The Relationship between Learning Styles of Pre-Service Music Teachers and Academic Achievement

The present study aims to determine learning styles of students majoring in Music Education Departments in Turkey and thus develop scale on learning styles to be used in piano lessons. Moreover, it is intended to reveal the relationship betwee n students’ learning styles identified by the developed scale and their academic performance in piano lessons. In this sense, an achievement test was developed to assess student’s performances in piano lessons. The research was figured according to relat ional screening model among the screening models. The population of the research is composed of 3rd grade students majoring in Music Education Departments in Turkey. The sample of the research consists of 473 third grade students out of 730 3’rd year students studying in Music Education Departments. Developed by the researchers to assess students’ performance in piano lesson, the scales titled “Pamukkale Piano Learning Style” and “Piano Performance Test” have been used. In light of the results obtained from the study, a learning style model has been developed to learn piano instrument. According to this model, students’ independent, analytical, dependent and emotional learning styles have been identified. According to the research results, there is no high -level relationship between all learning styles and piano academic performance.


Introduction
Human bei ngs always seek for information every moment of their life. Education therefore has long been an ongoing process. In parallel with the fast-paced of the technology, the concept of technology has been changing and evolving. Since ancient times, "education" has been defined with respect to its own disciplines. Yet, a different s ense of education is prevalent today.
"Today's sens e of education has led us-educators -to understand learners' personality traits more and to design learning environments according to student learning styles. One of the primary objectives of these studies is to build student learning styles" (Hasirci, 2006, p.16).
Given (cited in Sural, 2008, p.2) articulates "several recent studies have shown that students demonstrate following behaviors when teachers employ students' proffered learning styles as their main mode of teaching." -Positive attitudes towards learning -Acceptance of differences -Increased academic success -Positive classroom behaviors and discipline -Individual self-discipline in doing homework When students' learning styles are determi ned and teaching proceeds accordingly, the results will be more effective. In this respect, adoption of student-centered approach in education can yield effective results.
Student-centered education put the student at the centre of teaching process. In their study, Lipton, Laura and Hubble and Deborah (cited in Unver, 2002) underline that student -centered approach is an attitude, not a method. It is built on students 'questions, reflection, and experimentations as they engage in classroom activities. Student-centered teaching approach exists as an outgrowth of thos e experiences. In this context, teachers create learning opportunities for their students and themselves.
In student-centered approach, students are at the forefront. Distinctive characteristics of students are also taken i nto consideration. This is because individuals need to be lifelong learner to improve themselves. Each individual is confronted with different issues and obstacles. Therefore, most students naturally develop various learning experi ences. These differences can be divided into two factors: external factors (environmental factors) and internal factors (factors related to learning). Many negative and positive factors affect l earning which an internal state is shaped by external factors. Considering plenty of variabl es affecting learning environment, it is unlikely to expect that traditional instructional practices will effectively impact on students' learning environments. Learning as a mean of effective education can be better realized by viewing students' indi vidual differences and arranging learning environments accordingly (Fer, 2014).
In society, individuals vary from each other i n ev ery aspect. Genetic variation and genetic combination from both parents are of vital importance. Hence, students possess diffe rent kinds of minds and abilities (Kuzgun & Deryakulu, 2006). "When learni ng occurs, such factors as individual differences and intelligence, age, arous al and psychological state and competency and transferring lev el of prior learning can be a matter of f act." (Aydi n, 2014, p.241-242). At this point, the concept of learning becomes more important. More s pecifically, learning styles play a crucial role in the process of learning.
"The term 'learning style' was first used by Rita Dunn in 1960. (…) Dunn defines learning styles as follows: "The way in which each learner begins to concentrate process and retain new and difficult information. That interaction occurs differently for everyone" (Cited in Boydak, 2014, p.3).
"Most students waste their time wi th endless repetitions, which yield no gains for their learning process. Considering the total time they spent on repeti tions, they may feel good about themselves. Ultimately, they complain about they didn't learn anythi ng and ineffective results. The fundamental problem here is they do not know how they learn (Ertem, 2014, p.10).
"Both s tudents' awareness about their own learning styles and teachers' awareness about their students' learning styles will provide many hints for improving the quality and quantity of approaches designed to accommodate students' learning styles" (Deniz, 2011, p.951).
