1 Learning Style Preferences Andrew D. Cohen University of Minnesota

2 The learners’ typical preferences for approaching learning. While style preferences are relatively stable, style-stretching is possible.

3 Summary of Style Preferences Sensory Style Preferences: visual   auditory   hands on Cognitive Style Preferences: abstract-intuitive   concrete-sequential global   particular synthesizing   analytic field-dependent   field-independent Personality-Related Style Preferences: extroverted   introverted reflective   impulsive open   closure-oriented

4 Sensory Style Preferences   visual – relying more on the sense of sight and learn best through visual means (e.g., books, video, charts, pictures). Visual Vera→   auditory – preferring listening and speaking activities (e.g., discussions, debates, audiotapes, role-plays, lectures ).

5   hands-on – benefiting from doing projects, working with objects and moving around.

6 Cognitive Style Preferences   abstract-intuitive – future- oriented, enjoying abstract thinking, and happy speculating about possibilities.   concrete-sequential – present-oriented, preferring one-step-at-a-time activities and wanting to know where they are going in their learning at every moment.

7   more global – enjoying getting the main idea and comfortable communicating even without knowing all the words or concepts.   more particular – focusing more on details and remembering specific information about a topic well. Particular Perry→ Particular Perry→

8   more synthesizing – summarizing material well and noticing similarities quickly.   more analytic – pulling ideas apart, doing well on logical analysis and contrast tasks, and tending to focus on grammar rules.

9  more field-dependent – needs context in order to focus and understand something; takes each language part one at a time and may have difficulty handling all of the parts at one time.  more field-independent – able to keep a sense of the whole while handling all the individual parts as well without being distracted

10 Personality-Related Style Preferences   extroverted – enjoying a wide range of social, interactive learning tasks (e.g., games, conversations, debates, role-plays, simulations). Extroverted Ellie→   introverted – preferring more independent work (e.g., studying or reading by oneself or learning with the computer) or enjoying working with, say, one other person. Introverted Iris→

11  more reflective – processes material at a low speed with high accuracy; avoids risks and guessing  more impulsive – processes material at a high speed with low accuracy; often takes risks and guesses

12   keeping all options open – enjoying discovery learning where information is picked up naturally and where learning doesn’t involve a concern for deadlines or rules. Open-Oriented Oliver→   closure-oriented – focusing carefully on all learning tasks and seek clarity, meeting deadlines, planning ahead for assignments and staying organized, and wanting explicit directions and decisions.

13 A Learning Style Survey: Assessing Your Own Learning Styles by Andrew D. Cohen, Rebecca L. Oxford, & Julie C. Chi (2001) – downloadable from the CARLA website at: This measure was informed by earlier work conducted by Rebecca Oxford, Madeline Ehrman, and Betty Lou Leaver:

14 Concerns about Styles  Are the descriptions of style too vague and superficial?  How certain that assessing the style constructs through measures? What if the characteristic is more an ability than a style preference?  And what if a person comes out in the middle on a dichotomous measure?  Asking learners to self-report about their style preferences isn’t as valuable as actually giving them performance tasks where their style preferences emerge.  See Ch. 5, “Learning styles and cognitive styles” in Dörnyei (2005) on individual differences.

15  Oxford, R. L. (1993). Style Analysis Survey. In J. Reid (Ed.) (1995). Learning styles in the ESL/EFL classroom (pp ). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.  Ehrman, M. E. & Leaver, B. L. (1997). Sorting our global and analytic functions in second language learning. Paper presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics annual meeting, Orlando, FL, March 8-11,  Ehrman, M. E. & Leaver, B. L. (2001). E&L Questionnaire.  Ehrman, M. & Leaver, B. L. (2003). Cognitive styles in the service of language learning. System, 31(3),  Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

16 Teacher-Learner Style Conflicts in the Classroom  The teacher is more analytic, reflective, and auditory, while the learner is more global, impulsive, and visual,  The teacher is more open-oriented, while the learner is more closure-oriented,  The teacher is more concrete-sequential, while the learner is more random- intuitive,

17  The teacher is more concrete-sequential, visual, and reflective, while the learner is more random-intuitive, auditory, and impulsive,  The teacher is more extroverted and hands- on, while the learner is more introverted and visual. [From Oxford, R. L. & Lavine, R. Z. (1992). Teacher-student style wars in the language classroom: Research insights and suggestions. ADFL Bulletin, 23 (2), ]

18 To avoid or resolve such conflicts:  Assessment of students' and teachers' styles and use of this information in understanding classroom dynamics,  Changes in the teacher's instructional style,  Style-stretching by students,  Changes in the way group work is done in the classroom,  Changes in the curriculum,  Changes in the way style conflicts are viewed.