Learning styles and strategies=============================================================

One of the factors that determine the success in learning is the learning style that the learner uses in approaching the tasks and processing information. Learning styles, according to Keefe (1979) are “characteristic cognitive, affective, and psychological behaviors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment”. Dunn and Griggs (1988: 3) define the learning style as ‘the biologically and developmentally imposed set of characteristics that make the same teaching method wonderful for some and terrible for others’. Research has shown that students have different preferences and use different methods in learning. Some students prefer to work with facts and figures and need concrete examples in order to grasp the new material, while others are more comfortable with theoretical explanations and abstractions; some prefer to interact with others and retain the information better if they are involved in pair and group activities, others prefer to work alone and have time for thinking and reflection; some like to see visual presentation of the information in the form of pictures, graphs, diagrams, video presentations, etc., while others prefer verbal explanations.

Skehan (1998: 237) points out that ‘the style someone adopts may partly reflect personal preference rather than innate endowment’. This implies that students may not be aware of their different abilities, and by adopting a style they feel most comfortable with they ignore other possible ways that may help them improve their learning experience and miss the opportunity to discover other ways of learning and approaching tasks which can be useful for them. Furthermore, the aim of education is to equip students with the skills and abilities that will enable them to function effectively as professionals, so that if they learn only in their preferred style, they will not develop the variety of skills they need in order to be successful as students and professionals. On the other hand, if the teacher teaches in a way that is not compatible with the student’s learning style, the student may feel frustrated and develop negative attitude towards learning. Thus, teachers should strive to satisfy the needs of the learners by using their preferred style of teaching and learning, and at the same time expand their preferences by utilizing different teaching and learning styles, so that part of the time students feel comfortable with their learning style, but they are also given opportunities to experience and discover other learning styles and approaches that will enable them to develop versatile skills and abilities and reach their potential both as students and professionals.

Learning style models

Several learning style models have been developed in order to describe and explain the different learning styles. Teachers need to be aware of the different learning styles

in order to provide a variety of teaching methods and select classroom activities to match the learning styles of their students. Felder and Brent (2005: 58-59) remark that the concept of learning styles is not universally accepted and that learning style models have been criticised for having no sound theoretical basis. However, studies in this area show ‘a clear and consistent picture of learning style differences and their effects on student performance and attitudes’. Moreover, the use of a broad range of learning styles has consistently proved more successful than the use of a limited number of learning styles.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

This model is based on Carl Jung's theory of psychological types and has been used to classify learning styles in many disciplines. Students’ profiles are identified along four dimensions: orientation to life (extroverted/introverted), perception (sensing/intuitive), decision making (thinking/feeling), and attitudes to the outside world (judgment/perception):

Extroverts (try things out, focus on the outer world of people) or introverts (think things through, focus on the inner world of ideas);

sensors (practical, detail-oriented, focus on facts and procedures) or intuitors (imaginative, concept-oriented, focus on meanings and possibilities);

thinkers (sceptical, tend to make decisions based on logic and rules) or feelers (appreciative, tend to make decisions based on personal and humanistic considerations);

judgers (set and follow agendas, seek closure even with incomplete data) or perceivers (adapt to changing circumstances, resist closure to obtain more data).

(Felder and Brent, 2005; Montgomery and Groat, 1998)

Students can be said to belong to one of the 16 MBTI categories based on their preferences, strengths and weaknesses. Thus, a student who is introverted, sensing, feeling and judging would be categorized as having an ISFJ personality (Montgomery and Groat, 1998: 2).

Kolb's Learning Style Model

This model is based on the assumption that all learning entails a cycle of learning modes, but each individual is likely to feel most comfortable in one of the four modes of the cycle based on her/his preference along two dimensions: perception (abstract/concrete) and processing (active/reflective):

Type 1 (concrete, reflective). A characteristic question of this learning type is "Why?" Type 1 learners respond well to explanations of how course material relates to their experience, their interests, and their future careers. To be effective with Type 1 students, the instructor should function as a motivator.

