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Table of Contents

Learning Styles Essay 1
Essay Topic 1
Introduction 1
Personal Experience 1
Teacher A 2
Teacher B 2
Conclusion 3

Word Count 5
References 6
Bibliography 7































Essay Topic

Think of a teacher who you really liked. Now that you know a few things about learning styles, describe how the teacher's teachingstyle compared to your learning style. Now think about a teacher who taught in a manner that didn't correspond with your preferred learning style. What learning style do you think that teacher may have catered to? In light of your consideration of the above points, give advice to a novice L2 teacher on planning his/her lessons to suit his/her learners’ learning styles.

Learning StylesIntroduction

“Each person learns in a unique way because individuals perceive and process experience in different preferred ways... It influences how information is collected, organised and transformed, and refers to the ways in which you learn best and how learning is approached. You can identify and examine your learning style, so that those behaviours that are effective can be built upon, whereasthose that are inappropriate in a given situation can be avoided or changed.” (Payne, Whittaker. 2006. pp. 12-13)

As stated by Cassidy (2004) learning style has been the subject of an inexhaustible amount of research and studies and as such, the definitions, theories, interpretations and measures are endless. Furthermore De Bello (1990) tells us the number of definitions is almost equal to thatof theorists on the subject. However, Keefe provides the following definition:
“...composite of characteristic, cognitive, affective and physiological behaviours that serve as relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment... Learning style is a consistent way of functioning that reflects underlying causes of behaviour.”(Keefe, 1979,p.4 )
At this point I would like to make clear the difference between learning styles and learning preferences as I think it pertinent for a better understanding of the subject: Sadler-Smith (1996, p.30) states “Learning preferences may be defined as the favouring of one particular mode of learning over another and as such are readily expressed and observed: ‘I don’t like lectures- I muchprefer practical classes and project work’” whereas learning styles deal with the way in which the brain retains information, regardless of preference or enjoyment of activity.

Personal Experience

With this in mind, I aim to comment on my personal experiences with learning styles and how my learning style corresponded with the teaching style of one of my teachers - Teacher A - and how itconflicted with that of another - Teacher B- coincidentally both teachers A and B are language teachers. With reference to points made, I will then suggest how best to cope with different learning styles to a novice L2 teacher.

There are various ways in which one can test oneself to ascertain one’s learning style. The most commonly used is the ILS (Index of Learning Styles) by which I was deemed tobe a reflective and visual/verbal learner. In order to better relate to teaching styles I took a more specific test with more specific answers known as the VARK test, in which I scored nine for visual/verbal, eight for kinaesthetic and five for reading/writing and aural.

Teacher A

As stated by Felder and Silverman (1988, p.674): “How much a given student learns in a class is governed in partby that student’s native ability and prior preparation but also by the compatibility of his or her learning style and the instructor’s teaching style” This compatibility, and how it benefitted me personally, is the subject of this section.

While in my first year of Secondary Education, I had a Spanish teacher - Teacher A - whose teaching style corresponded very well with my learning style,...