Page 11 - ELG1705 May Issue 447

NEWS

takomabibelot What’s the

Debunked harm?

‘learning styles’ By: Claudia Civinini

With the debunking of any pseudoscientific
theory and practice comes the inevitable
question: what’s the harm? Even if learning
theory still part of styles are not backed by evidence, why
shouldn’t teachers use them in their classroom
if they believe they are effective?
gold-standard EFL qualifications uses up time and resources that could be
Experts said that the learning styles theory
better allocated, and can sometimes become
an excuse for ineffective teaching or poor
student behaviour.
And the theory’s premise is faulty: just
as we might prefer cakes, even though they
Bas relief detail of Dr Samuel are not the best thing to eat for our health,
Hahnemann, creator of homeopathy. a students’ preferred learning style is not
Charles Henry Niehaus, Washington DC necessarily the best way for them to learn.
And if teachers plan according to their
students’ supposed learning styles – which
are often measured with unreliable tests –
Make teachers aware of they might make teaching ineffective.
‘It’s the mathemathantic effect, the
killing of learning,’ explained Professor Paul
the basic principles of Kirschner. ‘Let’s imagine we have a very
organised student who prefers information
science presented in a systematic way. She would
learn more from having to organise the
information herself, which she would
certainly be able to do. By always presenting
By: Claudia Civinini behavioural problems and under-achievement. information in her preferred way, it would
She added that critical thinking should be kill learning.’
he Gazette spoke to a number of part of teacher training, as ‘being able to In fact, as Dr Nathalia Gjersoe added,
experts about how time could be parse evidence from expert opinion is not people learn best when engaging with
better spent on teacher training straightforward and needs to be taught’. information in a combination of ways and
Tcourses instead of learning about Professor Bruce Hood added that teachers when taken out of their comfort zone.
discredited educational theories such as learning needed to be trained in critical analysis and be Professor Dorothy Bishop of the University
styles. ‘made aware of the basic principles of science: of Oxford added that the way learning styles
Professor Paul Kirschner said that teachers replication and validity’. are determined is through ‘invalid tests’,
should be better trained in ‘human cognitive Dr Michelle Ellefson, lecturer in psychology which are a waste of time for teachers and
architecture’ – how the brain learns and at the University of Cambridge, said that could potentially mean that students are
processes information. ‘This would be much learning styles should be replaced by ‘more taught in a less effective way ‘because of a
more useful than worthless and actually harmful effective practices’. false belief about what will suit them’.
tricks such as learning styles.’ Carol Lethaby and Patricia Harries have Experts say that individual differences in
Teachers could also dedicate more time suggested training teachers in effectively using how we approach learning are important,
to special education needs training, said Dr their students’ prior knowledge to support but pigeonholing students into a style, just
Nathalia Gjersoe from the University of Bath. learning. ‘Why not focus on evidence-based like dividing the whole world population
She suggested that teachers needed to be ways that we know are more helpful to learners?’ in twelve groups according to their date of
trained in recognising and supporting children they asked in their presentation on neuromyths birth, may not be the best way to respect
with early language disorders that can lead to at Iatefl. those differences.

editorial@elgazette.com 11

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