8 Language Learning Styles: Which Type Is Yours?
A learning style is your ideal way of learning based on your preferences, strengths, and weaknesses.
Different kinds of learners may have an inclination toward listening, reading, visuals, being in a classroom full of people, or working by themselves.
The 8 types of learning styles I explore in this article serve as a general guideline for acquiring, processing, and using information. Knowing your type is helpful to support your endeavors in learning a new language.
What are the different types of learners, and how many learning styles are there?
Go ahead to discover them—and find out what type of learning style is yours!
1. Visual or Spatial Learners
Visual language learners thrive when they add charts and color-code concepts so they can remember the information more easily. This type of learning style is for those who remember facts and details better with visuals such as tables, pictures, graphs, and presentations.
The visual type relates what they learned to a specific picture in their mind. They would rather see info spread out than a written process with words only. Spatial students tend to have acute senses of smell and hearing but poor listening skills.
Since spatial learners are visual, they know how to read people and situations by observing facial expressions, body language, and their surroundings.
While linguistic and analytic learners thrive in the traditional classroom, visual learners tend to suffer from the overload of sequential information.
For example, imagine building a model airplane. While certain kids put together the pieces by looking at them, others need to see the instructions step-by-step. They cannot engage in an activity unless they see the whole picture first.
For the same reason, sometimes they miss the details. Spatial learners remember concepts only when they relate them to other concepts or make mental pictures.
Visual and spatial learners should engage in activities where they excel, like the arts, building blocks, video games, photography, architecture, or engineering.
See also: 10 tips to make Spanish reading easier
2. Aural or Auditory Learners
Auditory learners benefit from lessons that involve speaking and listening, such as audiobooks and reading aloud.
Aurals would rather listen to instructions than read them. They are eloquent, have a good memory, and excel at storytelling, explaining their ideas, speaking publicly, and retaining information. If you solve problems by talking about them out loud—even to yourself—and love study groups, you’re probably an auditory learner.
Traditional education can work for these students because they feel comfortable with dictation and repetition exercises. When it comes to learning a new language, aural pupils benefit from practicing with another person, recording lessons, asking questions, teaching others, and participating in class discussions.
See also: 22 Spanish audio books that delight and entertain
3. Verbal or Linguistic Learners
The linguistic learning style is for those who enjoy learning from language in any form. Wordplay, metaphors, analogies, and rhymes are effective ways for them to understand and remember a concept.
New vocabulary words and expressions stick to them easily and quickly become ready-to-use material in their heads. They thrive with reading and writing exercises and are those who read the whole book even when homework says “first chapter only.”
Group discussions, and role-plays are perfect for verbal learners. When learning a language, it’s easy for them to remember words and idioms, relate them to others, and eventually express themselves in their second language.
Since they are into literature, they are prone to start reading for pleasure in their second language which speeds up their progress and helps them internalize information.
This type of learning style corresponds to people who would rather read a book than watch a movie. They keep journals, love tongue-twisters and new words, are good listeners and tend to be good test-takers.
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4. Social Learners
This type of learning style defines those who love and benefit from social interaction. They gain important insights from group discussions, group lessons, and teamwork.
Role-playing and Q&A sessions are great for social learners to thrive. They are “people smart,” which means they can easily read people, interpreting their facial expressions, body language, and tone. They may struggle while doing homework and projects by themselves but love to ask questions, participate in class, and make new friends.
Social learners who study languages benefit from homework that involves interviewing others or engaging in collaborations or group sessions. Interacting with new people and teaching them what they know is important and beneficial to them.
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5. Physical, Kinesthetic, or Tactile Learners
Physical language learners thrive from touching and manipulating materials. Tactile learners benefit from hands-on experiences and learning by doing, including drawing, playing with clay, with puzzles, dancing, modeling, and role-play.
A student with this type of learning style benefits from online language lessons. Rocking chairs, chewing gums, and clicking pens help them study. They remember things better if they write them down and have trouble following instructions. Sitting still, focusing for a long period of time, and being confined are nightmares for them.
Kinesthetics learn best when they make posters, go on field trips, do experiments, and create collages. Like visual learners, they tend to make charts, graphs, and concept maps.
See also: 10 Spanish audio lessons for beginners
6. Natural or Nature Learners
Hands-on activities are also helpful for the natural type of learning style. Outdoor lessons empower students who are sense-driven and love nature, discovery, and investigation.
Alternative educational systems like Montessori and Waldorf are ideal for them. Gardening is elemental for these learners.
They’re into geology, environment, weather, and zoology. As they are connected with nature, natural learners can thrive in these disciplines.
When they learn languages they can do research, examine topics, and keep a log about their findings. They can develop write-ups about biology-related subjects, environmental news, and non-fiction books.
7. Logical or Analytic Learners
The analytical learning style can easily spot patterns and trends on data of any kind. They are always in the search of the reason or causes as well as objective results. Interpretation of all of these, inference, and correlations are the logical learners’ strong suit.
The analytic learner loves to discover how everything works. They’re attracted to logic and systems, and love creating effective, optimized processes for themselves and others.
They are experts in problem-solving, and puzzle-solving. You can identify them easily since they ask “why.” They’re inclined to reason and reach data-based conclusions. Remembering formulas and facts is one of their greatest strengths.
This type of learning style is related to people who like information presented step-by-step and to solve one problem at a time. They pay great attention to detail.
Logical learners thrive in traditional education systems where they take notes, self-evaluate, and learn from their mistakes. They get frustrated when engaging in a group activity or encountering something they consider illogical. Structure and routines are their best friends.
When learning a new language, they like structured lessons and a clear syllabus so they can measure their progress and optimize their learning process.
Check out: 45 Spanish writing prompts for every level
8. Solo or Individual Learners
The students with this type of learning style thrive by doing research, homework, or exercises alone. They feel that problem-solving is faster or more effective when they do them by themselves.
When solo learners want to learn a second language, they benefit from individualized sessions, whether they’re online, presencial, or hybrid. One-on-one with teachers means more focused efforts in their progress and a higher chance of being acknowledged for individual accomplishments.
Individual learners are self-motivated, able to concentrate, and ambitious. They aren’t necessarily loners in life, only when they study.
Find Your Type of Learning Style
There’s no such thing as the best type of learning style. Each person has an inclination toward one or another. The important thing is that you identify which of these eight learning styles accommodates your personality.
These language learning styles tell us what methods are best for us. If you are unsure of your language styles, take this quiz for a more in-depth analysis.
Now that you know your type of learning style, it’s time to apply these techniques to learn Spanish! Learning Spanish is a brilliant idea for many reasons: it can advance your career, help you travel easier, and enable you to connect with more people.
One method that helps you learn faster and more effectively is practicing with a native Spanish speaker. Here at Homeschool Spanish Academy, our certified teachers tailor lessons to your type of learning style and offer flexible 1-to-1 sessions. Become part of our more than 24,000 monthly enrolled student community and trust in our 10 years of experience. Check our affordable pricing and flexible programs. Prepare for your language learning adventure by signing up for a free trial class today!
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