PRE-WRITING TASKS FOR VISUAL, AUDITORY, AND KINESTHETIC LEARNERS

PRE-WRITING TASKS FOR VISUAL, AUDITORY, AND KINESTHETIC LEARNERS Isabela Villas Boas - CTJ Claudio 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-learning-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

Learning styles in TESOL LEARNING STYLES IN TESOL Christison, 2003

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

PRE-WRITING TASKS FOR VISUAL, AUDITORY, AND KINESTHETIC LEARNERS