Accommodating O'Brien's three learning channel preferences in your teaching
Many language-learning activities tend to be aimed at just one or two learning channels. Here is an example of a short activity that should be suitable for all three types of learner:
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Personal Summaries Students are asked to draw pictures of, or to describe in a few sentences, a place they would like to visit, something they hate, and something they find frightening. They are then given three minutes to share with the group anything they like about the pictures. Each student then chooses one person in the group, and writes a brief summary of what they said. The students then swap summaries and check them for factual accuracy. While they are doing this, the tutor circulates and checks for grammatical, lexical and spelling mistakes. |
Figure 12.13 'Personal summaries' activity
Although there will be some overlap, haptic learners should enjoy the parts of the activity where they draw pictures and swap summaries, visual learners may use the pictures and the written summaries to help them remember the language points, and auditory learners will probably benefit most from the discussion.
Task 9
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Choose one of the learning style or channel models that have been discussed in this part of the course. Think of a teaching activity that you have used with your students. What learning channels or styles does this activity accommodate best? Is there any correlation with your own preferred learning channels or learning styles? How could the activity be adapted to suit a wider variety of learners? |
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