Wednesday, July 20, 10:00 am -1:00 pm
Agenda
1. Thoughts/questions
2. Discussion of reading, “Learning Styles and Strategies:
An Overview”
3. Looking at learning styles and strategies
4. Other learner characteristics
5. Language skills
Discussion:
“Language Learning Styles and Strategies”
by Rebecca Oxford
Questions:
What are learning styles?
What are learning strategies?
What is your style? What are your strategies?
Learning styles are general approaches
to learning
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global
auditory
visual
analytic
imaginative
common sense
Dynamic
• Do any of these words describe your learning style?
-- BREAK –
10 minutes
Activity: Learning Style Survey
• Complete the survey
• Find two classmates who have completed the
survey, compare your results, discuss these
questions:
- What, if anything, surprises you?
- Are some styles better than others?
- How might your learning style affect your
teaching?
Learning strategies are specific actions,
behaviors, techniques that help us
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use all mental processes
organize, evaluate learning
remember more effectively
compensate for missing knowledge
manage emotions
work with others
Strategy Inventory for Language
Learning (SILL)
Can be useful for:
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identifying students’ strategies
choosing activities and materials
planning lessons
helping students learn new strategies
Activity: SILL
• Complete the inventory
• Be sure to draw the graph showing your
strategy preferences
Lunch
Learning strategies, continued
Activity:
1. With three classmates, compare your
strategies graphs.
2. How are they similar and/or different?
3. Are there aspects of your culture, language,
education that might explain the similarities?
4. Do you have different learning styles,
personalities that might explain the
differences?
Turkish learning strategies – what does
the research show?
Preferences are for compensating and for
organizing and evaluating learning.
Other strategies used less often
Conclusion: All strategies should be taught
Selma Deneme (2008). Language Learning Strategy Preferences of Turkish Students.
http://www.jlls.org/Issues/Volume%204/No.2/s
Questions for reflection
• Why is it important for us to understand
something about our own styles and
strategies as well as those of our students?
• How much control do we have over our
students’ learning?
• Are we responsible for our students’ learning?
• What other factors affect learning?
Other learner characteristics
Internal
• age/intellectual development
• personality
• motivation
• anxiety
• self-esteem
• experiences
• cognition
• native language/culture
External
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curriculum
instruction
culture and status
motivation
access to native speakers
Adapted from http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/support/factors.htm
What do we know
about language
skills?
What do we know about language
skills?
Activity: Discussion, small groups
1. Each group discusses questions related to one skill
area
2. Each group reports a summary of its discussion to
the class
Homework
• Respond to at least three of your group
members’ reflections.