LEARNING STYLES

Q. Do you have any particular ways of learning

English? Describe the ways that best describe
how you learn English.
Learning styles
-the preferential way in which the student
absorbs, processes, comprehends and retains
information.
-depend on cognitive, emotional and
environmental factors, as well as one’s prior
experience.
Everyone’s different.
(https://teach.com/what/teachers-know/learning-styles/)
Learning styles
• are “general predisposition, voluntary or not,
toward processing information in a particular
way” (Skehan, 1991, p. 288)
• mediate between emotion and cognition.
• are determined by the way people internalize
their total environment. Internalization is not
just cognitive, but physical, affective and
cognitive in combination (Brown, 2000)
 What learning styles are there?
Different ways of classifying learning styles:
Which have you heard of?
1.Visual learners; Auditory learners; Kinesthetic
learners
2. Multiple intelligences
3. Field-independent vs field-dependent
1. VAK learning model
Visual learners
Auditory learners
Kinesthetic learners
• Visual learners learn well by visual means
-tend to prefer reading, and studying charts,
drawings, pictures, and other graphic information
• Auditory learners learn well by hearing things
-prefer listening to lectures and audiotapes
-like teachers to give oral instructions
-like making tape recordings of what they are
learning
-like having discussions
Most successful learners use both visual and auditory
input, but slight preferences for one way or the other
distinguish onbe learner from another
Kinesthetic learners

• learn well when they have hands-on experience, when

they are physically involved or actively participate

• like moving around when they learn

• prefer a variety of classroom activities

Questionnaire-Learning styles (Coursebook, p.
141c)
Task. Read the first 10 statements and identify the
learning style each statement refers to. Write K for
kinesthetic, V for visual, and A for auditory learners.
Questionnaire-
Learning styles
Acting out (Step1, Coursebook, p. 141a)
Work in groups of 4-5. Discuss the situation
(Step 1, p. 141a) and write 5 more pieces of
advice to each type of learner.
 Example advice
Visual:
1. Write things down
2. Look at the pictures and models in a chapter before
reading it
Auditory:
1. Study out loud with a friend or alone.
2. Ask your teacher for oral instructions
Kineasthetic
1. Highlight or underline your notes or draw things on
them (doodling)
2. Change your position when learning
Practice: (group 3 & 4)
Imagine you teach these words: saxophone,
Italy, and downstairs.
Design one learning activity which aims to
accommodate three types of learning styles
(visual, auditory, and kinaethestic).
2. MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

Gardner’s framework for multiple

intelligences

8 or 9 intelligences
 MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

According to Gardner (1993):

- All humans incorporates a range of abilities / intelligences
- Everyone is strong in some abilities and weaker in others.
- Everyone has the potential to develop all of those abilities to a
reasonable level with opportunity and effort.
- Learners’ differences need to be recognized in teaching.
(as cited in Richards & Roger, 2014)
1. Verbal-linguistic intelligence: well-developed verbal skills and sensitivity to the
sounds, meanings and rhythms of words
2. Logical-mathematical intelligence: ability to think conceptually and abstractly,
and capacity to discern logical and numerical patterns
3. Spatial-visual intelligence: capacity to think in images and pictures, to visualize
accurately and abstractly
4. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence: ability to control one’s body movements and to
handle objects skillfully
5. Musical intelligence: ability to produce and appreciate rhythm, pitch and
timber
6. Interpersonal intelligence: capacity to detect and respond appropriately to the
moods, motivations and desires of others
7. Intrapersonal intelligence: capacity to be self-aware and in tune with inner
feelings, values, beliefs and thinking processes
8. Naturalist intelligence: ability to recognize and categorize plants, animals and
other objects in nature
9. Existential intelligence: sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about
human existence such as, What is the meaning of life? Why do we die? How
did we get here?
 MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

1. What are you good at?

2. How do you prefer learning?

Learning activities for
various Intelligences
How to integrate MI theory in an English language classroom?

E.g.:
3. Field-dependent vs Field-independent
What can you see
in the picture?
Are you good at finding the differences?
• Field-independent style
-defined by a tendency to separate details from the
surrounding context. (Find the hidden monkeys in the
trees)
- by the ability to perceive a particular, relevant item or
factor in a ‘field’ of distracting items
- But being too field independent, you see only the
parts, not their relationship to the whole.
• Field dependent style (field sensitive style)
• - defined by a relative inability to distinguish
detail from other information around it
• - but you perceive the whole picture, the larger
view, the general configuration of a problem/event
 FI FD
• Impersonal orientation • Personal orientation (reliance
(reliance on internal frame of on external frame of reference in
reference in processing processing information)
information)
• Analytic • Holistic
(parts are distinguished from (parts are fused with background)
background)
• Independent • Dependent
(sense of separate identity)
(the self view is derived from others)
•
• Not so socially aware • Socially sensitive
(less skilled in interpersonal/social (greater skill in interpersonal/social
relationships)
relationships)
(Hawkey, 1982) 28
• Both field independent (FI) and field dependent
(FD) styles are necessary.

