Individual Learning Styles
Free WiFi access
Learning How We Learn.
Helping our students to learn Spanish in accordance with their Individual Learning Style, by taking advantage of their natural strengths, is a cornerstone of our Educational Philosophy and the secret of the remarkable success our students achieve in learning Spanish at our school.
You may already know about learning styles, or might even be an expert on the subject, but matching teaching techniques and methods with the student’s natural learning style is so important to the success in learning Spanish that we want to dedicate some space on this page helping you understand “How We Learn”.
You probably do not think of yourself as having a specific Learning Style, but have you noticed how your friends learn? Watch them follow the instructions on how to hook up a computer or assemble a bicycle.
- John, for example, has to read the instructions out loud to learn how to do it.
- Mary could read the same instructions six times without learning anything; but if you show her a diagram, she can do it easily.
- Bill, does not even look at the instructions, he just starts doing it. Give him a project to work on – something to do with his own hands - and he will figure it out, and will never forget it.
These different approaches to learning are more than just the personal preference of your friends; these learning styles are part of who they are. What style do you use?
Some experts say there are as many as 80 different learning styles. In fact, there are as many learning styles as there are individual learners; it is just easier for us to group them in some ways to better understand them.
But what is a Learning Style?
We all acquire and processes information in our own unique way. Your learning style (or learning preference) is the particular way through which you more likely will learn easier, faster and better. It is your preferred method of perceiving, organizing, and making sense of new information. If you had difficulties studying Spanish in the past, and think of yourself as not gifted with languages, it may not be your actual ability to learn Spanish, but the likelihood that your previous Spanish teachers may not have presented material and structured your learning experience in the way that best suit you.
Learning Styles do not tell us about a person's intelligence or abilities; they are simply different ways of learning, and no one has a better learning style than anyone else, just different means of perceiving and processing information.
Though most people learn through a combination of different methods, everybody has a preferred style that works best for them. It is important to understand your individual learning style so that you can devise strategies to make learning easier for yourself.
When a mismatch exists between the learning style of a student in a Spanish class and the teaching style of the professor, the student may become bored and inattentive in class, do poorly on tests, get frustrated and discouraged about learning Spanish, will probably blame himself, and in some cases will just give up and drop out of Spanish school.
Therefore, it is also very important for teachers to identify and understand the learning styles of their students in order to present new material in a way that best fits with the student’s unique mode of acquisition and processing of new information. This is what we do at Personalized Spanish to help you learn Spanish faster, easier and better.
How Individual Learning Style helps in Learning Spanish?
There are hundreds of scientific models and many different ways to classify learning styles. The most popular theories recognize four primary ways our bodies take in information - Perceptual Modalities, and four primary ways of processing this information - Processing Approaches.
PERCEPTUAL MODALITIES or styles of absorbing information during learning process have the most implications in education. The field of accelerated learning relies heavily on these modalities to explain how students can learn new material faster and easier.
Four Perceptual Modalities:
All people access information through all senses, but by and large we favor one. We perceive visually (by sight), auditorally (by sound), kinesthetically (by doing), and linguistically (by reading or hearing words).
Visual learners prefer seeing what they are learning. Pictures and images help them understand ideas and information better than verbal explanations. A drawing may help more than a discussion about the subject. When someone explains something to a visual learner, he or she may create a mental picture of what that person describes.
At Personalized Spanish for students who are Visual Learners we use a variety of visual demonstration techniques, including: pictures, diagrams, colorful charts, illustrated textbooks, overhead transparencies, videos, flipcharts and visual handouts. Our professors evoke mental pictures and appeal to the “mind’s eye” of the visual learner.
Auditory Learners learn through listening. They prefer spoken messages and need to hear teachers’ and their own voices to process the information. Auditory learners interpret the underlying meanings of speech through listening to sounds, tone of voice, pitch, speed and other nuances. Written information may have little meaning until it is heard.
At Personalized Spanish for Auditory Learners we emphasize spoken instructions, lectures, live conversations, oral discussions, reading aloud during and after class, and hearing a variety of native speakers. We make extensive use of modern audio equipment and our recording facilities.
Kinesthetic (hands-on) Learners learn best by doing. Their perceptual preference is related to the use of experience and practice (simulated or real). Often, they don't do well in traditional Spanish schools because in often crowded classrooms they don’t have enough opportunities to experiment or even participate. In most other Spanish schools students are relegated to passive roles – listening and taking notes.
At Personalized Spanish we absorb active learners in a variety of active experiences such as real conversation, lively dialogs, small group exercises, role-playing, mini-theater, etc. The key is that the student is connected to reality through concrete personal experiences, field trips, real life examples, practice or simulation. They are encouraged to touch, to do, and to associate Spanish words with actual objects. Many are learning on the job during visits with other professional in the field of interest to this particular student.
