implementing cubing

activities proposed by the authors. These options are

on the basis of grouping the students.

In the first option, the students are grouped

homogeneously according to their learning styles. It

includes grouping the students according to their

learning styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.

Therefore, the visual learners will be in the same

group with the other visual learners. It goes the same

for the auditory learners as well as kinesthetic

learners.

Meanwhile, the second option of the activity

offers another way of grouping the students. In the

second procedure, the students are divided into

heterogenous groups in which each group has visual,

auditory, and kinesthetic students.

2.3.1 Activity 1: Grouping the Students with

Similar Learning Styles in Cubing

Activity

In this activity, the students in the classroom are

grouped homogenously according to their learning

styles. The teacher will need to identify the students’

learning styles and the learning objective before

cubing the lesson. After identifying the learning

styles, the teacher groups the students based on their

preferences

of learning. Therefore, one group consists

of the students with the same learning preferences, for

example the group with visual learners only, the

group with auditory learners, and the group with

kinaesthetic learners. The teacher then gives the

tasks wrapped in the cubing activity. Other than

that, the teacher is also required to make sure that

the tasks given to the students met the learning

objectives.

In this activity, the teacher will need at least three

different cubes. One cube is designed for visual style,

the other one is for auditory style, and the last one is

for kinaesthetic students. Each cube has six different

tasks which must be fulfilled by each group. The tasks

BELTIC 2018 - 1st Bandung English Language Teaching International Conference

442

are developed according to the students’ learning

preference and the characteristics of learning styles.

In addition, the procedure for implementing this

activity is as follows:

1. The teacher explains to the students

about the learning objective of the lesson

and the materials (for instance, descriptive

text)

2. The teacher groups the students into a

group of 4-6 based on their learning styles:

visual, auditory, kinesthetic.

3. The teacher gives each group a cube

adjusted to their learning style. The cube

will be different for each learning style

4. By taking turns, the students start to roll the

cube.

5. The students start doing the task written on

the cube.

6. The students submit their work to the

teacher.

7. The teacher ends the classroom by

summarizing the lesson.

2.3.2 Activity 2: Grouping the Students with

Different Learning Styles in Cubing

Activity

In this activity, the students are grouped into some

heterogeneous group. Each group is given some tasks

to be fulfilled in the form of cube. The tasks are

adjusted to the students’ learning styles. The tasks are

developed based on the visual style, auditory style,

and kinaesthetic style. The students might select the

tasks according to their preferences and learning

styles but they need to do the task collaboratively with

the group members.

In this option of activity, the teachers only need to

prepare at least one cube which consists of different

instruction representing and adjusting each VAK

learning style.

Furthermore, below is the procedure to conduct

the activity:

1. The topic of the task is dream school.

Therefore, at the end of the activity, the

students are asked to write a descriptive

text about their dream school.

2. Divide the students into a group of 4-5.

The students are from different learning

styles.

3. Provide a cube for each group consisting

of 6 tasks which need to be completed by

each group. The tasks should be developed

based on VAK learning styles. Each

student must be responsible for the task.

The students might decide who is going to

do task number 1, number 2, etc.

4. After completing the task, ask the

students to combine the tasks and make a

conclusion and a report in the form of a

descriptive text which describes about

their dream school.

3 CONCLUSIONS.

Based on what has been discussed, as the conclusion,

it can be said that the instructional process has now

recently moved forward into developing an

instructional environment which welcomes and

covers the students’ individual differences, including

the students’ different learning styles. In creating

such environment, the role of activity in the teaching

and learning process is undeniably very significant.

As what has been stated earlier, the use of cubing as

an instructional activity is very essential and

contributive in supporting the differentiated

instruction with the students of different learning

styles as it is applicable in any situation, attractive and

could sustain the students into a meaningful teaching

and learning process

(Chapman

et al., 2003; Cockroft,

2010b). Therefore, it can be used as one of the

alternative activities which can accommodate the

students’ individual differences in the English

language classroom.

In this paper, it has been discussed the ideas of

designing a model of cubing activity in the lesson

plan to teach the students with visual, auditory, and

kinaesthetic learning styles. The lesson plan is

proposed to be used to teach English in the context of

Indonesian education. It fits to teach the students of

Senior High School Grade X and is used to teach

writing skills, especially in writing descriptive texts.