• FI/D is subject to individual variation.

• They are quite variable within an individual. That is,

depending on the context of learning, individual
learners can vary their use of FI/D.
 FI&FD checklist - A, E: very much like you / B, D: more
or less like you / C: no inclination
A B C D E
1 I have no problem
concentrating amid noise
and confusion.
2 I enjoy analyzing grammar
structures
3 I feel I must understand
every word of what I read or
hear.
4 I think classroom study is the
key to effective language
learning.
5 I prefer working alone to
working with other people.
6 Receiving feedback from
other people really doesn't
affect my learning at all.
I need a quiet environment in order
to concentrate well.
I find grammar analysis tedious and
boring.
I don't mind reading or listening in
the L2 without understanding every
single word as long as I 'catch' the
main idea.
I think communication is the key to
effective language learning.
I really enjoy working with other
people in pairs or groups.
I find feedback useful as a means of
understanding my problem areas.
30
Implications for classroom language teaching
1 Activities that connect different parts of a
lesson are useful for field-dependent learners.
• discuss what they know about a topic
• predict content
• look at and listen to related material.

2 Activities such as extensive reading and

writing, which learners can carry out alone, are
useful for field-independent learners.
(https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/field-independent-learners)
 For further reference
More learning styles
• Ambiguity-tolerant vs ambiguity-intolerant
• Reflective vs Impulsive
Ambiguity tolerance
Budner (1962)
tolerance of ambiguity= ‘the tendency to
perceive ambiguous situations as desirable’.
Intolerance of ambiguity: ‘the tendency to
perceive (i.e., interpret) ambiguous situations as
sources of threat’
Ambiguity tolerance
-concerns the degree to which you are cognitively
willing to tolerate ideas and propositions that run
counter to your own belief system or structure of
knowledge.
-Some people are more open/willing to accept
ideologies/views/facts that contradict their own views
than others.
-A person who is tolerant of ambiguity is free to
entertain a number of innovative and creative
possibilities and not cognitively or affectively disturbed
by ambiguity and uncertainty.
Ambiguity tolerance
-successful language learning necessitates toterance of
ambiguities (words that differ from the native
language, rules that are inconsistent, ...)
Ambiguity tolerance
-has both advantages and disadvantages
+too much tolerance of ambiguity can have a
detrimental effect. People can become “wishy-washy”
accepting every proposition before them.
+ Intolerance can close the mind too soon, especially if
ambiguity is perceived as a threat, producing a mind
that is too narrow to be creative.
Reflective vs impulsive
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FUXljupKl8)
Reflectivity and impulsivity
-degree to which a person makes a quick or
gambling (impulsive) guess at an answer to a
problem or a slower, more calculated (reflective)
decision.
Implications for classroom language
teaching:
-Teachers tend to treat mistakes too hashly,
especially in the case of a learner with an
impulsive style who may be more willing to
gamble at an answer than a reflective person.
-A reflective person may need patience from
the teacher, who must allow more time for the
students to struggle with responses.
Implications for classroom language
teaching:
-Teachers tend to treat mistakes too hashly,
especially in the case of a learner with an
impulsive style who may be more willing to
gamble at an answer than a reflective person.
-A reflective person may need patience from
the teacher, who must allow more time for the
students to struggle with responses.
-Those with impulsive styles may go through a
number of rapid transitions of SLA
-Those with reflective styles tend to remain
longer at a particular stage with ‘larger’ leaps
from stage to stage.
Questions for discussion
Q1. Do you believe that certain learners learn in
one single way?
Q2. Do you think that learning styles play an
important role in language learning?
Q3. In your opinion, what makes learning
effective?
Watch the Ted talk video about learning
styles and the importance of critical self-
reflection.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=855Now8h5Rs)
Q. Do you agree with the arguments about
learning styles the lady puts forward in the
talk? Why/Why not?
Review
 More information about reflective learning

https://study.com/academy/lesson/reflective-learning-
definition-style-theory.html
REFERENCES
Brown, H. D., & Lee, H. (2015). Teaching by principles: An
interactive approach to language pedagogy (4th ed.). Pearson.
Budner, S. (1962). Intolerance of ambiguity as a personality
variable. J. Pers, 30, 29–50. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-
6494.1962.tb02303.x
Richards, J. C. & Rodgers, T. S. (2014). Approaches and methods
in language teaching. Cambridge University Press.