Linguistic, Verbal or Textual Learners process information expressed in words. This is the most traditional of learning and teaching methods, i.e. hearing teachers’ words and reading words in textbooks. This is the only method of instructions in many other Spanish schools.
At Personalized Spanish we also use lectures and textbooks, but with one important difference: depending on the students’ learning style, we encourage them to process the information better either by hearing themselves say the words while reading the text, or visualize the words and create a mental images of the text. This way our students better remember what that they read or what is said to them and make information their own.
PROCESSING APPROACH refers to the unique mental process by which the information perceived by the individual is converted into knowledge Most Learning Style theories differentiate four primary ways in which we process information, the way we think, solve problems, and remember information. These are:
Four Processing Approaches
People learn to use a combination of all of these, but for most of us only two are dominant, preferred, or natural ways of processing and recalling information. According to Dr. Anthony Gregorc’s Mind Style Model, there are four basic types of learners:
- Concrete Sequential (CS) - practical, step-by-step
- Abstract Sequential (AS) - theoretical or analytical, structured and systematic.
- Abstract Random (AR) - spontaneous and flexible.
- Concrete Random (CR) – realistic and able to go with a flow
We usually process information on the unconscious level, but we may be consciously aware of which modes of dealing with information we prefer.
Some studies suggested that Sequential learners deal more easily with grammatical structure and analysis of Spanish language, while Random thinkers are better at learning language patterns and rhythms.
Concrete learners use a variety of memorization strategies such as repetition and flash cards and they like material that is practical, structured and well organized. Abstract learners prefer to understand general language theory, appreciate greater complexity and tend to get bored with memorization.
The ongoing debate among the Spanish Language Professionals is which approach to presenting information is more effective in teaching Spanish: deductive or inductive. In Inductive approach, language specifics and examples are given and underlying principles are inferred; in Deductive approach, rules and principles are explained and specific examples and particular applications are deduced by the students.
Deductive method – Spanish rules and grammar –is used by most other Spanish schools because it is easier to teach, and it makes more sense for Abstract Random learners, but many researchers found that in studying foreign language inductive component is vital. The inductive teaching approach (sometimes called discovery or inquiry learning) – introduction of new material by connecting it to what is already known, which is especially attractive to Concrete Sequential learners, leads to increased vocabulary and longer retention of Spanish language.
At Personalized Spanish we subscribe to Balanced Teaching Approach combining Inductive methods of practical language acquisition, which leads to fluency and better retention, while teaching Spanish Grammar and conventions of Spanish language – the Deductive method - which is proven to result in grammatically correct use of Spanish.
Why should you choose a Spanish school,
that cares about your Individual Learning Style?
You probably experienced a situation when you had difficulties grasping some concept, and the teacher just kept going over the same lesson the same way hoping that repetition will help you understand it. The teacher, if he cared about you, may have tried to speak slower or louder, but it did not help; you still did not get it and felt embarrassed or stupid because others have no problems understanding the material. The teacher may have been an expert in his field, but he was too comfortable with his or her teaching style and hoped that you will adapt to it.
At Personalized Spanish, all our teachers are trained to appreciate the student’s individual learning style and to adapt their instructional methods to each student’s style. Our golden rule is not “present information as you would like it presented to you”, but “present information to others in the way they will learn best”.
Making Your Learning Style Work For You.
Our experience correlates with findings of Dr. Oxford and Dr. Wallace, who state that Matching teaching style with learning style can dramatically enhance academic achievement, students’ attitude and learning behavior, specifically in foreign language instructions. Stress frustration and burnout occurs when mismatch persists over a long period of time.
It is impossible, in this brief space, to do justice to the incredible variety and complexity of different Learning Style theories, but over the years there is ample evidence that it works, and works especially well in learning Spanish.
We have found applications of these theoretical models to be very helpful, and we continue to place great emphasis in our work upon matching students’ learning styles with appropriate teaching methods.
Come and see for yourself the tremendous difference Personalized Spanish school’s Individual Teaching Style makes.
There is a wealth of information on Learning Styles available in the libraries and on the Internet and there are various Learning Style Tests (some better than others) offered, which are reasonably inexpensive and fun. You can try them. Of course when you come to study with Personalized Spanish, we will administer scientifically based test free of charge and will use your results to develop your Individual Spanish Learning Plan (ISPL) which will make learning Spanish with us easier, faster and better, and it is a lot of fun to learn naturally.
Tel: 011-506-2278-3254 Fax: 011-506-2278-3220 Miami (786) 245-4124
E-mail: Learnmore@personalizedspanish.com · personalizedspanish@hotmail.com