Development and Validation of KOLB 4.0 Learning Style Questionnaire

A great deal of individual difference with reference to learners’ beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors can be explained in terms of the learning style the individuals adopt during the learning process. These learning styles have been labeled initiating, experiencing, creating / imagining, reflecting, analyzing, thinking, deciding, acting, and balancing according to Kolb and Kolb (2013). This research was conducted to develop and validate a multidimensional structure of the Kolb learning style inventory v. 4.0 (KLSI 4.0) in an Iranian context. KLSI 4.0 which is conceptualized in Experiential Learning Theory was then developed and evaluated through a series of validation procedures. Eight hundred thirty-three EFL learners studying English as ESP in IAU East Tehran Branch participated in the main phase of this study. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) through Structural Equation Modeling validated the proposed nine types KLSI 4.0. The outcomes of the initial piloting of the KLSI 4.0 did not show an acceptable fit due to high degree of correlation between some factors under the broad construct of learning style. Three factors indicating the highest degree of correlation were thus merged and the model was run again with modified six-factor LSI. Findings confirmed that learning style is a multidimensional construct in which the six factors are conceptually related. Reliability and validity estimates were examined and provided satisfactory psychometric properties of the inventory. In fact, the six-factor-correlated model of KLSI 4.0 revealed an acceptable model fit. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research were also discussed. The CFA applied in the research is distinguished from the initial assumptions in the literature and is more straightforward than originally presumed. This paper might be therefore used as a starting empirical point for further cross-validation analyses and educational implications.