A Chinese translation of the 100-item Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS) is shortened as a 60-item instrument (which comprises 20 three-item scales) by removal of items that make the least contribution to the ILS scales from both alpha value and factor loading perspectives. The reliability and validation for administering the resultant 60-item ILS in the context of Hong Kong post-secondary education were assessed via analysis and re-analysis of results collected from two studies. The first study involved 1572 students enrolled in different kinds of post-secondary programmes in 2005; the second study involved 206 students enrolled in a special one-year, post-secondary programme in 2010. The internal consistency of most of the scales in the 60-item ILS was found to be good or satisfactory, except for three scales for which a need for further investigation or refinement is indicated. The exploratory factor analyses conducted in the two studies found factor patterns that closely resembled each other, with defining features comprising an active meaning-directed learning pattern that is mixed with reproduction-directed elements, an undirected learning pattern and different versions of a passive idealistic learning pattern. Overall, the current research provides qualified support for the reliability and validity of the shortened ILS for application in the context of Hong Kong post-secondary education.
[Copyright of Quality in Higher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13538322.2013.852707]

A Chinese translation of the Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS), a quantitative instrument employed mainly in Western higher education contexts for collecting students' feedback on their learning patterns (in the form of students' processing strategies, regulation strategies, learning orientations and conceptions of learning), was adapted and validated for application in the new response-context of Hong Kong post-secondary education via a large student sample. The reliabilities of the adapted ILS scales, as reflected by Cronbach's coefficient alphas, were found to be generally satisfactory. From an exploratory factor analysis conducted on the adapted ILS scales, four factors were identified that resemble the relevant features of the factor structure reported in a study in an Indonesian response-context. Overall, the present study provides qualified support for the reliability and validity of the adapted ILS for application in the context of Hong Kong post-secondary education.
[Copyright of Quality in Higher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13538322.2010.506717]