The concept of 'Learning Styles' have long been studied in the literature. It dwells on how i ndividuals can learn. "The rising psychological aspects of education especi ally after the s econd half of the 1900s results in the notion that individuals bear different characteristics and these individual differences should be taken into consideration in educational practices." (Veznedaroglu & Ozgur, 2005, p.1). "Every learning is a new learni ng. Learning best facilitates with a process that draws on the beliefs and views about a topic that students can test and i ntegrate with new, more refined ideas" (Kolb & Kolb, 2005, p. 194). Therefore, bearing i n the mind that learning styles should be developed paying attention to s tudents' individual differences, education system can be designed in a way that fi ts students better, thereby promoting quality of education.
"The understanding of individuals' learning ways pl ays a key role in improving education. Several studies on education have tried to s hed light on the influences of individuals such as definitions of concepts, learning styles and scientific achievement" (Ari, 2008, p.52).
In his study, Sural (2008) asserts that the design of education and training activities in line with the learning styles of the students facilitate accomplishing the goals of education and training. Students who possess different learn ing s tyles can help teachers organize in-class training more interactively. Subsequently, more qualified education and high quality learning experience for students can be ensured.
"Mayer points out that students learn most effectively when instructional methods are tailored to their preferred learning style" (Cited in Fer, 2014, p.205).
The present study attempts to seek an answer to the following question: "What kind of learning styles do students enrolled in Music Education possess ? Thus, Pamukkale Learning Style Scal e was developed and four learning styles were determined. These are named as independent, analytic, dependent and affective learners and are outlined below: Students who prefer independent learning style are individual learners. They don't n eed any external factor, a teacher or a friend. Such students can categorize pi eces of music they practice, analyze and interpret them from their own point of views. They prefer to learn on thei r own and exhibit high self-confidence. However, since an individual learner will not benefi t from a teacher experience or knowledge, independent learning style can have some drawbacks in terms of students' vocational experience and performance.
Students who prefer analytical learning style adopt a conceptual view. They don't work pi eces of music as a whole, divide them into sections. Students try different methods and adopt solution-oriented approach in an effort to reach a solution. They prefer individual learning as well. Such s tudents like to work in safe l earni ng environments and they like to divide their works into smaller parts by analyzing challenges they encounter. They are good at reading musical scores. They can decipher musical notation quickly. Such students learn in a pl anned way and subsequently learn pieces more systematically and faster. This can be seen as an advantage in students' learning process. Yet, when students work musical pieces as a whole, they can barely finish playing in time and they are delayed due to passage works, which is seen as a disadvantage in terms of analytical learning style.
Students i n a dependent l earning group wai t for an external warning. Guidance of someone else comforts s tudents and makes students work better when they organize their s tudi es. As such students always are looking for other resources; they cannot read the musical notation very well. When they start to decipher a new notation, they first need to hear it from someone else. They often consult thei r works to be checked by someone else. In the stage of working on a musical piece, they try to reach audiovisual resources and they play them by imitating. A s tudent wi th dependent learning style has a more artistic and musical character as they access to various resources. On the other hand, they have lower selfconfidence as they depend on an external factor and they cannot read the notation very well. They complete a musical piece of work in a longer period.
A student adopti ng affective l earning style looks for a familiar tune in a musical piece. Such students can better work if they like pieces of music they play. If they don't like musical piece, they cannot perform effectively. They mostly prefer to pl ay their pieces over and over in a wholly way. They always expect to take positive feedbacks du ring pi ano cours es and if they take a negative feedback, they alienate themselves from the cours e. Such students who play their preferred melodies and pieces can easily learn as they have high levels of motivation. They can be successful when they find suitable conditions for themselves. On the other hand, as they always demand to play their favorite pieces, we cannot expect an efficient and qualified traini ng. Mostly students adopting affective l earning style cannot accept thei r teachers' criticism.
Ultimately, innovative approach of education influence students' learning environments and their learning process. For this reason, if learning s tyles are determined and education is planned accordingly, then we can expect more efficient results and a better learning experience for s tudents. In this sense, the pres ent s tudy seeks to answer following research question and related subproblems: What kind of a relationship exists between music teacher candi dates' learni ng styles and their academic achiev ement in piano lesson with respect to the Piano Learning Style Model?
1. How is the distribution of students' learning styles according to the variables of gender, type of high school graduated, the period of regular piano playing, private piano lesson taken, the period of private piano lesson taken, the number of piano teachers with whom students work together through their course of music education?

