What’s your Learning Style?

Do learning styles exist? If they exist which they do according to me, why do they matter?

Whether you believe in learning styles or not, you can’t argue with the fact that all of us have preferences in terms of music, food, movies and I would even say that we have preferences when it comes to people. Harper Lee wrote; “you choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family.” Don’t share this quote with your mom, rather keep it to yourself.

I think I’ve made my point, well, I hope so. Let’s refer to them as preferences rather than styles. All students are equal, but they are also different. The VARK model shows us that students have differences with regards to processing information (Fleming & Baume, 2006) which tells us that students learn differently. Knowing your learning style or styles for that matter could help you grasp concepts and retain information faster depending on the context of course.

The VARK Model states that there are four learning styles:

1. Visual

Visual learners are captivated by images and videos. According to research, the majority of learners are visual.

2. Auditory

Auditory learners are good listeners, and they prefer when information is presented vocally.

3. Reading and Writing

Reading and writing learners don’t mind textbooks or completing worksheets.

4. Kinaesthetic

Kinaesthetic learners learn by doing and making their own mistakes.

Can you have more than one learning style? Absolutely! In fact, you can have all four. You might prefer reading and writing over listening, but it doesn’t mean you can’t learn by paying attention to an engaging speaker. Remember, it’s merely a preference and preferences might change in the future. I didn’t like olives when I was young, but I like them now, and the same can be said for reading. A few good books on a topic you might be interested in could make all the difference.

How do you find out what your learning styles are? It’s very simple really. Complete a basic assessment and you’ll get an idea of what your preferences are in no time. You’ll find plenty of online questionnaires if you do a quick Google or Baidu search. You are welcome to send me a message, and I will gladly email you an assessment form.

As always, happy learning!

Note:

Just a word of warning, despite the vast amount of research on learning styles, it’s important to note that there is no concrete evidence that explicitly says aligning activities to students’ learning style will improve learning significantly (Pashler, et al., 2009).

Check out these websites below if you're interest in doing your own research.

1. https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/learning-styles-preferences/

2. https://teach.com/what/teachers-know/learning-styles/