Don’t look VAK in anger
I guess that all of us have a preferred learning style? So what is yours? Are you a visual, auditory or kinesthetic learner? Learning styles theory goes that we all have a style and that teachers should tailor the lessons to fit the style of the learner. So, you show lots of pictures to visual students, give verbal explanations to auditory students and provide movement and hands on activities for kinesthetic learners. So far, so good!
In recent polls of educators in the Netherlands and the UK, upwards of 90% believed this theory. It makes intuitive sense of course. I remember having training in the mid 1990s based on this theory and I had my students take the tests to ascertain their style and I designed lessons based around their preferred style. The only problem is that I was wasting my time. The theory is a myth! However, it is the hardest to shift.
The research is unequivocal. It is simple to test and the test has been replicated many times. Take a large group of people and separate them according to their supposed learning style. Let half of them experience a story/new learning through their preferred style while the other half experience it in a different way. Then, test each group to see what they recall. The results are always the same. There is no statistical difference between people who learned according to their so called learning style and those that did not. Daniel Willingham, professor of psychology from the University of Virginia was a leading light in debunking this myth, pointing out the lack of scientific basis for the concept. He says, ‘in the experiments that have been done, it (learning styles) doesn’t help. They don’t do the task any better.’ In addition, it has been estimated that there are 70+ other learning styles that have been touted and Willingham says that there is no evidence to support any of them.
So, although the theory may be wrong, is it harmful? Yes, according to many. Firstly, for example, any student who sees themselves as visual learners can say that they can’t pay attention to a lecture, or that for a kinesthetic learner to learn anything he/she needs to be working with their hands. Secondly, the theory puts undue pressure on teachers trying to accommodate the different styles. If a learner is a visual learner should the teacher present everything in a visual way or should the teacher be trying to develop the other channels? (auditory/kinesthetic) That is not to say of course that lessons shouldn’t be varied or differentiated. Some topics are best taught through a combination of all three approaches. Lessons that are multi modal and varied are much better. However, bear in mind that the neuroscientist John Medina says the vision massively trumps all other senses. It is time to acknowledge that there are no such things as visual, auditory or kinesthetic learners, quite simply, there are only learners!
