Learning styles

Abstract

A learning style is not in itself an ability but rather a preferred way of using one’s abilities (Sternberg 1994). Individuals have different learning styles, that is, they differ in their ‘natural, habitual, and preferred way(s) of absorbing, processing, and retaining new information and skills’ (Reid 1995: viii). Learning styles are typically bipolar entities (for example reflective versus impulsive, random versus sequential), representing two extremes of a wide continuum; however, where a learner falls on the continuum is value neutral because each extreme has its own potential advantages and disadvantages (Dörnyei 2005). Moreover, although individuals may have some strong style preferences and tendencies, learning styles are not fixed modes of behaviour, and, based on different situations and tasks, styles can be extended and modified (Reid 1987; Oxford 2011). However, the extent to which individuals can extend or shift their styles to suit a particular situation varies (Ehrman 1996).