Type 2 (abstract, reflective). A characteristic question of this learning type is "What?" Type 2 learners respond to information presented in an organized, logical fashion and benefit if they have time for reflection. To be effective, the instructor should function as an expert.

Type 3 (abstract, active). A characteristic question of this learning type is "How?" Type 3 learners respond to having opportunities to work actively on well-defined tasks and to learn by trial-and-error in an environment that allows them to fail safely. To be effective, the instructor should function as a coach, providing guided practice and feedback.

Type 4 (concrete, active). A characteristic question of this learning type is "What if?" Type 4 learners like applying course material in new situations to solve real problems. To be effective, the instructor should stay out of the way, maximizing opportunities for the students to discover things for themselves.

(Felder, 1996)

According to this model, each academic field can be matched with different learning styles. Thus, the concrete/reflective style is predominant in the social sciences and humanities, the abstract/reflective style is characteristic for the physical sciences, the abstract/active style is mostly used in science-based professions such as engineering, and the concrete/active style reflects the more social professions such as education (Montgomery and Groat, 1998: 3).

Felder-Silverman Learning Style Model

The Felder-Silverman Learning Style Model consists of five dimensions, two of which correspond to some of the dimensions in the two previous models:

sensing learners (concrete, practical, oriented toward facts and procedures) or intuitive learners (conceptual, innovative, oriented toward theories and meanings);

visual learners (prefer visual representations of presented material--pictures, diagrams, flow charts) or verbal learners (prefer written and spoken explanations);

inductive learners (prefer presentations that proceed from the specific to the general) or deductive learners (prefer presentations that go from the general to the specific);

active learners (learn by trying things out, working with others) or reflective learners (learn by thinking things through, working alone);

sequential learners (linear, orderly, learn in small incremental steps) or global learners (holistic, systems thinkers, learn in large leaps).

Felder (1996) offers some strategies for teachers to ensure that the way the information is presented would appeal to a range of learning styles: teaching theoretical material by first presenting phenomena and problems that relate to the theory (sensing, inductive, global); balancing conceptual information (intuitive) with concrete information (sensing); making extensive use of sketches, plots, schematics, vector diagrams, computer graphics, and physical demonstrations (visual) in addition to oral and written explanations and derivations (verbal) in lectures and readings; giving some experimental observations before presenting the general principle, and have the students (preferably working in groups) see how far they can get toward inferring the latter (inductive); providing class time for students to think about the material being presented (reflective) and for active student participation (active); demonstrating the logical flow of individual course topics (sequential), but also

pointing out connections between the current material and other relevant material in the same course, in other courses in the same discipline, in other disciplines, and in everyday experience (global).

O’Connor (2011) states that despite the wide range of models, the concept of learning styles is very useful for teachers because it provides a stable-enough characterization to plan pedagogical strategies. He offers some general conclusions for teachers that seem to cut across the various models:

Students will learn better when using preferences in which they're successful. Students will be better learners when they can expand their preferences. When teaching accommodates various preferences, more students will be

successful. Teachers can construct activities that include specific (& multiple) learning

preferences. This can be done by adding alternatives or, completing learning cycles that

incorporate all styles or, by utilizing holistic, complex tasks.

Different kinds of intelligence

The theory of different kinds of intelligence of Howard Gardner (Gardner, 1983) whereby people have many kinds of intelligence had a major impact on students and teachers. He lists seven types of intelligence: musical/rhythmic, verbal/linguistic, visual/spatial, physical/kinesthetic, logical/mathematical, interpersonal and intrapersonal. Later he added two more types of intelligence: the existential and naturalistic (Gardner, 2003: 7). He explains these types of intelligences as follows:

l. Linguistic intelligence — the intelligence of a writer, orator, journalist. 2. Logical mathematical intelligence — the intelligence of a logician,

mathematician, scientist. 3. Musical intelligence - the capacity to create, perform, and appreciate music. 4. Spatial intelligence - the capacity to form mental imagery of the world — the

large world of the aviator or navigator, or the more local world of the chess player or the surgeon — and to manipulate those mental images.

5. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence - the capacity to solve problems or fashion products using your whole body, or parts of your body, like your hands or mouth. This intelligence is exhibited by athletes, dancers, actors, craftspersons, and, again, surgeons.

6. Interpersonal intelligence involves the understanding of other persons—how to interact with them, how to motivate them, how to understand their personalities, etc. This skill is obviously important for people in business, teachers, clinicians, and those involved in politics or religion.

7. Intrapersonal intelligence is the capacity to understand oneself—one’s strengths, weaknesses, desires, fears. Access to one’s emotional life is important for intrapersonal intelligence.

8. Naturalist intelligence involves the capacity to make consequential distinctions in nature—between one plant and another, among animals, clouds, mountains, and the like.

9. Existential intelligence is the ‘intelligence of big questions’. When children ask about the size of the universe, when adults ponder death, love, conflict, the future of the planet, they are engaging in existential issues.

(Gardner, 2005)

Murray Loom, a teacher in primary school in Australia, has made the following table to show what meaning the first seven types of intelligence have for students:

Type Likes to… Is good at… Learns best by…

Language activities

Linguistic Learner ‘The word player’

Read, write, tell stories

Memorising names, places, dates and trivia

Saying, hearing and seeing words

Word gamesReading gamesWriting gamesStorytellingShow and tellRole-playUsing puppetsTongue twistersCrosswords/anagrams

Logical/ Mathematical Learner ‘The questioner’

Do experiments, figure things out, work things out, work with numbers, ask questions, explore patterns and relationships

Maths, reasoning, logic and problem solving

Categorising, classifying, working with abstract patterns / relationships

Word puzzlesReading puzzlesWriting puzzlesLogical problem solvingComputer gamesNumber puzzlesClassifyingRankingSequencing/Ordering

Spatial Learner ‘The visualiser’

Draw, build, design and create things, daydream, look at pictures, watch movies play with machines

Imagining things, sensing changes, mazes, puzzles, reading maps, charts

Visualising, dreaming, using the mind’s eye, working with colours and pictures

Shape puzzlesMind MapsDrawingVisualisationsDiagramsConstructing modelsMaps and coordinatesDrawingLearning from videos and CD-ROM-s

Musical Learner ‘The music lover’

Sing, hum tunes, listen to music, play an instrument, respond to music

Picking up sounds, remembering melodies, noticing pitches and rhythms, keeping time

Rhythm, melody, music

SongsAction rhymesChants

Bodily/ Kinaesthetic Learner

Move around, touch and talk, use body language

Physical activities(sport/dancing/acting)

Touching, moving, interacting with space, processing knowledge through bodily sensations

TPRCraftworkDancingPhysical activitiesAction rhymes, songs and games

Interpersonal Learner ‘The socialiser’

Have lots of friends, talk to people, join groups

Understanding people, leading others, organising, communicating, manipulating, mediating conflicts

Sharing, comparing, relating, cooperating, interviewing

Pair workGroup workBrainstormingPeer TeachingDialoguesInterviews

Intrapersonal Learner

Work alone, pursue own interests

Understanding self, focusing inward on feelings/dreams, following instincts, pursuing interests/goals, being original

