LEARNERS STYLES AND STRATEGIES- A CRUCIAL FACTOR IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CONTEMPORARY TEACHING
Keywords:
learner styles, strategies, personality, cognitive and psychological behaviors, multi-dimensionalAbstract
Teaching in the modern era has undertaken greater responsibility in means of the teacher-student relationship and in the overall attitude of the learners. It now requires deeper analysis of the personality of the learners, upon their individuality and treats them as “wholly incorporated” in the learning environment. Learners now have more freedom of speech and are constantly engaged in the learning, either consciously or unconsciously. They have a dominant role in the process of reproducing what they knew with what they learned and are part of the planning. However, in order for the learner to be an active participant, the teacher must be aware of the matter of “knowing” the learners styles of learning. According to Richards & Lockhart (1995), “learning styles have been defined as characteristic cognitive and psychological behaviors, which serve as indicators of how learners perceive, interact with and respond to the learning environment. They can be thought of as predisposition to particular ways of approaching learning and are intimately related to personality types.” Oxford (1990) states that “learning strategies are steps taken by students to enhance their own learning. Strategies are especially important for language learning because they are tools for active, self-directed involvement…which result in improved proficiency and greater self-confidence.” (1990, pg.1). Not only is the teacher now focused on teaching strategies, but is similarly focused on “how” the learner learns best, in planning and designing the syllabus with “multi-dimensional” activities for mixed-learner strategy learning and cultural differences i.e. “it is important for teachers to identify which approaches favor better teaching, but it is also important to recognize what learning styles may reflect learning and cultural factors.”
( Richards, 1994). Even though such issues may be referred to as "deja-vu" for most parts of the world, the truth is, they are hardly implemented in the region, due to different factors and circumstances.
The main aim of this article is to elaborate the issue of understanding and knowing our learners, with a dose of overall teacher-awareness.
It will further discuss psychological factors of learning and identify different learner styles and their importance, it will introduce different groupings of styles based on different scholars and research and will also reflect on personal experience related to the topic.
We hope that the conclusions and remarks help in further implementation of such factors in our everyday English teaching.
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