Benefits of Auditory Learning

I have spent five years as a high school teacher, and that I would often hear people talking about learning styles. "Betty may be a visual learner. Emma is an auditory learner. Sam is kinesthetic."

I hadn't got any idea about learning styles at the time, but it is sensible on the face of it. Some people seem to find out better once they see things, others when they're active, and a few once they hear information. But is there any way to learning styles?

Before delving into a sensible auditory learner's characteristics, let's take a step back and explore what research says about learning styles more generally.

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Debunking Learning Styles

In the 1990s, a replacement Zealand school inspector named Neil Fleming came up with a questionnaire to live people's preferred learning style. Now called the VARK questionnaire, it is still used today to discern whether people are Visual, Read/Write, Auditory, or Kinesthetic learners.

Fleming's learning styles theory becomes popular over the decades, but no studies have confirmed its legitimacy. A recent study by Polly Hussmann and Valerie Dean O'Loughlin found that folks who used their preferred learning style didn't improve learning outcomes. In short, there was no relationship between learning style and actual learning.

Another study by Abby R. Knoll, Reid L. Skeel, Hajime Otani, and K. Roger Van Horn also found that learning style had no connection with the recall. Participants who preferred visual learning didn't recall images they saw any better than words they heard.

There is no evidence about learning styles that help people learn. Instead, they ought to be thought of as a learning preference. I prefer when people write things down on behalf of me, but there is no evidence that this improves my recall.

It would be a miracle if learning styles were a learning solution. I want to be ready to say I'm a visible learner then be ready to recall every piece of data just by seeing it represented visually. Unfortunately, that's not in the least how learning styles work.

Learning is complex and messy. Simply because we prefer one learning style doesn't suggest it helps us learn better. We want to experiment with all the training styles and check out to match the proper learning styles with each specific task.

Knowing your learning style is vital. It's good to understand how you favor receiving information, but don't stop there. You can strategically use your preference for auditory learning and when it is sensible to try to do so.

Disadvantages of Auditory Learning Style

While certain benefits accompany an auditory learning style, there also are a couple of disadvantages that will arise from this learning style. Being conscious of these potential downfalls of auditory learning can help you prevent them from impacting your productivity and success at work. Common disadvantages of this learning style to stay in mind include:

• More vulnerable to distractions within the workplace, especially when there are excess noises within the environment
• Shorter span, especially when the task involves reading or writing
• More likely to cause disruptions within the work area like humming or singing to oneself or starting conversations with others while they're working
• Decreased chance of retaining information if it's not expressed in an auditory form

How does an auditory learner learn best?

Auditory learners learn best by using their sense of hearing. Meaning they remember and understand new concepts better once they are explained out loud—even if they're doing the speaking themselves.

Auditory Learning Tips for Teachers

• Call on auditory learners to answer questions.
• Lead class discussions and reward class participation.
• During lectures, ask auditory learners to repeat ideas in their own words.
• Record your lectures so that auditory learners can hear them quite once.