Do we know what Learning Styles mean?

Schools usually state that they really care about their students learning; in
educational journals, newspapers, it is published articles, chronicles and interviews
about that educational authorities have done for improving their learners learning
and the strategies implemented to achieve so. However, it is not a surprise to find
some school authorities and teachers who do not know what Learning Styles are.
This is not something to be surprised of, since we already know that taking things
for granted is becoming a tendency in the educational field. There are plenty of
manners to study this important issue in learners learning process, many authors
have written and researched about that, but there are no a strong reason to justify
teachers avoidance to plan their classes based on their different learning styles. Is
it laziness? Is it lack of knowledge in this area? The answers of those questions
can be only given by the teachers who seem not to worry about their learners.
Planning activities for the different learning styles found in students is as
important as choosing the standards, the competence and aim indicators for a
class. The words AUDITORY, VISUAL, and KINESTHETIC must be included in a
teachers dictionary of pedagogical terms. When approached, a teacher should be
able to define Learning Styles as Reffine (1992) does Learning styles can also be
described as a set of factors, behaviors, and attitudes that facilitate learning for an
individual in a given situation. When a teacher gives this definition and he means
it, it can be said that he is successful in conducting his classes, because he
facilities a visual learner for example, a learning situation according to his style.
Teaching is not only to enter to a classroom and explain something, Teaching also
implies to provide learners instances in which they can put into practice what they
have learned inside and outside the classroom and fulfilling their learning needs as
much as possible.
Let us fancy a class setting in which a teacher teaches a past simple lesson and
the activities are all visual and the students are going to work with slides, posters,
and pictures and those pictures are not that large. In that class, there are two
students who have sight problems and one of them has not had money to
purchase her glasses; many questions can be asked from that situation: are those
activities going to be meaningful for those two students? Does the teacher mean
to ignore those students and conduct all the classes in that manner? Are the
activities only for the majority? If a teacher answers himself those questions, he will
realize how important the implementation of activities based on all Learning Styles
is for successful classes. I could set other situations for those students who have
earing problems and for those who have physical disabilities, but this paper is
meant to make the teachers and school authorities reflect on their daily practice.
I thought that the separation of student learning and teaching process was a myth
from the 60s, but unfortunately, it is still a reality. The two concepts previously

mentioned must be tight to make the learning environment the best for learners in
any field. We as teacher must stop discriminating the two or three students who do
not fit in our preferred teaching style. We cannot be a teacher for auditory only, but
a teacher for everybody, for visual and kinesthetic as well. The issue of
discriminating students has been a problem for teachers since the educational
reform took place. This problem has been the cause for the constant arguments
between the teacher and the students and their relationship; as I previously
mentioned in this paper, taking our students learning styles, perceptions, and
expectations for granted has become a tendency in some current teachers; badly
done!
I would like to finish this paper inviting the readers to reflect on their current
practice in their lives. Learning Styles are presented in everything, the way we
learn, the way we do tasks, the way we read, listen and our attitude towards that.
When preparing our classes, we should not prepare them for our personal
satisfaction, but for our students, because they are the ones who are going to
receive the new pieces of knowledge, not us. Learning can be whether an easy or
a tough process for our students depending on our teaching; the idea is to make it
easy for them, and I am sure that planning our classes with several activities based
on all Learning Styles, an integration of them. Fulfilling their needs is something
which scares some teachers, something which makes them think that the word
impossible matches with that idea, but the Holy Bible says that everything is
possible for those who believe, so let us believe in the effectiveness of the
application of learning styles!

REFLECTION ON LEARNING STYLES

WILLIAM ZARZA GARCA

HANDED TO: MG SOL HERRERA NARANJO

DIPLOMADO EN DESARROLLO DE COMPETENCIAS PROFESIONALES

PARA LA ENSEANZA DE LA SEGUNDA LENGUA

UNIVERSIDAD DE CORDOBA
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
ENGLISH TEACHING PROGRAM
MONTERIA, CORDOBA
2013