Research Model
In this research, the relational screeni ng model, which is a type of general screening model, was utilized. "The relational survey models are res earch models which aim to describe a past or present situation, as it exists. In the screening model, the person or the object, which is the research subject, is examined in his/her/its own conditions" (Karasar, 2002, p.77).
In the present study "Pamukkal e Piano Learni ng Style" (2017) and "Pi ano Achievement Test" (2017) scales have been developed by the researchers to assess students' performance in piano lesson. In light of the results obtained from the study, a learning s tyle model has been developed to learn piano instrument. According to t his model, students' independent, analytical, dependent and emotional learni ng s tyles have been i dentified. Addi tionally the students' identified learning styles have been correlated depend on gender, type of high school graduated, the period of regular piano playing, private pi ano lesson taken, the period of private piano lesson taken, the number of piano teachers with whom students work together through their course of music education variables.

Study Population and Sample Size
The study population of the res earch consists of 3rd grade students enrolled in the M usic Education Departments across Turkey. Permissions have been obtai ned from the universities. In the original implementation, Pamukkale Piano Learning Style Scale and Achievement Test for Piano Lesson were delivered to 730 students studying at different universities. 493 out of 730 students returned the res earch. 20 out of 493 data obtained was deemed to be invalid due to various reasons. As a consequence, 473 people were reached which accounts for 64.7% of the population.
Since 3rd grade students attended pi ano courses through at least 5 semesters, they were selected for the study population. On the other hand, 4th grade students were not included to the study because t hey were preparing for Public Personnel Selection Examination (PPSE) and piano courses were not taught in some departments and as a result it was thought they would not pay enough attention to the research.

Data Collection Tools
In the present study in order to i dentify learning styles of students 'Pamukkale Piano Learning Styles' (2017) scale have been developed by the researchers. KMO test, the significance level of the Pamukkale Piano Learning Styles scale was found to be .000. The data collected are thus acceptable for factor analysis. The KMO value of 0.684 is suitable for factor analysis. As a result of the factor analysis, four learning styles have been identified, namely, independent, analytical, dependent and affective. 25 out of 55 items were omitt ed and original 30 item -scale was dev eloped. To identify the aforementioned learning styles, codes were formulated for each question and afterwards these ques tions were categorized according to expert-opinion based evaluation.
For measuring academic achiev ement of piano students 'The Achievement Test for Piano Lesson' (2017) have been developed by the researchers. It was consulted to experts and 41 ques tions were formulated. The reliability and validity study was administrated to music teacher candi dates s tudying in the Music Education Department of Pamukkale University. Measuring items in terms of discrimination and difficulty, KR -20 "Kuder Richardson" test was applied. The coefficient of KR-20 was calculated as 0.71. This finding confirms the reliability of the achiev ement tes t. Subsequently, 19 questions were excluded from the study and 22 Question-Achievement Test were developed.

Data Analysis
In attempt to tes t the data, arithmetic mean, standard deviation as well as descriptive statistics were employed. Nonparametric Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was administrated to explore whether learni ng s tyles significantly differ according to the variables of gender, type of high school graduated, the period of regul ar piano playing, the period of private piano lesson taken and the number of piano teachers with whom students work together through thei r course of music education. Also, Kruskall Wallis non-parametric test were utilized to see whether there is a significant difference between groups. Subsequently, Mann -Whitney U was used to detect significant differences between two groups. Pearson Correlation analysis was applied to measure the strength and direction of relationships between variables. Statistical packages were employed for data analysis.

Findings
This section discusses 3rd grade music teacher candidates' learning styles and their academic achievement in piano lesson and provides information on data analysis, research findings and interpretations.

