Learning Styles and Language Learning Strategies

Implications & Recommendations
One must be cautious in one’s claims of effective learning characteristics and techniques.  Learning a language well depends on so many different factors, and there is considerable variation among learners.  Some learners may be more successful due to factors out of their control, like gender, intelligence, age, etc.  But, to some degree, they do have control over what strategies they employ, although we still do not really know to what extent this has a positive impact. Also we do not really know yet if successful learners use certain strategies because they are successful learners (i.e. because they can), or as a result of using the strategies. 
Successful language learners appear to use a wider range of strategies in a larger number of situations than weaker learners (Oxford & Crookall, 1989). Some learners may not be aware of which strategies they use or which strategies are available to them.  The teacher can therefore help these learners to recognize the power of using strategies by integrating learner-strategy training into the regular lesson, teaching them how to evaluate each strategy, and how and why to use them. It is important though that the individual language tasks, and the characteristics of each learner, are taken into account when doing such training.  Some learners may be resistant to change, and the teacher will need to be creative to find ways to disguise the new strategies as old ones. 
The teacher will also need to conduct surveys in the classroom to discover which strategies are already being used. 
Drawing together the strategies used by Sarah, and those identified in the literature, here are some suggestions for the teacher in improving her/his students’ chances of success in language learning:
· Design exercises to get students to work out the rules, and to look for patterns.
· Teach skimming techniques to encourage contextual guessing.
· Give the students a reason to use the language now, for example, by finding them pen-pals, or setting up “phone buddies”. This is a program in which students are put in contact with volunteer native speakers, who they chat with on the phone for twenty minutes each week (Denesyk, 2001).
· Label every object in the classroom, and ask the students to do it at home too, to help with memorization.
· Consider drawing comparisons between the learner’s L1 and English, to stimulate analysis.
· Play `Charades`, to encourage gesturing and facial expressions.
· Explain mnemonic techniques, and then play memory games to practise, such as asking them to study a number of objects, and then taking them away.
· To promote self and peer analysis, in groups of three, ask two students to take part in an activity, like a role-play, and the third student should play “the teacher”.  “The teacher” must make a note of any errors that she or he hears, and then give feedback at the end of the activity.  This may not work so well with shy students.
· Put shy students together, to help them feel less intimidated and lower inhibition.
· Before starting an activity, do a brainstorm, to discover what the students already know about the topic.  This encourages them to draw from other resources.
· Try doing a drill when teaching new vocabulary, to encourage students to repeat the words, which is good for memorising.  A silent drill could be undertaken, where the teacher says the item, and the student repeats it in his/her head.
· Ask beginner students to make vocabulary lists – another well-known memorization technique.
· Ask learners to write language-learning diaries, to help them monitor their own progress, and to take responsibility for their learning. 
These are just a sample of ideas, and more activities have been suggested by, for instance, Oxford (1990).  What is important is that the students find the approaches best suited to them. 
Whether these suggestions will garner success is unknown, and there is little evidence to support it (Ellis, 1994).  It is therefore recommended that action research be carried out in the first instance, to evaluate these suggestions.