Educatorshaveknownforalongtimethatpeoplelearnindifferentways.Thatiswhyteacherspresentinformationinvariousforms.Forexample,aswellasexplaininganewlanguage,languageteachersoftenprovideotherlearningexperiencessuchasbooks,charts,videos,audiocassettes,songs,debatesandgroupwork.Inthisway,allstudentsinaclasshaveanopportunitytolearninthewaythatbestsuitsthem.
Inthelast50yearsorso,researchershavebeenstudyinglearnersinanattempttoidentifyallthepossiblelearningstylesthathumansuse.①Theyhavefoundthatwecanveryroughlydividepeopleintothreegroups—thosewholearnbestthroughseeing,thosewholearnbestthroughlisteningandthosewholearnbestthroughmoving,doingortouching.
Someresearchhasidentifiedeightdistinctlearningstyles,andresearchershavemadeupteststofindoutwhichoftheselearningstylesbestsuitsdifferentpeople.Thesetestsshowthat,althoughmostpeoplehaveonedominantstyleoflearning,theyarealsoabletouseotherlearningstyleseffectively.Somepeopleevenseemtohavemanydifferentlearningstyles.
Theadvantageofknowingwhatkindoflearneryouareisthatyoucanthenstudyinthewaythatbestsuitsyourlearningstyle.
