SCRIVENER, Jim. Teaching Learning 2. ed. New York: MacMillan, 2008 & SPRATT, Mary. PULVERNESS, Alan.

WILLIAMS, Melanie. The TKT Course. Cambridge: CUP, 2005.

HOW TO MANAGE LEARNING & TEACHING STYLES FOCUSING ON ORAL SKILLS

On his book, Learning Teaching, Jim Scrivener states that learners have different ways of learning something and distinct reasons to learn and to be in a classroom. These are called learning styles and learners needs. Of course these latest two are considered in a general point of view but when it comes to planning and delivering lessons, teachers can be more specific in relation to the exercises they want their students to perform according to what they can do, or what is easier for them to do or even so what they are there aiming to do. Before focusing on what activities students could perform more specifically, teachers need to realize and notice, according to the author, which learning style their students identify with the most and along with this, which their needs are. But then, how can that be done? According to Spratt, Pulverness & Williams, there are many different ways to classify the leaners learning styles. This can be done through the means of different tests and maybe applied on their first day of lesson in order to give the teacher a view of what is yet to come and how they should prepare for the lessons. One of the most common classifications is the one that divides students into visual learners, auditory learners, kinaesthetic learners and also group, individual, reflective and impulsive learners. If we should take into consideration Gardners thoughts, there are also other 7 intelligences such as musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, logical, linguistic & existential. Other characteristics, which, according to the authors, influence the way students learn will be embedded into what is called learning strategies the ones the students themselves come up with in order to learn better and easier also, maturity and their past learning experience. The students also count with their needs to help them with their motivation: within them there are personal needs, learning needs, and their professional needs. Are the students the only ones who are taken into account when talking about styles and strategies? According to Jim Scrivener, teachers can rely on different methods and approaches to suit different students and their styles and needs. Based on what they preach for instance: TBL based on tasks; Functional Approach based on functions and situations; Lexical Approach based on vocabulary.

According to Scrivener, some strategies which can be used to maximize oral production and work with oral skills are: Interview learners individually or in pairs focusing for instance on group or interpersonal skills; Plan activities to focus learners on specific issues, leading to discussion same from above. Ask learners to select (and reject) items from a menu or a set of cards, discussing their reasons with each other; Ask informally for advice about what would be useful to work on next lesson; Collect oral (or written) feedback comments at the end of the lessons; Show the intended coursebook for the course and discuss it together with the class. Get learners to help plan the course, the week or next lesson, Organize a social event at which informal discussions arise; Ask learners to describe/draw/make a model of their workplace or a diagram of their company structure. Also, it is important to mention that getting feedback from learners is part of what to consider when taking their needs into consideration. It is known that teachers should cater for all styles in class. For different reasons: time, number of groups, administrative issues in the school, they do not have time (not frequently at least) to consider many different activities for varying their oral trial. Another situation that keeps teachers at bay is when the school is very strict when it comes to the method being used. Not being able to vary makes it difficult for teachers to find different strategies for oral production. Sometimes students tend to identify themselves more with certain methods and not produce at all with others. These views help not only teachers but also schools who sometimes do not understand why students leave once their method has already proven being successful. Oral skills, on the other hand, can vary from style to style and from method to method. The important thing to bear in mind is to cater for all of them. This way, there will always be learning independently of other factors or time.