Learning Styles - Visual vs. Auditory Learners

Everyone learns in a different way, so the specific methods that an individual should use to study a particular subject can vary from person to person. However, there are three primary ways that an individual can learn information, which includes hearing the information, learning about something by touching it or using it, or by actually seeing the information or seeing the information applied. It is important to realize though that tactile learning, or in other words learning through touch, is usually not the primary focus in the classroom. As a result, most classes focus heavily on visual or auditory techniques to teach the students the material that they need to learn. Unfortunately, even though auditory and visual techniques are much more commonly used in the classroom than tactile techniques, visual and auditory learners may still have difficulty learning in certain classrooms. This is because visual learners will often have difficulty learning in an environment that is primarily auditory and auditory learners will have difficulty learning in an environment that is primarily visual. Since most classes lean heavily towards either a lecture component or towards written assignments and handouts, there will often be students that have difficulty learning the material using the particular style of learning that the class is structured around.

Auditory learners often have difficulty learning in classrooms that focus primarily on reading and writing. For example, an individual in a writing analysis class might be expected to spend a large portion of the class writing about material that the individual has to read quietly. This environment is very effective for helping a visual learner, but is very difficult for an auditory learner. On the other hand, a class that usually consists of a lecture with no written or visual components would be very effective for helping an auditory learner and very difficult for a visual learner. Regardless of the specific style of learning that an individual normally uses, an individual will often have to learn information in a format that he or she normally finds difficult. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing as studies have shown that individuals learn more effectively by using multiple learning styles instead of focusing their learning on using only one style. As a result, it is essential for an individual to use multiple styles of learning and each individual needs to find various ways to improve his or her auditory and visual skills.