Learning Styles and Strategies Styles and strategies in teaching and learning English as a foreign language

It's not really hard to learn. It's just different from the touch-screen system we had before.
Frances Pratt

One of the biggest challenges every teacher faces is to find ways to succeed with all of their students. We sometimes accept that we simply cannot reach all students, and approach some students as unsolvable puzzles - less able or less inclined. Even the most talented and well-trained teacher can find some students difficult to work with. Undoubtedly, there are many factors which affect language learning both positively and negatively. The main factors which influence the process of learning are the personality characteristics, learning style, motivation, aptitude and the age. Research into teacher and student differences suggests that when mismatches exist between learning styles of some students in a class and the teaching style of the teacher, the students may become bored and inattentive in class, do poorly on tests, get discouraged about the courses, the curriculum, and themselves, and in some cases even drop out of school.

Sometimes the last thing learners need is for their preferred learning style to be affirmed. Agreeing to let people learn only in a way that feels comfortable and familiar can restrict seriously their chance for development. Steven Brookfield
Learning styles are different approaches or ways of learning. Why some of our students perform better than the others? The answer very well could lie in the way the teacher presents the information and the type of learning style that best meets students needs. Everyone has a different learning style and learns better through different means. Learning styles refer to the variations in students ability to accumulate as well as assimilate information. Basically, the learning style is the method that best allows you to gather and use knowledge in a specific manner. It is important to keep in mind that every student as an individual is a unique learner. No two people are exactly the same and no two people learn in exactly the same manner. There are many advantages to understand the way in which our students are able to process information most efficiently. There is really no right or even no wrong way to learn. Each learning style offers advantages as well as disadvantages. Understanding different learning styles can help us to teach in a more efficient manner. The more we learn about our students learning styles, the easier it is to understand why some things work for them, or others don't. The study of learning styles is not a new idea. It was developed through the centuries by many psychologists, philosophers and linguists. The idea of "individualized learning styles" originated in the 1970s, and acquired popularity. During the years there were many categorizations of the various types of learning styles. The three most common are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. To learn, we depend on our senses to process the information around us. Most people tend to use one of their senses more than the others. As teachers, we see some certain types of students who want to sit at the front rows in the classroom. These students generally prefer the positions that they can see the

teaching aids clearly. They are visual students and learn better through seeing. Visuals like photos, pictures, maps, diagrams most appeal to the visual learners. visual learners often prefer to take detailed notes to absorb the information. The students who learn best through listening are called auditory learners. This kind of learners has a musical intelligence. The activities run by music, songs and chants work well for the auditory students who could be better engaged to the lesson by listening. They can grasp the lyrics of the songs easily. Written information may have little meaning until it is heard. These learners often benefit from reading text aloud and using a tape recorder. The students who are called kinesthetic are the ones who respond well to the activities which include moving, touching, dancing and acting out. Kinesthetic learners learn first by doing it-experience and activity. Students express themselves through movements, gestures and touch. Objects, actions and feelings are important. They enjoy participating in active learning and will respond positively to activities like practice role-plays, movement/sorting exercises. Kinesthetic learners may find it hard to sit still for long periods and may become distracted by their need for activity and exploration. The performance that the learners show up during their education changes according to their needs. Everybody has a learning style but this doesnt mean that every student has a fixed learning style. The students learn better not only in different styles but also in different circumstances. Thus, the teacher needs to identify the audiences learning styles and apply different teaching techniques according to their needs. The more teachers can involve all modalities and learning styles, the more chances they have of engaging learners in using their whole brains. Students can modify their learning style as they mature and gain experience. In time they start to learn more effectively and change their learning habits in order to improve the processing and memorizing the information. Once the students know their own natural learning preference, they can work on expanding the way they learn, so that they can learn in other ways, not just in their preferred style. Suppose that all other factors contribute positively to the students learning process. How does the personality make a difference on the learners success? Some characteristics of the learners might either encourage or discourage the learning success. Its a bit difficult for introvert students who are very shy and quiet to contact with other people. They are often unwilling to share their ideas with their teachers and friends and to participate in activities. Thus, they need to be encouraged to speak or join the activities by the teacher. As these students feel more comfortable if they know when they will speak, easy-to-follow time exercises are good for them. They feel better if we ask them to perform within small groups rather than in front of the whole class. Pair-work activities, in this sense, appeal them very much. On the contrary, extrovert students are very comfortable while speaking and sharing their experiences with their friends and teachers. They even help their introvert partners with the tasks. They are willing to speak in the target language and they are not afraid of making mistakes. They enjoy learning through role plays, dramas, act outs; any activities which communication takes part in. This type of students should be allowed to show their abilities and given enough opportunity to express themselves. Constructivist learning theory is nowadays the theory in learning. It emphasizes the learners experiences in the learning process. Despite that, the studying is still very teacher centered also in the academic level with traditional lessons and practices. This makes students passive. The impression on teaching has changed from teacher-centered to student-centered learning. There the students role as active learner is emphasized. The learning results depend on students and teachers activeness and interest in the subject. Students activeness in the learning process can be activated with alternative learning methods such as group works, discussions and questionnaires. Styles are general characteristics that differentiate one individual from another; strategies are those specific "attacks" that we make on a given problem. They are the moment-by-moment techniques that we employ to solve "problems" posed by second

