Thoughts About Assessing Learning Styles

Formative assessments provide valuable information for an instructor before, during and after a course. I think instructors need to prioritize which assessments will provide them with the most useful and reliable information to begin teaching a group of students. Time is often a factor in determining the number and types of assessments. Before beginning a course, I do not feel that assessing for learning styles would be as important as finding participants’ levels of language development and their language needs.

I think being informed about participants’ past learning experiences is very important since cultural factors may influence language learning; however, this could be done informally throughout the course.

For beginning language learners, I question the accuracy of results from a learning styles assessment. Some participants may not have enough language to accurately answer the questions or may not be aware of their own learning styles. This could lead to inaccurate data and mismatching teaching styles with learning styles since some students may have unknowingly filled in inaccurate answers.

Instead of assessing for learning styles, I would discuss the different styles with the students. One way this could be done is to inform students of how the learning styles are linked to the assigned learning activities. This will increase participants’ knowledge of the various learning styles and self-awareness of those they prefer. Knowledge of learning styles and strategies will also enhance participants’ awareness of their own thought and learning processes (metacognition).

Information about the participants’ learning styles could be gathered after lessons. The instructor could ask participants to provide feedback about their learning experiences and compare it to previous lessons. Which did they prefer? Which activities did they find most helpful with their language learning? This formative feedback would assist the instructor when planning subsequent learning strategies and activities.

I feel there will usually be a wide range of learning styles in any group. Including a variety of teaching-learning strategies and activities that meet all learning styles would provide for successful language learning experiences.