As the lesson plan is limited at providing the samples

of cubing activities related to descriptive text writing,

any education practitioners or English teachers who

want to use cubing activity in their classroom can

modify the activities according to their needs.

In addition, as this paper is limited only on

proposing the activities, a further research study is

needed to justify the success implementation of

cubing activity. If the further researchers are

interested to conduct a research study on cubing

activity, they can conduct an experimental study to

see the effectiveness of cubing activity. Furthermore,

if the researchers find out several problems related to

learning styles differences in the classroom, they

Bridging the Students’ Differences in the EFL Classroom Cubing Activity in Accommodating the Students with VAK Learning Styles

443

could try to solve the problems by implementing an

action research study using cubing activity.

REFERENCES

Moore, R., Lopes, J., 1999. Paper templates. In

TEMPLATE’06, 1st International Conference on

Template Production. SCITEPRESS.

Smith, J., 1998. The book, The publishing company.

London, 2

edition.

Alavinia, P., Farhady, S 2012. Using differentiated

instruction to teach vocabulary in mixed ability

classes with a focus on multiple intelligences and

learning styles. International Journal of Applied

2, 72–79.

Chapman, C., King, R.M., King, R 2003.

Differentiated instructional strategies for

writing in the content areas. Corwin Press.

Cockroft, B 2010a. Differentiated strategy 101:

cubing a lesson.

Cockroft, B 2010b. Dare to differentiate.

Drago, W.A., Wagner, R.J 2004. Vark preferred

learning styles and online education.

Management Research News 27, 1–13.

Felder, R.M., Silverman, L.K 1988. Learning and

teaching styles in engineering education.

Engineering education 78, 674–681.

Gholami, S., Bagheri, M.S 2013. Relationship

between VAK learning styles and problem

solving styles regarding gender and students’

fields of study. Journal of Language Teaching

and Research 4, 700.

Gregory, G.H., Chapman, C.M 2012. Differentiated

instructional strategies: One size doesn′t fit all,

third edition. ed. Corwin, Thousand Oaks,

California.

Heacox, D 2012. Differentiating instruction in the

regular classroom: How to reach and teach all

learners (Updated anniversary edition). Free

Spirit Publishing.

Honey, P., Mumford, A 1992. The manual of learning

styles.

Kanninen, E 2009. Learning styles and e-learning,

Master of Science Thesis, Tampere University of

Technology. Unpublished master thesis).

Retrieved from hlab. ee. tut.

fi/video/bme/evicab/astore/delivera/wp4style.

pdf.

Kinsella, K 1995. Understanding and empowering

diverse learners in ESL classrooms. Learning

styles in the ESL/EFL classroom 170–194.

McLoughlin, C 1999. The implications of the

research literature on learning styles for the

design of instructional material. Australasian

Journal of Educational Technology 15.

Othman, N., Amiruddin, M.H 2010. Different

perspectives of learning styles from VARK

model. Procedia - Social and Behavioral

Sciences, International Conference on Learner

Diversity 2010 7, 652–660.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.10.088

Oxford, R.L 1995. Gender differences in language

learning styles: What do they mean. Learning

styles in the ESL/EFL classroom 34–46

Sarasin, L.C 1999. Learning style perspectives:

Impact in the classroom. Atwood Pub.

Subban, P 2006. Differentiated instruction: A

research basis. International Education Journal

7, 935–947.

Surjono, H.D 2011. The design of adaptive e-learning

system based on student’s learning styles.

International Journal of Computer Science

and Information Technologies 5, 2350–2353.

Tomlinson, C.A 2001. How to Differentiate

instruction in mixed-ability classrooms.

ASCD.

Tomlinson, C.A., McTighe, J 2006. Integrating

differentiated instruction & understanding by

design: Connecting content and kids. ASCD.

Vaishnav, R.S., Chirayu, K 2013. Learning style and

academic achievement of secondary school

students. Voice of Research 1, 1–4.

Wehrwein, E.A., Lujan, H.L., DiCarlo, S.E

2007.

Gender differences in learning style preferences

among undergraduate physiology students. Adv

Physiol Educ 31, 153–157.

https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00060.2006

Zygouris-Coe, V.I 2014. Teaching discipline-specific

literacies in grades 6-12: Preparing students for

college, career, and workforce demands.

Routledge.

BELTIC 2018 - 1st Bandung English Language Teaching International Conference

444