Working alone, individualised projects, self-paced instruction, having own space

Learning DiariesReflectionCreative writingProject workPersonal goal-setting

http://www.longman.pl/files/materialy_dodatkowe/teachers_club/TC_sample4-6.pdf

Gardner (Gardner, 1983) thinks that there are no two people with the same profile of intelligence, because all people have all intelligences, but to varying degrees, so that all the combinations are different. It suggests that the same approaches and activities are not suitable for all students. For example, unlike students in whom the logical/mathematical intelligence is dominant and who can benefit from complex explanations, for students who have more developed visual/spatial intelligence, the use of diagrams and physical demonstrations would be more beneficial (Harmer, 2001: 47). Davis (1991) believes that educational systems have traditionally turned to the linguistic, logical-mathematical and intrapersonal intelligence, while the dominant intelligences for most students are spatial, musical, physical-kinesthetic and interpersonal intelligence. Although teachers cannot meet the needs of every student at every moment, bearing in mind the different abilities, learning styles and different types of intelligence possessed by students, teachers can direct students to activities and ways of learning that are most suitable for them and that will help them to acquire the language more easily.

Learning strategies

The term "strategy" refers to planned actions to achieve a particular goal. The main goal of students who study a foreign language is to acquire linguistic competence to be able to use language in different situations. However, this objective cannot be achieved at once, so students need to plan, to organize and monitor their learning using different strategies for different aspects and stages of learning the language. Oxford defines strategies as "steps taken by students to enhance their own learning" (Oxford, 1990: 1), i.e. as "specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective and more transferable to new situations "(ibid.: 8). Proper use of strategies helps students to be aware of the learning process and be active participants in that process, not just passive recipients of teacher input.

Oxford (ibid.: 10) emphasizes that in many cultures and educational systems, students are passive and expect to be guided by the teacher, so the use of strategies will help them become more independent and more active in the learning process. Chamot (2004: 15) found that students who use strategies successfully possess metacognitive knowledge about their way of thinking and their approach to learning, understand the goals of the task and have the ability to use those strategies that are important for the given task and that correspond to their style of learning. On the other hand, students without metacognitive approach have no direction and ability to plan their learning, to monitor their progress and to assess their achievement that will help them to set future goals (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990: 8). The selection and effectiveness of learning strategies depend on several factors such as the degree of students’ awareness, their level of linguistic competence, the requirements of the task, the type and context of learning, teachers' expectations, students’ individual characteristics, their age, gender, learning styles, motivation and purpose of learning the language, etc. (Oxford, 1990: 13).

Joan Rubin (quoted in O'Malley & Chamot, 1990:3) proposed a classification scheme of learning strategies, which contains two main groups and several subgroups. The first group consists of strategies that directly affect learning, such as clarification, verification, monitoring, memorization, guessing, inductive reasoning and practice. The other group consists of strategies that indirectly affect learning, such as creating opportunities for practicing the language. O'Malley and Chamot identify three groups of strategies: metacognitive strategies which include thinking about the process of learning, planning, monitoring and evaluating the achieved results, cognitive strategies that involve interaction and manipulation of the material, as well as the use of specific techniques for a particular task; social and affective strategies that involve interaction with others or using mental techniques and self-reward for successfully completed tasks (ibid.: 137-139).

Oxford (Oxford, 1990) has made one of the most comprehensive classification of strategies for language learning. She divides the strategies into direct strategies which include memory, cognitive and compensation strategies, and indirect strategies which include metacognitive, affective and social strategies. She explains that all these strategies help the development of communicative competence in general and specific ways:

1. Memory strategies reflect very simple principles such as arranging things in order, making associations or reviewing. For the purpose of learning a new language, all these activities must be meaningful to the learners, and the material to be reviewed must have significance. Although many teachers believe that learning vocabulary is easy, students have a serious problem to acquire the vocabulary required for fluid communication. Memory strategies will help students remember verbal material easily, and then retrieve it when needed for communication. (ibid.: 39). Memory strategies fall into four sets: creating mental linkages, applying images and sounds, reviewing well, and employing action. Some of the specific strategies are grouping, using imagery, using keywords, structured reviewing, using physical response or sensation, etc.