The Findings and Interpretation Related to the First Subproblem
The first sub-problem of the study seeks to answer the following ques tion: "How is the distribution of students' learning styles with respect to gender, type of high school graduated, the period of regular piano playing, private piano lesson taken, the period of private piano lesson taken and the number of piano teachers with whom students work together through their course of music education?" To inves tigate the first res earch question, frequency distributions and percentage values of the variables in the sample group were calculated. In terms of the gender vari able, the affective learning style has the hi ghes t frequency (f=268). It is found out that the number of male students who prefer affective learning style is higher than female students. On the other hand, the dependent learni ng style (f=41) is the least preferred learning style and as tabulated in Table 3, the number of female students (f=28) with dependent learning s tyle is higher than male students (f=13) with dependent learning style. As for the other two learning styles, independent (f=89) and analytical learning styles (f=75) were equally distributed.
When it comes to the vari able of ty pe of hi gh school graduated, the most preferred learning style is affective learning styles and students who predominantly prefer affective learning s tyle were graduated from Fine Arts High School (f=201), jus t as 67 students wi th affective l earning style were graduated from other ty pes of hi gh school. In terms of the dependent learning style, the number of students graduated from Fine Arts High School is 25, whereas the number of students graduated from other ty pes of high school is 16. Consideri ng independent learning style, the number of students graduated from Fine Arts High School is 71, while 18 students with affective learning s tyle were graduated from other types of high school. Lastly, we see that 59 s tudents with analytical learning style were graduated from Fine Arts High School, while 16 students with analytical learning style were graduated from other types of high school.
When viewing the thi rd variabl e of the research, the period of regular piano playing, results regarding students with affective learning style are as follow: 78 students (1 -3 y ears), 69 students (4-6 years) and 121 students (7 years and above). Thes e figures demonstrate a hi gher rate when compared to other learning styles. On the other hand, the distribution of i ndependent and analytical learning styles , respectively, were detailed in Table 3 as follows:13 students (1-3 years), 28 students (4-6 years) and 48 students (7 years and above); 21 students (1-3 years), 19 students (4-6 years) and 35 students (7 years and above).
As regards the fourth variable of the study, private piano lesson taken, the majori ty of the s tudents (i.e; 225 students) with affective learning style have not taken any private lesson ever. In terms of the fifth variabl e of the res earch, the period of private pi ano lesson taken, the number of s tudents who have not taken any private pi ano lesson c an be summarized as follow: 71 students with independent learning style, 60 students with analytical l earning style, 34 students with dependent learning style and 225 students with affective learning style.
As for the distribution of the sixth variable, the number of piano teachers with whom students work together through thei r course of music education, 66 students with affective learning style res ponded that they worked wi th 5 teachers which is the highest number when compared to other learning styles.
On the contrary, dependent learning style is seen to hav e the lowes t number with 5 students who sai d they worked with 5 teachers. 7 students with independent learning style, 10 students with analytical learning style, 9 students with dependent learning style and 33 students with affective learning style said they worked one pi ano teacher through thei r course of music education. As to the distributions of students who worked wi th two piano teachers, it is found out that 14 students with independent l earning style, 12 students with analytical learning style, 9 s tudents with dependent learning s tyle and 55 students with affective learning style said they worked two pi ano teachers through their course of music education.
On the other hand, 26 students with indep endent learning style, 24 students wi th analytical learning style, 10 students with dependent learning style and 54 students with affective learni ng s tyle said they worked three piano teachers through thei r course of music education. The numbers of students who worked with four piano teachers were outlined as follow: 22 students with independent l earning style, 18 s tudents with analytical learning style, 8 students with dependent learning style and 60 students with affective learni ng style. Lastly, it was determined that 20 students with independent learning s tyle, 11 students with analytical learning style, 5 students with dependent l earning style and 66 students with affective learning style said they worked five piano teachers through their course of musi c education. In light of the data obtained, we can argue that the students with affective learning style have the highest rate.

