1) What do you believe is your predominant learning style and why?

I believe I am a mixture of learning styles, however, my predominant learning style is Visual/Verbal.
I believe this to be true because I can easily visualise objects, pictures and words. Since I was a little girl I was able to visualise things like my notebook and most of my own notes in it. When in Primary School, I discovered it to be very helpful skill as I could visualise my notebook in such details that I could turn over the pages in order to find the information I needed.

Some people say I have a ‘photographic memory’ as I can easily notice if any objects like books, keys… etc. have been moved from the place I left them. That is probably the reason why I have always been very good at activities like ‘spot the difference’ and I have always enjoyed them.

While learning new things I tend to visualise objects, situations and words; very often I spend time looking through the information and then I try to rewrite the information from my memory. I also, very easily, replace symbols with words and vice versa. I do remember information that I can see much easier, better and longer than the ones I can hear. What is more, I tend to study on my own as I do not like study groups, however, I need to have some kind of background noise, which most often would be music. Music helps me concentrate and I do not hear other outside noises which would distract me otherwise. I always use ‘colour coding’ to highlight key words and new important information.

Moreover, I believe I am more of a Theorist (Honey and Mumford 2000) as I like and tend to understand the theory behind the action. I prefer to analyse and synthesise, drawing new information into a systematic and logical ‘theory’. That is probably the reason why I have always loved learning as well as teaching syntax – grammar.

2) What processes within a classroom environment can you use to identify students learning styles?

There are many processes to identify students learning styles and they will differ depending on the learners age.

To identify young children’s learning style I would personally use observation because they are not consciously aware of their preferences and they would probably be unable to express these in most cases. Observing children behaviour in the classroom environment, that is, what activities they tend to choose; if they prefer to play and work on their own or in the group; whether they like painting, building things or listening and singing songs; if they can sit still and listen to a teacher or they tend to wander around the room. All these will give the teacher the information about the predominant learning styles. I would also use picture flashcards to define the preferences and predominant learning styles. However, I would be careful with very young children because they are still developing and they are and should be encouraged to try different styles to actually be able to choose their preferred one.

With a bit older learners I would use: 1) Learning Style Preference Questionnaire and 2) Multiple Intelligence Survey (Inventory).

Students can do both Learning Style Preference Questionnaire and Multiple Intelligence Survey as an activity on their own by simply marking next to the statements that best describe them. Then they tally the results. You can also turn this activity into research project in which the learners are researching their learning styles and learn more about the learning style they favour. Then they share with the rest of the class so they can also learn about the others and that we all are different and we learn in different ways.

3) What approaches would you include in your lesson if you have a combination of Visual/Verbal learners and Visual/ Non Verbal learners?

There are two types of Visual learners: Verbal and Non Verbal. Both Visual/ Verbal and Visual/ Non Verbal learners focus on processing information visually.