Learning Strategies and Learning Styles

“We can indeed learn what we want to learn, we just have to learn how to do it.” -Alan Terry.

How can you help someone define and find out their own strategy for learning and memorizing spelling?

Research about this question has been ongoing in the field of education for many years to find an answer that helps teachers discover the true cause of learning difficulties. What is education? Is our acquiring of knowledge considered learning?

According to what Dr. Howard states in his book “The Owner’s Manual for the Brain”, in which he singled out an entire section entitled (Learning): Education consists of two processes, which are obtaining and retaining information. We can say that we learned if we obtained and understood the information, and if we were able to repeat the use of what we learned in similar situations at intervals close to the original learning event, as in being able to retain the learning (remember it) all the time, and then being able to use it alone multiple times on different situations over long periods.

Thus, memorization is a specific part of learning, and does not necessarily involve understanding. For example, if I can memorize and recite a long poem without understanding the meaning of a single word in it, does that mean that I’ve learned just because I’ve repeated words that I can’t explain with my own words or understand its meaning?

While the traditional teacher views retaining information, storing it in memory, and recalling it upon request or question as an indication of the learners’ learning taking place, experts and researchers come to inform us about the mechanisms of learning and memory, and how to learn as efficiently as possible. The results of their studies can be summarized in the phrase: “Save some time to practice and find a learning style that helps you come up with the meaning that works for you, and make a decision that you really want to remember.”

Learning styles of learners:

The term “learning style” refers to the way a person learns, or the type of cognitive processing that a person uses during learning. Much has been written on the topic of using multiple sensory channels to communicate information. This hypothesis suggests that most humans have a more powerful or preferred way (visual, auditory, or kinesthetic) to receive information. Hence, if the teacher uses two methods of conveying information (visual and auditory), the learning opportunities for students who prefer one of these two strategies will increase. This will enhance their learning process. However, researchers confirm that the rest of the sensory channels still work in the learning context to receive information in parallel with the preferred sensory channel, albeit to a lesser extent.

According to the hypothesis, harmony occurs between the style of the teacher and the learner when students of a particular learning style learn at the hands of a teacher who uses the same style. These students learn more than those who learn at the hands of a teacher who has a teaching style that is not in harmony with their learning style. In order for this hypothesis to be true, the traditional teacher must be freed from the illusion of their prejudices about choosing the most appropriate strategy for the learning of all learners, and the illusion that what the teacher’s teachers practiced (or the way the teacher “learned”) is the best for learners, which makes the teacher use it automatically. It may work with a limited group of students, but what about the rest?

This illusion that the traditional teacher falls into prevents both the teacher and the student from discovering the students’ preferred learning styles to receive information; thus, their needs will not be met during the learning process. It’s no wonder that students who are less reactive to the teacher’s style will be judged to be dull or unwilling to learn too.

Getting out of the comfort zone of the traditional teacher who used to present their lessons to students in the same way and style day after day, and year after year is not as easy as it seems. This causes traditional teachers to feel exhausted as a result of the great effort they make in molding the minds of students to receive information in their preferred way, and causes learners to not want to go to school and to feel bored during the learning process due to staying in the classroom for long hours listening to one teacher after another without having a real involvement in the learning process. All of this causes, not infrequently, the emergence of unacceptable behaviors from students. This is a result of the negative feelings that control the students from the teacher and the teaching process, and even from themselves during the school day.

When students of a particular learning style are taught by a teacher who uses the same style, these students learn more than students who are taught by a teacher whose teaching style is not consistent with their style. 

The teacher in the modern learning model:

The main task of education is to help students achieve the desired results. In the modern learning model, the teacher bears this responsibility and is prepared in a way that reflects their intellectual and psychological maturity, which is positively reflected on their performance and the performance of students in the classroom. The teacher in this model does not see the recipient as stupid. They show respect for the student’s person, give them independence in choosing the most appropriate method of learning, allow them to depend on themselves to understand topics, and let them live the joy of success by discovering the world around them.

On the other hand, the student begins to form a positive image of themselves, and becomes more confident in their skills and in the teacher who supported them to succeed. They become more accepting of going through experiences with varying difficulties as a result of their growing belief in their abilities and the adults around them who helped them achieve success in their previous experiences.

Simply put, the teacher accepts differences in learning methods within the classroom, which reflect the uniqueness of each learner. Then the learner interacts positively with this educational atmosphere that encourages learning, self-expression, ideas, and creativity in posing solutions to problems, accepting their questions, and helping them use imagination that aids learning, in other words “returning to the learning instinct”.

For example, the teacher can attract the visual learner’s interest by presenting visual instructions and graphs on a screen, with auditory reinforcement on the main points, and similarly with the rest of the learners’ differences, while making sure to diversify the activities to meet all possible learning styles within the class.

The main recommendation is that teachers define their own ‘learning method’, as well as assess learners’ learning styles and make educational choices accordingly. 

How can this be applied in the classroom?

The Accelerated Learning model provides practical suggestions for the teacher to employ the learners’ learning styles in designing the learning process in an interesting, fun, and immersive way:

• Leave aside the beliefs that hinder learning and learners and your abilities and capabilities as a teacher.
• Present a variety of educational resources, tools, and strategies that satisfy the learners' senses and motivate them to learn.
• Create an interactive classroom learning environment, in which different types of learning are available (individual, peer, or group), and there is respect among learners, all while allowing for some fun, using available simple tools.
• Abandon the traditional role of the teacher as the only and primary source of information in the classroom, and enhance the learners’ enthusiasm for research and discovery by asking appropriate questions that motivate them to truly learn.
• When providing information orally, make sure that the visual aids presented contain only key points.
• Ensure that you vary the speed and volume of your voice while giving instructions to attract the attention of learners of all learning styles.
• Ensure when viewing videos that the audio commentary is limited, and it is used only to emphasize the key points to focus the learners’ attention.
• Always remember that the learner’s desire to learn and the effectiveness of their pursuit of learning are separate from differences between the teacher’s style and the learner’s style. Your task as a teacher is to ignite this desire, then allow the learners to have their own learning experience.