2. Cognitive strategies are essential in learning the language and are characterized by a common function: the manipulation and transformation of the target

language by the learner. There are four sets of cognitive strategies: practicing, receiving and sending messages, analysing and reasoning, and creating structures for input and output, which include the following strategies: repeating, recognising and using formulas and patters, reasoning deductively, analysing expressions, taking notes, summarizing, etc. Oxford stated that these strategies are generally popular among students (ibid.: 43).

3. Compensation strategies enable learners to use the target language for comprehension or production despite limitations in knowledge. They are intended to make up for the gaps in students’ grammar and especially vocabulary knowledge. There are two sets of compensation strategies: guessing intelligently in listening and reading, and overcoming limitations in speaking and writing. Some of the compensation strategies are the following: using linguistic clues, switching to the mother tongue, using mime or gesture, selecting the topic, using synonyms, etc.

4. Metacognitive strategies help students to coordinate their learning process. They include three strategy sets: centering your learning, arranging and planning your learning, and evaluating your learning. Some of the metacognitive strategies are the following: overviewing and linking with already known material, paying attention, organizing, setting goals and objectives, seeking practice opportunities, etc. However, although they are very important, research shows that students do not attach great importance to them and use them sporadically and without much sense if their importance (ibid.: 137-8).

5. Affective strategies Since the term ‘affective’ refers to emotions, attitudes, motivations and values, it indicates the importance of affective learning strategies. Negative emotions interfere with learning, while positive emotions can make learning more effective and more fun. Hence, successful students are usually those who know how to control their emotions and attitudes toward learning (ibid.: 140). Moreover, affective strategies develop the self-confidence and perseverance needed for learners to participate actively in the process of learning the language, which is a requirement for the development of communicative competence (ibid.: 8). There are three sets of affective strategies: lowering your anxiety, encouraging yourself, and taking your emotional temperature, which include the following strategies: using meditation, music and laughter, taking risks, rewarding yourself, discussing your feeling s with someone else, etc.

6. Social strategies. Since learning a language involves communication with others, appropriate social strategies are very important in this process (ibid.: 144). There are three sets of social strategies: asking questions, cooperating with others, and empathizing with others. Each set consists of two specific strategies: asking for clarification or verification, asking for correction, cooperating with peers, cooperating with proficient users of the new language, developing cultural understanding and becoming aware of others’ thoughts and feelings. These strategies help students to learn through interaction with others.

Most studies show that advanced learners use more strategies, and use them more frequently than students who show weaker results in the learning of languages. This

indicates that teachers should try to assess learners’ use of strategies by using self-report surveys, interviews, learner journals, think-aloud techniques, and then use that knowledge to orient their L2 instruction as well as the strategy instruction that can be interwoven into the language instruction (Oxford, 2001). One of the easiest ways to help learners identify styles and preferences is by using a self-check questionnaire. Oxford’s (1990) Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) is the most widely used instrument for this purpose:

This questionnaire will help not only learners identify their preferred styles and strategies, but it will also give teachers valuable information about their students which they can use to help learners put certain strategies into practice. Brown (2007: 145) suggests that after the students have filled the questionnaire, the teacher can engage them in any or all of the following:

(1) a discussion of why they responded as they did,(2) small-group sharing of feelings underlying their responses, (3) an informal tabulation of how people responded to each item, (4) some advice, from your own experience, on why certain practices may be successful or unsuccessful, or (5) reaching the general consensus that responses in the A and B categories are

usually indicative of successful approaches to language learning.

The style preference questionnaire is designed in such a way that each item refers to a characteristic of good language learners:

1. Lower inhibitions. 2. Encourage risk-taking. 3. Build self-confidence. 4. Develop intrinsic motivation. 5. Engage in cooperative learning. 6. Use right-brain processes. 7. Promote ambiguity tolerance. 8. Practice intuition. 9. Process error feedback.10. Set personal goals.

