Learning Preferences - Essay Example

Learning Preferences Upon filling the VARK Questionnaire and obtaining the scores, the results showed that Aural learning stylehad the highest score among the four learning preferences. Below is a list of all the learning preferences and how they scored from the questionnaire. Visual = 4 Read/Write = 3 Kinesthetic = 5 Aural = 7 Aural style was, therefore, the learning style of preference. Summary of Aural preference The Aural preference of learning dictates that a student relies more on the verbal information than other means of communication. If a student is of aural preference, it means that such a student prefers to have his notes explicitly explained to him by the instructor or fellow students. In a class whereby the teacher gives more notes than verbal teaching, the student is bound to fail the exams since he will not have gained any considerable knowledge from class. Talkative and discursive teachers are their best friends (Sadler, 2012). In order to meet the needs of the aural students, they must always go to school in person and attend all the lessons. By doing this, they get to hear words of explanations from the teacher and absorb more knowledge in the course of it. After the lesson, the student may follow the teacher and get more explanation on an issue he did not understand well. The teacher may have to involve the student in a discussion so that they both participate in the talk. The aural students can also learn best by forming discussion groups among themselves. They can make use of other category of students who understand the written notes to explain to them in words. In such groups, the students exchange ideas and concepts as they hear again and again from the word of mouth. However, for the aural student to achieve maximum knowledge, the discussion has to be a two-way traffic; a give-and-take principle. The student who prefers aural learning style must also talk as he explains his ideas to others. As he talks, he also gets to hear his voice speaking the concepts in his brain. Such students may as well make use of a tape recorder while attending a lesson in class. The tape recorder would then be played later by the student as he listens to the voice to the very voice of the teacher over and over again. The student can also remember the examples given by the teacher in class through relevant stories and jokes. The only drawback for this student is that he tends to have poor and incomplete notes since he prefers audio to notes. To counteract this risk, the student has to collect more notes and fill the gaps in his book by a discursive consultation from friends and other audio sources. He can also summarize all his notes and convert them to audio if he wishes to. Reading loudly is another technique that works best for this group of students. The strategies discussed above are only meant for the intake of knowledge. However, during the examination (output), the student must devise ways of recalling the knowledge obtained through the aforementioned techniques and put them in writing. Therefore, during revision and exam sessions, the aural students always think loudly in their head before answering any question. They always imagine that the examiner is with them in person and that they are being examined verbally. As they write their answers down, they listen to their inner voices speaking the answers loudly. During revisions, they have to spend time in isolated places as they try to remember the concepts learnt in class. Comparison of Aural style with other preferences Kinesthetic preference- as aural students seem to solely depend on hearing for learning, kinesthetic students would want to experience what they are being taught so that they can understand it best. To the kinesthetic students, learning is of no value if does not contain elements of reality and practicality. Like the aural students, kinesthetic also have to attend all the class lessons in person, but with a different objective: to see the practical examples given by the teacher. They prefer experiments and practical to other modes of learning. Kinesthetic and aural have one thing in common; they do not prefer notes and handouts (Linksman, 2011). Visual preference- the visual preference students are always very holistic in their approach. They tend to be easily impressed and carried away by the looks. In a learning session, there must be the use of gestures, pictures, posters, slides, diagrams, flow charts and graphs. Without these, their knowledge intake becomes partial. As aural students depend on their ears, this category depends on their eyes. As they read, they would want to change the written notes to symbols so as to facilitate their easy learning and aid their memory of concepts. In the exam room, they like answering questions with diagrams that support their responses. Read/write preference- this category is very distinguishable from the three groups mentioned above. These students strongly believe that the meaning of any knowledge is in the words. Their main learning materials comprise of handouts and books. They would rather read the instruction manuals rather than having someone explaining to them with the word of mouth. They like to write a lot of notes and convert diagrams to notes. Multimodal- this is a situation where one has more than one learning preference. Such an individual can, for instance, read notes or watch video and, have the same learning outcome. This is the ideal learning group of people. The majority falls in this category. This type of preference is, by far, better than any of the already discussed preferences. The individuals in this category do not always feel secure with one learning technique. This strategy is advantageous in that it enables a student to learn in any environment. A teacher with this kind of preference also has the ability to reach all categories of students by employing various learning techniques and materials such as diagrams, discussions and handouts. Influence of the awareness on the perception of learning This topic has created awareness on the various types of learning styles and preferences. For many years, questions have been asked why some students perform better than others in examinations yet they attended the same lessons. Through this discussion, it has been established that the perception that all students should perform equally under same learning condition is futile. Not all students have the same learning preference; a student can only perform better if his learning preference if fully utilized. It has also been discovered that IQ is not the only determining factor for academic performance; learning style is too. Reference Linksman, R. (2011). Fine Line between ADHD and Kinesthetic Learners. Goodreads. Boston Sadler, S. (2012). Aura Personalities: Our Innate Gifts & Magnificent Potential Reflected in the Energy We Emanate. Kindle. New York VARK. (2011). VARK: A guide to Learning Styles. www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?=aural Read More