Language Learning Styles and Strategies

Learning Styles
What are the Learning Styles ? The general approaches to learning How many Learning Styles are there? Four main dimension and many among each

Learning Styles

Sensory Preferences

Personality Types

Desired Degree of Generality

Biological Differences

Sensory Preferences

Visual

Auditory

Kinesthetic

Tactile

Visual Preference
Visual students like to read and obtain a great deal from visual stimulation. Stimulations such as words, images, motion pictures and live performances

Conversation and oral instruction might be confusing to them

Auditory Preference
Comfortable without visual input Excited by the classroom interactions in role plays and similar activities. However!!! They sometimes have difficulty with writing

Kinesthetic and Tactile Preference

Kinesthetic Tactile

Like lots of movement and enjoy working with tangible objects, collages and flashcards. Instead of sitting still, they prefer walking around the classroom

Q&A

What sensory preference do you prefer?

Personality Types

Extroverted vs. Introverted

Intuitive-Random vs. Sensing-Sequential

Thinking vs. Feeling Closure-oriented/Judging vs. Open/Perceiving

Extroverted vs. Introverted

Extroverted
energy from external world. enjoy interacting with people and making friends

Introverted
energy from internal world seeking solitude

They can learn to work with the help from teachers

Intuitive-Random vs. Sensing-Sequential

Intuitive-Random
Think in abstract, futuristic, large-scale, and nonsequential ways Like to creat theories and prefer to guide their own learning

Sensing-Sequential
Like facts rather than theories Want guidance and specific instruction from teachers

How do teachers teach them both?

To offer variety and choice Sometimes a highly organized structure for sensing-sequential learners At other times multiple options and enrichment activities for another kind

Thinking vs. Feeling

Thinking
Oriented toward the stark truth Want to be viewed competent and do not give praise easily

Feeling
Value other people in personal ways Show empathy and compassion

Thinking learners can help feeling ones tone down their emotional expression while working together

Closure-oriented/Judging vs. Open/Perceiving

Closure-oriented/Judging
Reach judgments or completion quickly Enjoy being given specific tasks and deadlines Desire for closure

Open/Perceiving
Take learning less seriously, treating it like a game Dislike deadlines and like to have a long time soaking up information by osmosis.

They both provide good balance to each other

Q&A

What personality type do you think you are?

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgiwin/JTypes1.htm

Desired Degree of Generality

Global or holistic

Analytic

Desired Degree of Generality

Global or holistic
Like socially interaction, communicating events Feel free to guess from context Tend to make grammatical mistakes

Analytic
Concentrate on grammatical details Do not take risks guessing from contexts

They both have much to learn from each others

Biological Differences

Biorhythms

Sustenance

Location

Biorhythms
Learners have their best time for studying Some perform well in the morning; some in the evening

Sustenance
The need for food and drink while learning. Quite a number of L2 learners feel very comfortable learning with a candy bar, a cup of coffee or a soda in hand while some tend to be distracted from studying

Location
Involves the nature of environment Temperature Lighting Sound And even the firmness of the chairs

Learning Strategies
What are learning strategies?
Specific behaviors or thought processes that learners use to enhance their learning

How many learning strategies are there?

Six main categories

About strategies
A strategy is neither good nor bad A strategy is useful if
a. It relates well to the L2 task at hand b. It fits the particular students learning style c. The student employs it effectively

Enable students to become more independent, autonomous, lifelong learners.

Six Main Categories Cognitive Strategies Metacognitive Strategies Memory-related Strategies Compensatory Strategies Affective Strategies Social Strategies

Cognitive Strategies
Enable learners to manipulate the language materials E.g., through reasoning, analysis, notetaking, summarizing, outlining, reorganizing, etc.

Metacognitive Strategies
Identifying ones own learning style preferences and needs Manage the learning process overall.

Memory-related Strategies
Help learners to link one L2 item or concept to another, but do not always involve deep understanding

Enable learners to learn and retrieve information in an orderly string Learners need such strategy much less when they become better

Compensatory Strategies
Guessing from context in listening and reading Use synonyms and talk around the missing word to aid speaking and writing Use gestures or pause words

Help learners to make up missing words

Affective Strategies
Identify ones mood and anxiety level Use deep breathing or positive self-talk Students who progress toward proficiency seldom need it

Social Strategies
Work with others and understand the target culture as well as the language Intensive interaction with people