T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
- What Is Auditory Learning?
- Characteristics Of Auditory Learners
- Benefits Of Auditory Learning
- Enhanced critical thinking
- Improved listening skills
- Better comprehension skills and brainstorming
- Increased memory
- Interactivity
- Teaching Auditory Learners
- Strategies for auditory learning
Are you the type of person who seems to always forget people’s faces but
remembers the names you hear even years after not hearing them again? If so,
this means that you might be an auditory learner, and sound means much more
to you than to most people.
But what exactly does that mean? Read on and find out more about auditory
learner definition, some of its many qualities, benefits, and strategies you can use
to further improve this learning style.
What Is Auditory Learning?
Auditory learning refers to a learning style in which people learn most effectively
by listening. An auditory learner prefers to listen to the information rather than
read it in a text. While other learners retain information in different ways, either
by touch, vision, or reading, an auditory learner will focus on listening or speaking
to process the information.
Many auditory learners find learning challenging when the data is delivered to
them in a written text but have no problem understanding it in an audial form.
They store information by how it sounds and often learn new things by reading
them aloud or pairing them to non-verbal sounds like music or clapping. For
example, children who are auditory learners love music and tend to learn the
words of songs more quickly than other types of learners. They have no problem
understanding spoken directions by their teachers, but when asked to read
something, they will instead prefer to read aloud to have someone read it to
them.
Auditory learners usually excel in traditional school environments where they use
listening as their primary way of learning.
Characteristics Of Auditory Learners
Understanding auditory learner characteristics can help identify whether a person
is an auditory learner or not. Whether you want to learn more about your own
learning style or you are a teacher trying to determine the types of learners in
your classroom, comprehending auditory learner characteristics is essential in
finding ways to make learning more effective. A list of characteristics auditory
learners usually possess is presented below.
• They learn best when listening to the information
• Have a good memory for spoken information
• Have good public speaking abilities
• Possess strong listening skills
• Prefer spoken directions
• Excel in oral presentations and exams
• Skilled at telling stories
• Are distracted by background noises or silence
• Enjoy conversations
• Are confident to voice their thoughts
• Are good at understanding and processing changes in tone
• Can explain ideas well
• Possess strong communication abilities
• Have difficulty with written directions
• Like to be read to
• Enjoy music
• Whisper to self while reading
• Enjoy listening activities
• Talk frequently, to self and others
• Enjoy lectures and discussions
• Express emotion by the tone and volume of voice
Benefits Of Auditory Learning
Every learning style comes with its perks from which all people, who use that
style, regardless of whether it is their first choice or not, can benefit. So, if you are
an auditory learner, or just like to use this style occasionally, let’s have a closer
look at some of its advantages.
Enhanced critical thinking
According to a study on the challenge teachers face having to help students
engage with the studying material, results showed that the best way is to address
their various learning styles. Once you approach students with the material in
their preferred learning style, they are more likely to engage with it. Thus,
because they are paying more attention to the course, they are more prone to
using and developing their critical thinking skills.
Improved listening skills
When you interact with various materials through the auditory sense, you
improve your listening skills. With time, you will begin to easily make connections
between sentences since, after all, practice makes perfect. The more you work on
your listening skills, the better they will get.
Better comprehension skills and brainstorming
Furthermore, auditory learning techniques will help you improve your
comprehension and brainstorming skills. You should be aware that whether on
purpose or not, as you tackle various listening tasks, you will develop many skills
simultaneously, although at different levels of complexity.
Increased memory
Unlike people who prefer other learning styles, once they hear something, they
might forget quickly; auditory learners absorb information quickly and
thoroughly. The INC reports that auditory learners can retain more than 75% of
the information they hear, thus showing that auditory learning skills can increase
or improve your memory retention.
Interactivity
Similar to how we previously mentioned that using a student’s preferred learning
style will help them engage with school material more effectively; it will also make
you more interactive with other learners. Especially when it comes to auditory
learners, the need to better understand through listening pushes them to speak
to more people and have them explain things by sound.
Teaching Auditory Learners
Whether you are a parent or a teacher of an auditory learner, there are many
ways to teach them new things. Teaching auditory learners becomes easier when
you encourage them to say things aloud. Saying the letters of a word instead of
writing them helps children understand the spelling of that word. You can play an
audiobook and have them read along to practice reading. When they need to
learn a lesson from a text, suggest they record themselves reading that text so
that they can listen to it afterward. When learning new concepts, encourage
conversations around those concepts and exercise talking about them. In
addition, making up songs helps when trying to memorize something.
Below you can find some auditory learning strategies that teachers are
encouraged to use with auditory learning students.
Strategies for auditory learning
Here is our list of strategies teachers can implement to meet auditory learners’
needs and facilitate learning.
- Helping them to identify their learning style. Working to help students
understand how they learn best is the most beneficial thing you can do to
help them learn. Knowing their learning style, they will be able to
implement strategies for simple learning regardless of whether they are
inside a classroom or out. - Repeating information. Since auditory learners learn best by listening,
repeating information ensures they learn the lesson through spoken words
and are less likely to forget it. - Using Q&A sessions. When students can ask questions and listen to the
answer, they are more likely to remember information about that particular
topic. - Encouraging class participation. Motivating students to participate in
discussions, engage in conversations with one another and the teacher, or
answer questions, can help auditory learners succeed. - Playing background music. Soft music in the background tends to help
auditory learners focus by getting rid of distracting noises and silence at
the same time. - Recording lectures. For students who happen to miss a class, giving them a
recording of the lecture or course benefits them more than handing them
written notes. - Assigning collaborative work. By giving group projects, paired readings, or
other collaborative forms, auditory learners are required to talk with other
students while working, which helps them retain information more
effectively. - Providing various learning platforms. When students are offered the
chance to read instructions, watch them, or hear them on audio, it gives
them a higher chance of actually succeeding in understanding the
instructions for different assignments.
Since everyone has their own way of learning, identifying your learning style is
crucial for every learner’s success. If you are a person who prefers the auditory
learning style, you must use it to your advantage through various strategies that
will help you learn more effectively.