Listening Exercises B1 – Seminars

He cover points 1,2 and 4, but not point 3 fully.

The topic is Learning styles.

a   No (Not really stated.)

b   No (No handouts, can’t remember key name, can’t pronounce key word.)

c   Yes (At least, the beginning is clear.)

d   No

e   Yes (Fairly easy to follow.)

f   No (He sounds nervous.)

The talk is OK so far. It seems clearly organized, although it has some flaws.

Transcript

Right, well, er … my talk today is on learning styles. I chose this because there is a lot of research into it and it seems as if nobody really agrees on how to assess learning styles. I’ll start by outlining some competing theories about how people learn … There aren’t any handouts, I’m afraid, but anyway … One theory is the VARK system. That was a theory by … I can’t remember now, but V-A-R-K means V for visual, A for auditory, like hearing, R for reading and K for, I don’t know how to pronounce this … kinaesthetic? K-I-N-A-E-S-T-H-E-T-I-C. Yes, that’s it. Kinaesthetic. That means things like touch, movement and stuff. Anyway, according to the VARK system, depending on your learning style, you learn in different ways. If you’re a visual learner, then you need to use charts and pictures, use colour highlighting in your notes, and stuff. If you’re an auditory learner, then reading aloud and listening will help you learn. Reading is just reading, of course. You learn by reading. Kinaesthetic learners need to move around while they learn. You’re a kind of hands-on person if you’re that kind of learner, according to the VARK system, so you should revise while standing up and walking around the room, for example. Anyway, that’s just one theory. There are lots of others too, for example …

a No   b No   c No   d Yes   e No

c

Transcript

So, to conclude then, personally I think that we all have our own learning style and we are not just one type or another. In other words, we are probably a blend of lots of styles. I don’t think any of the learning styles I’ve told you about is better than any other. I think the problem is that we all learn in different ways, and trying to find a system to fit in all the different ways we learn, it just doesn’t work. We are too creative to be boxed in like that. Not everything about the human brain can be mapped and predicted. How we learn is different for each person, so the point I’m making is I don’t know how useful it is to try to categorize everyone into types.

Advantages of being multimodal?

Flexibility, can learn in many situations

Is VARK a learning style?

Yes (informs how we learn)

Are learning styles fixed?

Basics, yes (don’t stop being a visual learner) but develop too

Men-women differences?

No

Greg answers the questions better once students have reworded their questions.

Transcript

Greg:     So, that’s basically what I want to say about this for now. Are there any questions?

Student A:     Er, yes. I have a question. You say that most people are multimodal, in other words they have several learning styles. Is that good?

Greg:     I think it’s unavoidable. We don’t just learn in one way. We learn in many ways.

Student A:     Yes, but that’s not really what I was asking. I meant, what do you think are the advantages of being multimodal?

Greg:     Oh, I see. I think the main advantage is flexibility, you know. we don’t rely on just one way to learn. And we can learn in many situations, in many ways. It’s definitely a strength, being multimodal.

Student B:     I’d like to ask about VARK …

Greg:     Sure.

Student B:     I think it was Fleming who came up with VARK. Some people say a learning style should have 18 or more dimensions, you know, like light, heat, food and so on … Isn’t VARK just about how we process information?

Greg:     There are many aspects to how we learn and depending on which you emphasize then they are called a learning style. As I said, I don’t think one is better than another. They’re all different.

Student B:     I think you’ve answered a slightly different question. What I want to know is, do you think VARK is a learning style?

Greg:     Well, I think it is, yes, because it informs our view of how we learn.

Student C:     Do you think learning styles are fixed or can they change? Can we develop new learning styles as we get older, for example?

Greg:     Oh, I think each person’s learning style can change, but certain basics do not. So if you are a visual learner in VARK’s system, you will always be a visual learner. I guess what I’m saying is you don’t lose a learning style, you just adapt and use others in different times.

Student C:     Do you think there are any gender differences? You know, do men and women learn in the same way?

Greg:     I think there are no differences, actually.

Student C:     I disagree. I think men and women learn quite differently. In VARK, men are more kinaesthetic, for sure.

Greg:     Well, I don’t know. I haven’t really studied that part in detail. But knowing what your learning style is helps you be a better learner, for sure.