Learning Styles

Learner Variables

Learning Styles and Strategies

Learning Styles

An individual’s general approach to learning; a general predisposititon,

not fixed, but a dominant way of negotiating reality

predisposition-- cognitive, affective, physical

personality styles: self-esteem, inhibition, emphaty, risk taking, anxiety, ambiguity tolerance, impulsivity, etc.

cognitive styles (VAKOG) : the way we learn things, the way we attack problems:

Learning modalities: VAKOG

According to NLP, we use primary representational systems (described in the acronym “VAKOG”) to experience the world.

Learning modalities: VAKOG

Visual( look and see)

Auditory( hear and listen)

Kinaesthetic( feel externally, internally, or through movement)

Olfactory( smell things)

Gustatory( taste things)

Learning Style Profiles: Global & Analytic

GLL prefer LL through global exposure

ALL like to analyse elements in detail.

This might influence the L’s response to methods of presenting language.

Global Learner& Analytic Learner

Dealing with a text GLL might predict and infer to get an overall understanding(FD- a tendency to see the whole but not easily perceive the embedded parts),

While an ALL might search for small details and try to follow accurately the precise relationships between different parts of the text( FI– a style that enables you to distinguish parts from a whole).

Styles & Strategies

Some learners can tolerate ambiguity better than others and wait for further, disambiguating information.

This might well advantage beginners dealing with the presentation of simplified grammatical rules, such as:

Use some in (+) statements

Use any in (?) and (-) statements

These learners may quickly see exceptations to the rule in language they are exposed to, as the rules are far more complex.

cognitive