How to Inventory Learning Styles for ESL Students
Knowing learning styles for ESL students in your class will help you teach more efficiently. Being cognizant of how your individual students learn will help you design homework and practice for individual students who need extra help. Your students are more likely to achieve in your class if you teach using a variety of learning styles.
Instructions
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Introduce the survey's purpose. Tell the students that you would like to know how they learn. Explain that you would like to improve your instruction and teach them in ways that they can learn best. Tell the students the different ways that we learn, through our eyes, ears, and touching or moving. Introduce the survey by informing the students that they will receive an interesting survey to help them understand how they learn.
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Administer a learning style survey in their language. Use a survey that will ask students questions that will determine how they learn best. Typical survey questions ask students if they prefer to learn through pictures, listening, or hands-on practice. Translate English surveys into the students' foreign languages and give students a printed version of the survey.
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Observe your students. Get to know your students and observe how they respond to your instruction. For example, a student who doodles constantly is likely a kinesthetic learner. A student who doesn't take notes, yet achieves high scores from direct verbal instruction, may be an auditory learner. Students who prefer graphics or reading information are visual learners.
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Document the learning styles. List your students' learning styles next to their names in your grade book. Students can have more than one learning style, but they usually have one dominant style. List the dominant style and a secondary learning style.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit kid learn image by Nenad Djedovic from Fotolia.com
