Learning Techniques

Learning new skills is what makes us human - but can we improve how we go about learning new things in new situations? This approach can help you to understand what works for you - and what doesn`t - when you set out to learn new skills at work, in education or training and in everyday life.

In developing and assessing the key skill of improving your own learning and performance, you will learn to recognise, use and adapt your skills confidently and effectively in different situations and contexts.

Do you learn better by seeing, hearing, or acting out the information you receive? In other words, are you a mostly visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner? In many cases, we learn by mixture of methods, but one method or type is usually dominant in each person. By determining your dominant learning style you can improve your success.

In recent years, the terms learner independence has gained increasing importance in education and is often identified by:

? assuming responsibility for your own learning; ? acquiring key skills and learning strategies; ? learning according to your own needs and interests; ? using available resources and taking every opportunity to learn.

Research has shown that language learners whose approaches to learning reflect some of these characteristics are more likely to succeed in their long-term aims and objectives. This is why it is important to have access to a broad range of materials and sources of support which encourage independent learners to make best use of these different learning styles and to develop an autonomous learning approach.

Mentoring must aim to develop and accommodate differences in learning styles so that all language learners have the best chance of achieving individual success. With the above in mind, when you identify successful learning activities, it is important to include these methods into your repertoire of learning strategies to build on past successes.