What are your students' learning styles?

Learning styles are definitely something teachers and educators in general are always interested in. Read this article and learn how to teach and engage each kind of student more effectively.


The website Learning Styles gives a very practical overview of learning styles:

"Many people recognize that each person prefers different learning styles and techniques. Learning styles group common ways that people learn. Everyone has a mix of learning styles. Some people may find that they have a dominant style of learning, with far less use of the other styles. Others may find that they use different styles in different circumstances. There is no right mix. Nor are your styles fixed. You can develop ability in less dominant styles, as well as further develop styles that you already use well.

Using multiple learning styles and “multiple intelligences” for learning is a relatively new approach. This approach is one that educators have only recently started to recognize. Traditional schooling used (and continues to use) mainly linguistic and logical teaching methods. It also uses a limited range of learning and teaching techniques. Many schools still rely on classroom and book-based teaching, much repetition, and pressured exams for reinforcement and review. A result is that we often label those who use these learning styles and techniques as “bright.” Those who use less favored learning styles often find themselves in lower classes, with various not-so-complimentary labels and sometimes lower quality teaching. This can create positive and negative spirals that reinforce the belief that one is “smart” or “dumb.”

By recognizing and understanding your own learning styles, you can use techniques better suited to you. This improves the speed and quality of your learning."

And they still define each kind of learning style (go to their website to see more about each one of them):

Visual (spatial) - You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.

Aural (auditory-musical) - You prefer using sound and music.

Verbal (linguistic) - You prefer using words, both in speech and writing.

Physical (kinesthetic) - You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch.

Logical (mathematical) - You prefer using logic, reasoning and systems.

Social (interpersonal) - You prefer to learn in groups or with other people.

Solitary (intrapersonal) - You prefer to work alone and use self-study.


Testing your students'learning styles

This is a fantastic test for you to have and also give information to your students about their own personal styles. Raising awareness of the topic helps students to better comprehend their personal learning ways, and gives them tools to better handle their weakneasses and strengths when learning something new.

I have personally applied this test to several students, and it really works! Click here to go to Edmond's Learning Styles Test. Read the instructions carefully, and do not forget to give them some exercise after the test, so they can really see their learning styles "in action".

An example of a good exercise is to write different situations in the classroom on several strips of paper and hand them in to groups of 3. For instance, in one paper you can write "The student learns faster and better when he listens to MP3 or songs in English" - then the students have 5 minutes to discuss the situation and try to find out what that specific learning style really is. You can still ask them to come up with 2 or 3 suggestions of exercises (they will pretend they are the teachers now) they would give to that type of learner as homework, for example.