PRE-WRITING TASKS FOR VISUAL, AUDITORY, AND

KINESTHETIC LEARNERS

Isabela Villas Boas - CTJClaudio Fleury – CTJ

8th CTJ Seminar – In Charge of Change

OUTLINE

• ACTIVITIES• WRITING• LEARNING STYLES• EXAMPLE TASKS

ACTIVITY 1ORGANIZING INFORMATION

• Stand up, discuss and organize yourselves in three groups, according to the activity in your cards.

• Explain the rationale for the organization.

ACTIVITY 2GENERATING IDEAS

• In pairs, take turns speaking non-stop for three minutes each.

• Partner A: “What do you know about perceptual learning styles?”

• Partner B: “How can teachers apply knowledge about different learning styles to their teaching?”

ACTIVITY 3ORGANIZING INFORMATION

• Fill in the mind map with information generated in the previous activities.

• Share your mind map with a partner and complete the information about learning styles

WRITING ACTIVITY

• Write an article for your school bulletin board about how important it is that students’ different learning styles be catered to in class.

PRE-WRITING ACTIVITIESAND LEARNING STYLES

• What is the connection?• Pre-writing – why is it important?• Graph – writing process (Isabela’s

presentation • Generating ideas and planning are the most

neglected – which has effects on final result

LEARNING STYLES

• “… an individual’s natural, habitual, and preferred ways of absorbing, processing, and retaining new information and skills.” (Kinsella, 1995, p. 171, in Christison, 2003)

LEARNING STYLES

• “How a person is likely to perceive and process information and experiences.”

(Mc Carthy, 1980)

LEARNING STYLES

• “Cognitive, affective, and physiological traits that are relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment.”

(Keefe, 1979, p. 4)

KEY RESEARCH FINDINGS

• ESL / EFL teachers’ teaching styles often reflect their own learning style

• As cited in Leopold, 2010

KEY RESEARCH FINDINGS

• Higher student achievement relates to a match between student learning styles and teacher teaching styles

• As cited in Leopold, 2010

KEY RESEARCH FINDINGS

• Although culture is not the sole determinant, it is one of the principal factors influencing learning styles

• As cited in Leopold, 2010

KEY RESEARCH FINDINGS

• More than 90% of the traditional college classroom is auditory

• As cited in Leopold, 2010

KEY RESEARCH FINDINGS

• Most ESL students strongly prefer kinesthetic learning

• As cited in Leopold, 2010

PERCEPTUAL LEARNING STYLES

Well-known models - Kolb

• http://www.m1creatiyvit.co.uk/creativity%20training/kolb2.jpg• http://effective.leadershipdevelopment.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/david-kolb-learnin

g-styles-lsi.jpg

Well-known models – Dunn & Dunn

• http://blogs.region4.nycenet.edu/communities/files/563/26340/Dunn%20&%20Dunn.jpg

Well-known models - Gardner

• http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ePi1_NwHC04/SmrV7GFXSTI/AAAAAAAAABw/HkdjloelWlA/s400/multiple_intelligences_diagram.jpg

Type 1: Cognitive Styles

Type 2: Sensory Styles

Type 3: Personality Styles

Field Dependent Filed Independent

Perceptual:Visual

AuditoryKinesthetic

Tactile

Tolerance of ambiguity

AnalyticGlobal

Environmental:Physical

Sociological

Right and left hemisphere dominance:

Left-brainRight-brain

ReflectiveImpulsive

Learning styles in TESOL

Christison, 2003

LEARNING STYLES IN TESOL

PERCEPTUAL LEARNING STYLES

• “the perceptual perspective allows us to take into account aspects of several well-recognized learning-style theories by synthesizing their important characteristics into an approach that is based on behaviors and/or actions that can be easily perceived in a classroom situation (Sarasin, 1998).”

WHAT IS YOUR LEARNING STYLE?

• Read the sentences on the posters• Stand next to the poster with sentences that

best describe your preferred learning style

• Adapted from Barsch http://ww2.nscc.edu/gerth_d/AAA0000000/barsch_inventory.htm• The actual test involves choosing whether the sentences are seldom, often, or sometimes

true

VISUAL LEARNERS

Visual learners have two sub-channels

• Linguistic• Spatial

VISUAL LEARNERS

visual-linguistic learners• learn through written language, such as

reading and writing tasks• remember what has been written down, even

if they do not read it more than once• like to write down directions• pay better attention to lectures if they watch

them

VISUAL LEARNERS

visual-spatial learners• usually have difficulty with the written

language• do better with charts, demonstrations, videos,

and other visual materials• visualize faces and places by using their

imagination and seldom get lost in new surroundings.

KINESTHETIC LEARNERS

Kinesthetic learners two sub-channels:

• kinesthetic (movement) and • tactile (touch)

• tend to lose concentration if there is little or no external stimulation or movement

KINESTHETIC LEARNERS

• When listening to lectures, they may want to take notes for the sake of moving their hands.

• When reading, they like to scan the material first, and then focus in on the details (get the big picture first).

• They typically use color highlighters and take notes by drawing pictures, diagrams, or doodling.

AUDITORY LEARNERS

• often talk to themselves• may move their lips and read out loud. • may have difficulty with reading and writing

tasks. • often do better talking to a colleague or a

voice recorder and hearing what was said.

SAMPLE ACTIVITIES

Activity 1 – My weekend

• Work in groups of six. Each person has a connector. Say the first sentence and use the connector in another sentence.

• The next person repeats the sentences and adds one more, using his/her connector

• The last participant should have a whole paragraph, that can be memorized by the group

On my last vacation I went to China and I did many interesting things there.

Activity 2 – Hosting a world cup

• Form a circle. The first participant gives one advantage to hosting a world cup and throws the ball.

• The participant who gets the ball has to say one disadvantage to hosting a world cup and throw the ball.

• Continue until all participants have given an advantage or disadvantage to the topic.

Activity 3 – Global Warming

• Complete the tree with causes and consequences of global warming.

• The trunk of the tree represents the problem. The roots represent the causes and the canopy represents the consequences.

• Share your tree with a partner.

SAMPLE ACTIVITIES

• Activity 1 – auditory – beginners• Activity 2 – kinesthetic - advanced• Activity 3 – visual - intermediate

Thank you

• isabelavb@thomas.org.br• claudios@thomas.org.br

• prewriting.ctjconnected.com