Hello everyone. Welcome to the Langfocus channel. My name is Paul.
Today, I want to talk about: "Knowing your learning style".
Most people rely on other people or on their materials to teach them.
But I want you to be empowered to be able to direct your own language learning.
That's why today we are going to look at your learning style, and how to use it to learn more efficiently.
Different people learn differently
We, all have a unique learning style that is based on the type of sensory information that we prefer.
These kinds of sensory information are called learning modalities and there are four of them.
Some people say 3, I'm going to say 4.
They are: visual , auditory , reading and writing and kinesthetic.
You can remember those learning modalities based on the acronym VARK.
Students generally have a dominant modality.
But they do use a combination of all the different modalities.
Some people will say for example : "I'm a visual learner".
But really what they mean is that "I am primarily a visual learner"
with some of the other modalities as well.
There are some people who don't really have one strongly dominant modality and they call those people multimodal learners.
They have a multi-modal learning style.
I happen to be a multi-modal learner. I don't really have one really dominant modality.
But my least dominant modality is the auditory. That's the one that I prefer the least.
Now preferring a specific modality doesn't mean that that's the only way that you can learn.
It doesn't mean that you can't learn in the other modalities. That just means that that's the preferred modality for you
That's the one that engages you the most, that's the one that you can relate to the most.
So it's usually the best way for you to learn.
Visual learners tend to prefer learning using images, videos, charts, maps, graphs and so on.
And often they see images in their mind when they are reading or listening.
Auditory learners prefer to learn by listening to other speak, by having discussions by explaining things out loud.
Sometimes by recording a lesson and listening to it again in order to review.
Read/write learners learn visually but specifically through text and they enjoy learning through text books,
through articles, through dictionary definitions, through writing journals, through writing articles, through writing blog posts in their target language.
Read/write letters tend to be quite good with the patterns and the syntax of the language
and they can look at a sentence and analyze the different elements within it quite easily.
Kinesthetic learners are engaged when they are experiencing something physically with their body.
They tend to like acting out real or simulated situations, through movement and through role play.
And since emotions are actually physical sensations, kinesthetic learners are quite engaged by emotional sensations.
So emotional impact will help in their learning and retention.
You may already have a good idea of what your preferred learning style is.
But in case, you don't, you can take this quiz right here and get an idea of what your preferred learning style is.
When you know your preferred learning style, it becomes easier to understand why you're not motivated,
why you're not excited to be learning and why you're not learning as efficiently as you could be.
Most people rely on their teacher or on materials to teach them.
But your teacher and your materials often don't target your preferred learning modalities.
Have you ever had a teacher who just talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked .... ?
Even if your teacher had a pleasant voice, unless you were an auditory learner, you were probably bored to death!
Another common situation is that kinesthetic learners are sometimes made to sit in their chair at their desk for 90 minutes straight.
And, after about 30 minutes of that, you're ready to pick up your chair and throw it.
When I make videos for Langfocus, I try to include elements that address all of the different learning modalities,
so that I can engage as many people as possible.
For the visual modality, I try to include interesting images and backgrounds and charts and maps when appropriate.
For auditory learners, I try to speak in a clear and engaging manner and include some music and sound effects.
For read/write learners, I try to include some text headings and key points on the screen.
And, for kinesthetic learners, I try to create some emotional effect through some of the things that I say
and through some of the music and the way that I choose and mix it and threw some symbols and imagery that I include in the video
When you do self-study, you can choose to use your preferred learning modality
to help you be more engaged with the material and to help you retain the material better.
If you're learning materials don't match your preferred modality, then you can adapt the materials by filling in the gaps and creating the parts that are missing in your modality.
For example, if you're a visual learner but your materials are mostly text based,
then you can imagine images of the words and the sentences that you are practicing.
Actually see the situation in your head as you are practicing the language, so that the language and the imagery become associated.
If you're an auditory learner, but your materials are mostly text-based, then you can imagine the auditory component inside your head
You can hear the voices, you can hear the voices being expressive.
You can also chant sentences to yourself, you can sing sentences to yourself.
If you happen to be a read/write learner and you are using an all audio program, like Pimsleur for example,
then you can try to imagine the words inside your head,
actually see the letters of the words when you are saying them out loud.
That might be hard to do at first, but when you get used to it, you can do it
and then you will be connecting the auditory with your preferred learning modality of read/write.
If you are a kinesthetic learner and your materials are mostly text-based,
then you can imagine yourself going through that experience that you are reading about in that sentence or in that text.
Try to actually feel what's going on and experience it in your body.
Even though you're imagining it, you can try to feel those sensations.
You can use body motions and gestures to learn new vocabulary and you can use body motions to act out the language that you are studying.
You don't have to just stick to the learning materials that you have you can interpret them
and adapt them to your own learning style and use them in the way that's best for you.
So knowing your learning style is important because it can help you adapt materials and create new activities for yourself,
to keep you engaged and help you retain the language that you are studying.
So I recommend that you find out your learning style and you use it to your advantage today.
Thank you for watching the Langfocus channel. Have a good day.