The Findings and Interpretation Related to the Second Subproblem
The second sub-problem of the study seeks to answer the following question: "Do students' learning styles differ significantly according to the variables of gender, type of hi gh school graduated, the period of regular pi ano playing, private piano lesson taken, the period of private piano lesson taken, the number of piano teachers with whom students work together through their course of music education?". To answer the second research ques tion, Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test was used to determine whether the variables were normally distributed. .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 From the Table 4 we see that Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was conducted and the significance level of the test was found .05 according to all variables identified. Subsequently, non-parametric tests were utilized. M ann Whi tney U test thus was utilized to analyze the significant difference between the two groups, while Kruskall Wallis test was conducted to examine the significant differences between more than the two groups. The second sub-problem of the research examines whether the variables of gender, type of hi gh school graduated and private pi ano lesson taken have a meaningful effect on students wi th independent learning styles. As seen in Table 5, there is a significant difference in favor of those who have taken private piano lesson when compared to students who have not. We thus imply that students who have taken p rivate piano lesson are more inclined to independent learning style than those who have not taken any private piano lesson. As regards the effects of the other three variables on s tudents with independent learning style, significant difference was found between the period of regular piano playing (X 2 (2) = 7.476; p<0.05) and the period of private piano lesson taken (X 2 (4) = 11. 418; p<0.05). To determine the differences between the groups, Mann-Whitney U test was applied and the results are given in Table 6. Each group is symbolized by a figure as follows: With respect to the variable of the period of regular piano playing; (1) 1 -3 years (2) 4 -6 years (3) 7 years and above With respect to the variable of the period of private piano lesson taken; (1) None (2) 1 year (3) 2 years (4) 3 years (5) 4 years and above "Mann Whi tney U test thus was utilized to identify the significant difference between the two groups. Since Post Hoc process were not conducted following the Kruskal -Wallis Analysis, the Mann-Whitney U tes t was applied to reveal differences between the groups by selecting the groups two by two" Basturk, 2010, p.157). As detailed i n Tabl e 7, there is a significant difference between the students with 1 -3 y ears of regular playing piano and those students with 4-6 years of regular playing piano. The difference is in favor of students with 4 -6 years of regular playing piano. An examination of Table 7 shows that the students with 4 -6 years of regular playing pi ano prefer independent learning style more than students with 1-3 years of regular playing piano.
The second significant difference with res pect to the v ariable of the period of regular piano playing is found between students with 1-3 years of regular playing pi ano and those with 7 years and above. When comparing the means ranks between the two groups, it is observabl e that students' sum of mean ranks who regularly have been playing piano for 7 years and above are higher than those with 1-3 years of regular playing piano.
Considering the period of private piano lesson taken, Tabl e 7 indicates significant difference were found in favor of students who hav e taken private pi ano lesson for 2 years when compared to the students who have not taken any private piano lesson ever. The second significant difference detected is between the students who have not taken any private pi ano lesson and those who have taken private pi ano lesson for 3 years. When comparing the mean ranks of the two groups, students with 3 y ears of private piano lesson prefer independent learning style more than students who have not taken any private piano lesson.

The Findings and Interpretation Related to the Third Subproblem
The third sub-problem of the study s eeks to answer the following ques tion: "Does s tudents' analytical l earning style differs significantly accordi ng to the vari ables of gender, ty pe of hi gh school graduated, the period of regular piano playing, private piano lesson taken, the period of private piano lesson taken, the number of piano teachers with whom students work together through their course of music education?" First, it is found that s tudents' analytical l earning style differs significantly according to the gender vari able. We can thus contend that male students are more likely prefer analytical learning style than female students. Also, significant difference found is in favor of male students. On the other hand, no significant difference was detected according to the variables of type of high school graduated and private piano lesson taken. Considering the data shown in Table 9, the variables of the period of regular piano playing, the period of private piano lesson taken and the number of piano teachers wi th whom s tudents work together through their course of music education do not have any significant effect on analytical learning style.

The Findings and Interpretation Related to the Fourth Subproblem
The fourth sub-problem of the study seeks to answer the following question: "Does students' dependent learning style differs significantly accordi ng to the vari ables of gender, ty pe of hi gh school graduated, the period of regular piano playing, private piano lesson taken, the period of private piano lesson taken, the number of piano teachers with whom students work together through their course of music education?"  Table 10 indicates that the gender variable has a significant effect on s tudents' dependent learning s tyle. It is in favor of female students. We can therefore argue that female students are more likely prefer dependent learning style than male students. Considering the variable of type of high school graduated, there is a significant difference in favor of students graduated from other hi gh schools compared to Fine Art High School graduates. It can thus be claimed that other high school graduates are more inclined to prefer dependent learning styles when compared to students graduated from Fine Art High School. In other words, those students who hav e not taken any music education prefer dependent learning style more. On the other hand, the variable of priva te pi ano lesson taken does not hav e a significant effect on dependent learning style. When it comes to the effects of other three variables on students with dependent learning style, significant difference was found according to the vari able of the period of regular piano playing (X 2 (2) = 25.894; p<0.05). To figure out the differences between the groups, Mann-Whitney U test was performed and the results are presented in Table 12. As regards the variable of the period of regular piano playing, each group is symbolized by a figure as follows: (4) 1 -3 years (5) 4 -6 years (6) 7 years and above  Table 12 illustrates that there is a significant difference between the s tudents who regularly have been playing piano for 1-3 years and those students with 4 -6 years of regul ar playing piano. The difference is in favor of students with 1 -3 years of regul ar playing piano. According to the mean ranks tabulated in Table 12, we conclude that the students who regularly have been playing piano for 1-3 years prefer dependent learni ng style more than students with 4-6 years of regular playing piano. This finding puts forwards that the students who less regularly play piano are more inclined to adopt dependent learning style.