In order to help learners develop useful strategies for language learning, teachers can incorporate formal or informal strategy training in their teaching. Brown (2007: 146) provides a list of ways of building strategic techniques in the language classroom based on the ten items in the questionnaire:

1. To lower inhibitions: Play guessing games and communication games; do role plays and skits; sing songs; use plenty of group work; laugh with your students; have them share their fears in small groups.

2. To encourage risk taking: Praise students for making sincere efforts to tryout language; use fluency exercises where errors are not corrected at that time; give outside-of-class assignments to speak or write or otherwise tryout the language.

3. To build students' self-confidence: Tell students explicitly (verbally and nonverbally) that you do indeed believe in them; have them make lists of their strengths, of what they know or have accomplished so far in the course.

4. To help students develop intrinsic motivation: Remind them explicitly about the rewards for learning English; describe (or have students look up) jobs that require English; play down the final examination in favour of helping students to see rewards for themselves beyond the final exam.

5. To promote cooperative learning: Direct students to share their knowledge; play down competition among students; get your class to think of themselves as a team; do a considerable amount of small-group work.

6. To encourage students to use right-brain processing: Use movies and tapes in class; have students read passages rapidly; do skimming exercises; do rapid

"free writes"; do oral fluency exercises where the object is to get students to talk (or write) a lot without being corrected.

7. To promote ambiguity tolerance: Encourage students to ask you, and each other, questions when they don't understand something; keep your theoretical explanations very simple and brief; deal with just a few rules at a time; occasionally resort to translation into a native language to clarify a word or meaning.

8. To help students use their intuition : Praise students for good guesses; do not always give explanations of errors-let a correction suffice; correct only selected errors, preferably just those that interfere with learning.

9. To get students to make their mistakes work FOR them: Tape-record students' oral production and get them to identify errors; let students catch and correct each other's errors-do not always give them the correct form; encourage students to make lists of their common errors and to work on them on their own.

10. To get students to set their own goals: Explicitly encourage or direct students to go beyond the classroom goals; have them make lists of what they will accomplish on their own in a particular week; get students to make specific time commitments at home to study the language; give "extra credit" work.

Conclusion

Students come to the classroom equipped with different skills and abilities and a preferred way of learning. In order to teach successfully, teachers need to employ a variety of teaching methods and techniques to cater for the needs of all learners. When there is a mismatch between the teaching style and the students’ learning styles, the objectives of the course cannot be achieved and the teaching and learning experience will be full of frustrations and disappointments. Therefore, in order to be effective teachers, they need to recognize the different learning styles of the students in the classroom and adapt the teaching to suit their learning preferences. However, it is neither possible nor desirable for learners to learn exclusively in the way they feel most comfortable with. So, the best learning experience for learners would be to learn partly in the way they prefer, and partly in less preferred ways in order to develop different skills and abilities that they need in order to be successful both in their studies and in their future professions.

References

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Chamot, A. U. (2004). Issues in Language Learning Strategy Research and Teaching. Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 1, 1, 14-26.

Davis, R. (1991). Learning How to Learn: Technology, the Seven Multiple Intelligences and Learning. California: ERIC Clearinghouse (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 338214)

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Gardner, H. (2005). Multiple Lenses on the Mind. Paper presented at the ExpoGestion Conference, Bogota Colombia, May 25, 2005.

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O’Connor, T. (2011). Using Learning Styles to Adapt Technology for HigherEducation. Available at:

http://www.indstate.edu/cirt/id/pedagogies/styles/learning.html.

O' Malley, J. M., & Chamot, A. U. (1990). Learning strategies in second language acquisition. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

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Discussion questions:

1. What is the difference between learning styles and learning strategies?

2. Why are learning styles and strategies important for L2 teachers to understand?

3. Which is your preferred learning style?

4. Which intelligence/intelligences do you posses to a higher degree?

5. What strategies/categories of strategies do you use the most and which do you use the least?

6. How can you include strategy instruction in your L2 teaching?

7. In a classroom situation, what can a teacher do to help all the learners and their preferred styles?