language input and output. Research into language learning strategies began in the 1960s. The term language learning strategy has been defined by many researchers. Wenden and Rubin define learning strategies as "... any sets of operations, steps, plans, routines used by the learner to facilitate the obtaining, storage, retrieval, and use of information ." Richards and Platt state that learning strategies are "intentional behavior and thoughts used by learners during learning so as to better help them understand, learn, or remember new information ." Language Learning Strategies have been classified by many scholars. The field of second language acquisition has distinguished between two types of strategy: learning strategies and communication strategies.The former relate to input- to processing, storage, and retrieval, that is, to taking in messages from others. The latter pertain to output, how we productively express meaning, how we deliver messages to others. According to Rubin's Classification of Language Learning Strategies, there is a third type- social strategies. They are those activities learners engage in which afford them opportunities to be exposed to and practise their knowledge. Although these strategies provide exposure to the target language, they contribute indirectly to learning since they do not lead directly to the obtaining, storing, retrieving, and using of language. Language learning strategies are good indicators of how learners approach tasks or problems encountered during the process of language learning. According to Fedderholdt, the language learner capable of using a wide variety of language learning strategies appropriately can improve his language skills in a better way. The language teacher aiming at training his students in using language learning strategies should learn about the students, their interests, motivations, and learning styles. We can learn what language learning strategies our students already appear to be using, observing their behavior in class, their favourite or least favourite kinds of class activities, and the reason why they learn a language. The teacher can have adequate knowledge about the students, their goals, motivations, language learning strategies, and their understanding of the course to be taught. (Lessard-Clouston). It is a fact that each learner within the same classroom may have different learning styles and varied awareness of the use of strategies. The language teacher should provide a wide range of learning strategies in order to meet the needs and expectations of his students possessing different learning styles, motivations, strategy preferences, etc. The teacher should also analyze the textbook to see whether it already includes language learning strategies or language learning strategies training and look for new texts or other teaching materials. We should also study our own teaching method and overall classroom style. Analyzing the lesson plan, we can determine whether it gives learners chance to use a variety of learning styles and strategies or not. The teacher can see whether their teaching allows learners to approach the task at hand in different ways or not. The language teacher can also be aware of whether their strategy training is implicit, explicit, or both. It should be emphasized that questioning himself about what he/she plans to do before each lesson and evaluating his lesson plan after the lesson in terms of strategy training, the teacher can become better prepared to focus on language learning strategies and strategy training during the process of his teaching (Lessard-Clouston). A lot of adult Bulgarian learners can identify personal needs to use spoken and written English and a great number of younger students are aware of the future necessities for trans-cultural communication, related to the issues of career pursuit, life-long learning and mobility. However, Bulgarian learners can encounter some problems. When studying English as a foreign language the most common difficulties for Bulgarian learners are: the English sound system- it contains a much greater number of sounds than the Bulgarian; the use of definite and indefinite article, the homonyms in English- words that sound the same but mean something completely different; phrasal verbs the wrong preposition changes the meaning entirely; the word order of the English sentence. The language teacher can help learners overcoming these obstacles by using different educational techniques. We should prepare activities appropriate for the learners age, level and sex in order to keep them motivated; encourage them to continue their language learning outside of class- the Internet is a

fantastic resource and for the language learner it's perfect; to speak English with their friends whenever they can. The best way to learn English is to surround themselves with it: taking notes in English, listening to English songs, language radio broadcasts, watching English news, films and television. We all have incredible potential to acquire new skills, and to learn in new ways.

"Involve me, and I understand", ancient Chinese proverb

Language skills and multicultural competences are becoming more important on the European labour market and in European societies which are made up of a wide variety of traditions and cultures. School education faces the challenge of providing these basic skills and giving young Europeans a good start in a career of lifelong learning. To be able to operate effectively in diverse cultural contexts, students should be exposed to plenty of opportunities to practise language in situations which stimulate them to express personal needs, ideas and opinions. Our students take part in Comenius school partnership projects which stimulates an improving capability to use English to communicate with individuals from different cultural backgrounds, to acquire, develop and apply knowledge. It helps them to acqire the ability to communicate constructively in different environments, to show tolerance, express and understand different viewpoints; it makes them feel more confident. Language learning strategies, being specific actions, behaviors, tactics, or techniques, facilitate the learning of the target language by the language learner. All language learners, needless to say, use language learning strategies in the learning process. Since the factors like age, gender, personality, motivation, self-concept, life-experience, learning style, excitement, anxiety, etc. affect the way in which language learners learn the target language, it is not reasonable to support the idea that all language learners use the same good language learning strategies or should be trained in using and developing the same strategies to become successful learners. On the whole, no matter what age, level or group we are teaching, it is very important to identify the students individual differences and learning styles which affect our audiences language learning. It might be too difficult to meet the needs of all the learning styles, all different personalities, cultures or abilities. However, what is crucial in effective language teaching is planning the lessons considering all these factors and preparing a variety of different activities which will appeal well to different learning styles, personalities or cultures in a learning process so that the learners enjoy learning more. The more the learners develop positive attitudes to learning the more successful is the learning process.

Students learn what they care about . . .," Stanford Ericksen has said, but Goethe knew something else: "In all things we learn only from those we love." Add to that Emerson's declaration: "the secret of education lies in respecting the pupil." and we have a formula something like this: "Students learn what they care about, from people they care about and who, they know, care about them . . ." Barbara Harrell Carson, 1996, Thiry Years of Stories

References:
H. Dougles Brown, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, 1993 Essi Kanninen, Learning styles and e-learning Murat Hismanoglu, Language Learning Strategies in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching

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