Learning Preferences
Learning styles and preferences have great influence on the way an individual will learn. Your individual preferred learning styles “can guide the way you learn and change the way you internally represent experiences, the way you recall information, and even the words you choose” (Brown, 2003, para. 1). Learning styles group ways that people learn and describe strategies that help with learning. Some people find that they have one main style of learning. Others will find that they use different styles in different circumstances. There is no right or wrong style. By being able to recognized and understand your personal learning preferences, you can use strategies better suited to you. This will improve the speed and quality of your learning experiences.
The VARK learning styles questionnaire is a tool that can help learners identify their preferred learning styles. VARK learning styles, consist of four styles of learning preferences. Visual learning (pictures, movies, diagrams), auditory learning (music, discussion, lectures), reading and writing (making lists, reading textbooks, taking notes), and kinesthetic learning (movement, experiments, hands-on activities) complete these styles (Cherry, 2014). After completing the VARK questionnaire the author discovered that her prefer learning style was multimodal. Aural and read-write were equally strong focuses for her, which VARK puts into the category multimodal (Fleming, 2011). An aural or auditory learner learns by hearing information where a reading and writing learner prefers to take in information displayed as words (Cherry, 2014). Listening and talking aloud are the best way for auditory learner to learn. They will notice and remember sounds at are excellent at remembering items that they hear. Words and language are also some of their strengths. When studying they will read to