The Findings and Interpretation Related to the Fifth Subproblem
The fifth sub-problem of the study seeks to answer the following question: "D oes students' affective learning style differs according to the variables of gender, type of high school graduated, the period of regular piano pl aying, private piano lesson taken, the period of private piano lesson taken, the number of piano teachers with whom students work together through their course of music education?"  Table 13 indicates students' affective learning style differs significantly according to the gender variabl e. Correspondingly, the significant difference is in favor of male students. We can thus contend that male students are more likely prefer affective learning style than female students. On the other hand, no significant difference was detected according to the variables of high school graduation and private piano lesson taken. Considering the results shown in Table 14, we see that the variables of the period of regular piano playing, the period of private piano lesson taken and the number of piano teachers with whom students work together through thei r course of music education do not have a significant effect on affective learni ng s tyle. In this context, thes e variabl es mentioned do not have an impact on students' affective learning styles.

The Findings and Interpretation Related to the Sixth Subproblem
The sixth sub-problem of the study seeks to answer the following question: "What kind of a relationship exists between students' learni ng styles and their academic achievements in piano lesson?" Data about the students' academic achievement has been collected by Achievement Test dev eloped by researchers. To answer the sixth research question, Kolmogorov-Smi rnov (K-S) test was used to determine whether the variables are normally distributed. According to K-S test, other relevant analyses were conducted.
The results of Kolmogorov-Smirnov provides that the variables were not normally distributed since p values of each variables were lower than 0.05. "If the v ariables are not normally distributed or the relations hip between the variabl es is not linear, these v ariables will be converted i nto ordinal variables to be measured on "an ordi nal scale" so that the correlation of these variables can be calculated via non-parametric test. This process is called "Spearman's Rank-Difference Coefficient of Correlation" (Can, 2014, p. 352). Basing on the res ults given in Table 15, Spearman's Rank Correlation was used to analyze the relationship between the variables. "The correlation coefficient of +1.00 indicates a perfect positive correlation and coefficient of -1.00 indicates a perfect negative. A correlation of .00 indicates that there is no relationshi p between the two variables" (Buyukozturk, 2015, p.32).
If correlation coefficient as absolute value is between 0.70 -1.00, it means high; if it is between 0.70-0.30, it means medium; if it is between 0.30-0.00, it means low level relation (Buyukozturk, 2015, p.32).  (2-tailed) .001 * * Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) The analyses were carried out with respect to the las t subproblem and the relationship between students' learning styles and academic achievement were examined. Then, Spearman's correlation coefficient was run to fi gure out the correlation between them.
First, when viewing independent learni ng style in the s ample group, the correlation coefficient of the relationship between s tudents with independent learning style and their academic achievement was found .451. We can thus see that medium level of relationship exists between two variables. Also, the fact that the signif icance level of the correlation is .01 confirms the relationship. Consequently, it was found out that the pi ano academic achiev ement of the students who prefer independent learning style positively increased.
As regards the analytical learning styles in the sample group, we see that the correlation coefficient of the relationship between s tudents wi th analytical learning style and their academic achievement was found .169, providing low level of relationship between two variabl es. The level of the correlation was found to be .01. We can thus argue that there is a low level of relationship between students with analytical learning style and their academic achi evement in piano lesson.
The correlation coefficient of the relationship between students with dependent learning style and their academic achievement was found .311, indicating medi um level of relationship between two variables. The fact that the significance level of the correlation was found to be .01 highlights that students with dependent learning s tyle showed higher academic achievement in piano lesson.
In terms of the affective learning style, the correlation coefficient of the relations hip between s tudents with affective learning style and thei r academic achievement was found .422, providing medi um l evel of relationship between two variables. The fact that the significance level of the correlation was found to be .01 hi ghlights that students with affective learning style demonstrated higher academic achiev ement i n piano lesson. Lastly, it was found that there is no high level of relationship between all learning styles and piano academic achiev ements. In addition to it, "Independent Learning Style" has the highes t level amongs t all learning styles with the value of .451. We can therefore imply that students who prefer independent learning style are likely to have a higher academic achievement in piano lesson.

