Classroom Communication (Mut Somoeun)

1. The University of
Cambodia
ead303:
communication in
the classroom
Lectured by:
Mut Somoeun (M.Ed)

2. LEARNING STYLES

3. What is Learning Style?
• Learning styles have been defined as the
"cognitive, affective, and physiological traits
that serve as relatively stable indicators of how
learners perceive, interact with, and respond to
learning environments" (Keefe, 1982, p.43).

4. • The learning-style elements may be conditions
under which an individual is most comfortable and
prefers to learn, or they may be factors which must
be recognized to understand how information is
processed and stored (Gorham, 1986).
• The conditions can be assessed through both
observation of and discussion with the student.
What is Learning Style?

5. Dimensions of Learning Style and
Their Assessment
• There are most extensively tested and as indicative of
five general approaches to conceptualizing various
dimensions of learning style.
• Teachers use style-based assessment in their own
classrooms - sometimes using tested instruments and
sometimes using their own intuitive approaches.

6. Perceptual Modality
• Perceptual modality refers to the three basic
ways in which people perceive reality:
– the visual (reading and viewing),
– the aural (hearing and speaking),
– the psychomotor or tactile/kinesthetic (touching
and doing).
• Some people have a single modality strength.
• Some are equally comfortable in two, and
some in all three.

7. Information Processing
(See page: 43- 44/ 76)
• Information processing, or cognitive style, refers
to how learners make sense out of information.
• Some grasp abstract concepts easily; whereas,
some people need to see concrete applications.
• Some learn well step-by-step, while others need
to see the "big picture" before they can make
sense out of its separate parts.
• Some are analytical and like discovery-oriented
learning; some like lectures that simply lay out
information.

8. Kolb’s Learning Styles Inventory
(See page: 44/ 77)
• Kolb (1976) developed a Learning Styles
Inventory in which distinguish learners along
two continua: concrete experience; abstract
conceptualization; active experimentation; and
reflective observation.
• An individual can be categorized as one of
four learning types: Diverger, Assimilator,
Converger, and Accommodator.

10. Concrete Experience?
• Learners perceive information concretely and
process it reflectively. They are innovative,
imaginative, and concerned with personal
relevance.
• They need to clarify the ways in which a new area
of study links with previous experience before
they are receptive to learning it.
• They learn best through methods that encourage
brainstorming and empathy.
• Teachers would create an experience (right brain
mode) and then help them analyze it (Left brain
mode).

11. Reflectively Observation?
• Learners perceive information abstractly and
process it reflectively.
• Schools are traditionally designed for these
learners, who value sequential thinking,
details,and expert opinion.
• They are data collectors, who learn best from
teachers who are information-givers.
• Teachers would give them facts (left mode) and
help them integrate those facts with experience
(right mode).

12. • Learners perceive information abstractly and
process it actively. They like to "mess around"
with ideas and enjoy solving problems that test
theories against common sense.
• They learn best with teachers who facilitate
hands-on learning (knowledge/ skill through
from doing – not just reading/seeing).
• Teachers would give them worksheets and
activities (left mode) and let them create them
on their own (right mode).
Abstract Actualization?

13. Active Experimentation?
• Learners perceive information concretely and
process it abstractly.
• They learn well by trial and error, with
teachers who serve as evaluators and
remediators but who encourage self-discovery.
• Teachers would encourage them to create
applied projects and share them with others
(right mode) and then help them analyze what
they have done against theories and concepts
(left mode).

14. Conceptual Tempo
• A conceptual tempo refers to the time students
need to get to work and complete a learning task.
• Reflective learners tend to work slowly and with
precision, where impulsive learners tend to work
more quickly and with less abandon.
• Schools often reward impulsivity by encouraging
speed of response and of task completion.

15. Affective Orientations
• Affective orientation refers to attention,
emotion, and valuing, all of which are related
to motivation.

16. Conceptual Level
• Conceptual level is a motivational trait
developed and assessed through the Paragraph
Completion Method.
• Students are given six incomplete statements
related to how they handle conflict and asked to
write at least three sentences about each.
• The method requires some degree of writing
skill, it is rarely used below the sixth grade level.

17. Physiological Dimensions
• Physiological learning style elements relate to
the student's response to the environmental
conditions in which learning occurs.
• The Learning Style Inventory (LSI) has been
one of the more popular broad-gauged
assessment approaches.

18. Matching, Bridging, and Style-
Flexing
• There are three general approaches to
accommodating differences in how individual
students learn most comfortably and
efficiently.

19. Matching
• In a matching approach, students are taught in
their own preferred styles. They may be
"tracked," for example, into visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic groups, and assigned to classrooms
that emphasize the respective styles in their
instructional designs.
• A matching approach can be logistically complex,
and has been criticized for failing to teach
students how to accommodate their processing
information in less-preferred styles.

20. Bridging
• When learning style information is used as a
bridging technique, students are assigned to
classes without an attempt to match their
learning styles, and teachers generally teach in
the ways in which they are most comfortable.
• However, style-based materials are used when
students have difficulty in grasping the
material.

21. Style-Flexing
• Style flexing is a process of teaching students to
learn how to learn.
• Lessons are structured so individual students’
learning styles are both accommodated and
challenged, with a goal of increasing their
confidence with learning in a variety of ways.
• McCarthy (1981), lessons begin with creating a
desire to learn through brainstorming, listening,
• speaking, and interacting.

22. THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION.
Q & A