What is a learning style?

Language workers must plan many aspects of their program and most will involve learning and teaching activities. Both are affected by your learning style.

Knowing your learning style preferences can help you plan for activities that take advantage of your natural skills and inclinations.

You can use several learning style inventories to discover aspects of your learning style and create a learning style profile, summarizing and correlating your results.

A learning style is the unique collection of individual skills and preferences that affect how a person perceives, gathers, and processes information.

Learning style affects how a person

• acts in a group
• learns
• participates in activities
• relates to others
• solves problems
• teaches, and
• works.

Knowing your learning style will help you plan for learning tasks such as language learning.

When learning activities in your plan match your learning style preferences, you will find them satisfying and motivational. If possible, try to choose these kinds of activities.

When learning activities do not match your preferences, you are less likely to persevere. If you cannot avoid certain activities that do not match up well with your preferences, look for ways to modify the activities to take advantage of your preferences.

• How to discover your learning style and create a learning style profile

• Concept module: learning style
• In modular book: Your Learning Style and Language Learning, by Clay Johnston and Carol J. Orwig
• In document collection: Other Resources
• In bookshelf: Language Learning

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 3.5, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 23 October 1998

© 1999 SIL International