Discussion and Recommendation
Upon conducting analyses and researches, a learning style model was created to explore learning styles of students in piano lesson. Subsequently, four learning styles were dev eloped, namely, "independent, analytical, dependent and affective". Pamukkale Pi ano Learning Style focuses on the question of what kind of learning styles music teacher candidates possess. It was thus attempted to dev elop "Pamukkale Piano Learni ng Style Scale" and four ty pes of learning styles was identified. These styles are independent, analytical, dependent and affective learners.
The article written by Bas and Beyhan (2013) titled "Effects of Learning Styles Based Instruction on Academic Achievement" investi gates the effects of learning styles based i nstruction on s tudents' academic achi evement, attitudes towards course and the retention levels of their achi eved knowledge in the English cours e. The resul ts of the research showed learning styles based instruction had positive effects on students' academic achiev ement, attitudes towards course and the retention levels of their achieved knowledge. In the same vein, i n Sural's study (2008) ti tled "The Relationship Between Learning Styles And Academic Achiev ements Of Primary Candidate Teachers In Science And Technology Teaching Lesson", it is concluded that there is a negative relationship between learning s tyles of students with dependent and competitive learning styles and their academic achievements.
As for the research findings, no high level of relationship between all learni ng styles and their academic achievements was observed. Besides that, independent learning style is seen to have the hi ghest relationship. This finding implies that students who prefer independent learning style are more likely to show higher academic achievement in piano lesson.
In the article titled "Examination of the Relationship between Teacher Candidates' Learning S tyles and Thei r Study Habits" Ahmet Kaya, Bozaslan, Durdukoca (2012) hi ghlight that there is no significant relationship between teacher candidates' learning styles and their gender, department, academic achievement and study habits.
On the other hand, Demir's (2008) case study titled "Learning Styles of the Turkish Teaching Students" aimed to identify the learning styles of Turkish teachers and the relationship between thes e learning styles and their genders and the high school they graduated from. In conclusion, no significant relatio nship was found between the learning styles of thes e students and their gender and high school education. However, it was detected that there was a meaningful relationship between the high school they graduated from and their learning styles. In studying Torres's work, the academic performance of the students was measured using the general grade av erages they received. A total of 229 Lati n students enrolled in a New York Ci ty high school participated in the study. The Learning Style Inventory developed by Kolb and Dunn, Dunn and Price (2003) Learning Style Inv entory were used to describe learning styles of students. The resul ts of the Tores learni ng style inventory indicated that there was no relationship between students' learning styles and grade average.
If instruction methods are well-formed, individuals or students can experience a more effective learning. Given that constructivist learning approach pays more attention to learner individual differences, the purpose of study was to develop a learni ng style model in piano education in line with the learning styles specified by education studi es. In the pres ent research, piano learning style scale was developed to investi gate the ques tion of what kind of l earning style students possess. An achievement test for piano lesson was also developed to compare students' learning s tyles with thei r performance in piano lesson. The res earch question was formulated to explore students' piano learning styles using the scale and to compare these learning styles with their academic achiev ements. It is believed that the present study will highly contribute the piano education, a subdimension of music education. As a resul t of the research, following recommendations are presented: This section provides information on the research findings and some practical recommendations for researches.
• It is suggested to explore learning styles of s tudents enrolled in Music Education Departments and to design piano teaching curriculum according to students' learning styles for future researches.
• It is recommended to identify the learning styles of "at least hi gh school graduate students" attending private music schools' piano lessons and correspondingly to arrange piano education.
• The predominant learning styles of students studying at Music Education Departments, Fine Arts High School and State Conservatory and Private Music Schools can be measured each year to s ee if there is any change in their learning styles.
• Faculty members teaching at Music Education Departments can be encou raged to apply piano learning style scale before their first lesson and to follow a curriculum that incorporates students' learning styles.
• In private music schools, piano instructors teaching "at least high school graduate students" can be encouraged to apply pi ano l earning style scale before their firs t lesson and to follow a curriculum that incorporates s tudents' learning styles.
It is recommended to carry out further researches using different variables.
• A qualitative study can be administrated to students who have different kinds of learning styles so that more detailed data can be obtained.
• This study can be applied to Fine Arts High Schools by utilizing same variables.
• Applying pi ano achiev ement test at the end of each semes ter, the relations hip between the groups whos e learning styles are previously determined can be investigated.
• In parallel with the curriculum, a qualitative study can be implemented including students who have each one of the aforementioned learni ng styles in the present study in order to measure the rel ationshi p between their learning styles and academic achievements in piano lesson.