LEARNING STRATEGIES and STYLES

LEARNING STRATEGIES

Learning strategies should be considered when planning at national, institutional and classroom levels.

Learning strategies are operations employed by the learner to aid the acquisition, storage, retrieval and use of information. But they can also be described as specific actions of the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, self-directed, effective and transferable. In other words, learning strategies are tools students use when they have to solve a problem, accomplish a task, meet an objective or attain a goal.

Teachers should be aware of learning strategies in order to provide opportunities for all of their students to develop communicative competence.

Learning strategies have been divided into two groups: Direct and Indirect.

Direct strategies include memory, cognitive and compensation strategies.

Memory strategies help foster particular aspects of competence (grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, etc.) by using imagery and structured review.

Cognitive strategies strengthen grammatical accuracy by reasoning deductively and using contrastive analysis.

Compensation strategies help develop strategic competence by using inference and guessing when the meaning is not known, using synonyms or gestures to express meaning of an unknown word or expression.

Indirect strategies group the metacognitive, affective, and social strategies.


Metacognitive strategies help learners to regulate their own cognitive processes and to focus, plan and evaluate their progress as they move toward communicative competence.

Affective strategies develop the self-confidence and perseverance needed for learners to be actively involved in language learning.
Social strategies provide increased interaction and more emphatic understanding with others.

Below is Rebecca Oxford's chart on learning strategies.






DIRECT STRATEGIES
INDIRECT STRATEGIES
I. Memory strategies
I. Metacognitive strategies
A. Creating mental linkages
B. Applying images and sounds
C. Reviewing well
D. Employing
A. Centering your learning
B. Arranging and planning your learning
C. Evaluating your learning

II. Cognitive strategies
II. Affective strategies
A. Practicing
B. Receiving and sending messages
C. Analyzing and reasoning
D. Creating structure for input and output
A. Lowering your anxiety
B. Encouraging yourself
C. Taking your emotional temperature

III. Compensation strategies
III. Social strategies
A. Guessing intelligently
B. Overcoming limitations in speaking and writing
A. Asking questions
B. Cooperating with others

Oxford, R.1990
LEARNING STYLES

The learning styles are as important as the development of skills or learning strategies when deciding on how relevant the curriculum is.

Here learning styles are presented as possibilities to be included when planning learning to guarantee success.

Gregorc defines learning style as the outward expression to the human mind's ability to mediate knowledge. i.e. the means and capacities we employ to receive and express information.

Two principal factors in determining learning styles are the ways in which information is perceived and how it is ordered in our brains.

1. Perceptual abilities are the means whereby we grasp information: The perception may be:
a. abstract through reason, emotion, or intuition, or b. concrete through the physical senses of hearing , sight, smell, taste and touch.
2. Ordering abilities are the ways in which information is systematized, arranged and distributed. Ordering may be a. sequential (linear, step by step and methodical) or b. random- (non -linear) with multiple patterns of data being processed simultaneously and holistically.
3. Four different learning styles have been identified:

Concrete Sequential (CS)
Abstract Sequential (AS)
Abstract Random (AR) and
Concrete Random (CR)

Teacher should prepare different materials and activities to develop their students' learning process. If the students feel their particular needs are fulfilled, their motivation will increase and they will learn more efficiently. For this reason, here is a summary of each style and some ideas for its implementation in the classroom.

Concrete Sequential (CS)
The learner whose style is the Concrete Sequential derives information primarily through direct sensory experience. The 'real' world, for this domain, is the concrete world of senses. The way of thinking is methodical and deliberate-'a train of thought'. The individuals that belong to this domain tend to be task-oriented and consistently striving for perfection.

Some recommended learning activities are: keeping records of experiences and experiments, conducting surveys, writing computer programs, observing and classifying phenomena, undertaking practical work and preparing displays.

Abstract Sequential (AS)
The mainly Abstract Sequential learner lives mostly in the abstract, non-physical world of thoughts, theories and mental constructions. Reality consists of words and concepts, such as justice and peace. The thinking is logical, analytical and evaluative. They have outstanding ability to outline, correlate, compare and categorize.
Some learning activities include: listening to lectures, comparing and contrasting different accounts and interpretations of events, project research and the synthesis of ideas and information in essay or project form, library study and group plenary discussion.

Abstract Random (AR)
The 'real world' of the dominant Abstract Random is the non-physical world of feelings, emotions and imagination.
Learning activities for this domain are: group discussion work, interpersonal work in small groups, role plays, guided fantasy and imagery, imaginative writing and the preparation and production of multimedia presentations.

Concrete Random (CR)
For this domain the concrete physical world is the starting point. The learner's way of thinking is impulsive and she/he can make intuitive leaps towards identifying and unifying principles behind experiences. Learning activities to suit this domain are: experimental units, simulation games, role plays, problem-solving exercises, independent study, practical experiments and exercises which challenge the student to find alternative paths to a particular goal. The following chart from Bernice Mc Carthy is reproduced to help teachers visualize the four quadrants and become aware of their own characteristics for classroom purposes.
STYLE FOUR: 'THE DYNAMIC LEARNER'

- integrates experience and application
- seeks hidden possibilities and excitement
- needs to know what can be done with things
- learns by trial and error
- perceives information concretely and processes it actively
- adaptable to and relishes change
- excels in situations calling for flexibility
- tends to take risks
- often reaches accurate conclusions in the absence of logical evidence
- functions by acting and testing experience
- Strengths: acting and carrying out plans
- Goals: making things happen, bringing action to concepts
- Favorite Questions: If? What can this become?
STYLE ONE: THE INNOVATIVE LEARNER'

- integrates experience with 'self'
- seeks meaning, clarity and integrity
- needs to be personally involved
- absorbs reality
- perceives information concretely and processes it reflectively
- interested in people and culture
- divergent thinkers who believe in their own experience and excel in viewing concrete situations from many perspectives
- model themselves on those they respect
- learn by listening and sharing ideas
- function through social interaction
- Strengths : innovation and imagination (ideas, people)
- Goals : self-involvement in important issues, bringing unity to diversity
- Favorite Questions: Why? Why Not?
















STYLE THREE: 'THE COMMON SENSE LEARNER?

- seeks usability, utility, results
- needs to know how things work
- learns by testing theories that seem sensible
- skill-oriented
STYLE TWO: 'THE ANALYTIC LEARNER'

- seeks facts
- needs to know what the experts think
- learns by thinking through ideas
- values sequential thinking, needs details
- perceives information abstractly and processes it actively
- needs hands-on experiences
- enjoys problem solving -restricts judgement to concrete things
-resets being given answers and limited tolerance of 'fuzzy 'ideas.
- needs to know how things she is asked to do will help in real life.
- functions through inferences drawn from sensory experience
- Strengths. practical application of ideas
- Goal: bringing their view of the present into line with future security
- Favorite Question: How does it work?
- perceives information abstractly and processes it reflectively
- less interested in people than ideas
- critiques information and collects data
- thorough and industrious, re-examining facts if situations are perplexing
- enjoys traditional classroom
- functions by thinking things through and adapting to experts
- Strengths: creating concepts and models
- Goals : self-satisfaction, intellectual recognition
- Favorite Question: What ?