Learning Styles and Nonverbal Communication in Bilingual Education

Introduction: Language Learning as a Multisensory Experience

Learning a new language is by definition a multisensory experience. One difficulty some new language students face is the challenge of understanding idioms, body language, and the intuitive aspects of communication that cannot be learned from a book. Bilingual education in all phases must incorporate visual as well as verbal media to be truly effective. That is why watching a video of two people communicating is so much more effective at reinforcing lesson concepts than simply listening to a recording — and why reading dialogue alone is often the least effective method of all. For any discipline, deploying multiple types of learning methods that draw on different learning styles and strengths is necessary, but this is especially true in bilingual education. I have found that merely saying something once, or introducing a new idea once, is never enough: it is necessary to repeat material many times and in many different ways for an idea to truly stick in students' minds.

Howard Gardner's conception of multiple intelligences — rather than a single, unified intelligence — has confirmed my belief that teachers must use a wide array of approaches when teaching the same concept. Visual learners with high levels of spatial intelligence may more easily pick up on the body language exchanged between two native speakers of a foreign language and infer meaning from context. Kinesthetic learners may only truly internalize a dialogue once they have spoken it themselves. Auditory or verbal learners might benefit from listening to a lesson repeatedly and from using interactive word and computer games. Mathematical learners may need a secure grounding in the grammar and internal logic of a new language, while students with strong interpersonal or intrapersonal skills might benefit from a blend of interactive strategies such as role plays and observations of others (Lane 2010).

Multiple Intelligences and Diverse Learning Styles

All lessons must take into account the needs of different types of learners. Language education is built on the scaffolding of previous concepts onto new ones — lesson units are sequential in nature, much like a mathematics lesson — so it is essential that no child is left behind in the learning process.

No child perfectly embodies a single learning preference, of course. Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences reflects tendencies rather than absolutes, and no bilingual instructor, however homogeneous the class may seem, can or should cater to just one learning style. Learning a living language in an academic context requires both acquiring a knowledge base in grammar and developing an awareness of nonverbal communication. Nevertheless, awareness of class tendencies can be helpful, and older students can be encouraged to become more conscious of their own preferences and strengths.

Most of the time, teachers try intuitively to identify what learning style a child prefers. Formal assessment tools also exist. The Edmonds Learning Style Identification Exercise (ELSIE), for example, identifies learning styles by gauging reactions to auditory stimuli. In this 50-item test, words are read aloud and students select from four multiple-choice responses: whether the word prompts them to visualize it, to spell it out, to hear it, or to experience an emotional or physical feeling (Tendero 2009).

Cognitive Styles and Their Role in Language Learning

Distinct from learning style or ability is a child's cognitive style. As Kearsley (1994) explains: "Cognitive styles refer to the preferred way an individual processes information. Unlike individual differences in abilities — which describe peak performance — styles describe a person's typical mode of thinking, remembering, or problem solving. Furthermore, styles are usually considered to be bipolar dimensions whereas abilities are unipolar. Having more of an ability is usually considered beneficial, while having a particular cognitive style simply denotes a tendency to behave in a certain manner. Cognitive style is usually described as a personality dimension that influences attitudes, values, and social interaction."

One well-known assessment of cognitive learning style is the Child Rating Form, developed by Manuel Ramirez and Alfredo Castaneda in 1974. This instrument classifies a child's style along the dimension of field dependence versus field independence. Field independence refers to an individual's tendency to approach the environment analytically, while field dependence refers to a more global, holistic approach. "The global traits are the opposite of detail-oriented, independent, and sequential" types of analytical and field-independent learning (Tendero 2009). Field-dependent students are "group-oriented, sensitive to the social environment, and positively responsive to adult modeling. They are less sensitive to the spatial incursions of others, less comfortable with trial and error, and less interested in the fine details of tasks that are non-social" — such as learning grammar and abstract concepts (Tendero 2009). Field-independent personalities, by contrast, are more intrinsically motivated by learning itself rather than by social reinforcement, and they can more readily separate what they learn from its classroom or personal context.

Conclusion: Building Accessible Bilingual Education

Oral and written language abilities and first-language knowledge are strong predictors of a child's success with bilingual literacy, indicating there may be a generalized language-learning ability trait (Rinaldi & Perez 2010). However, by making use of multiple teaching methods and playing to a variety of different strengths, bilingual education can become more accessible for all students and more effective for those who are naturally inclined toward linguistic subjects. Recognizing and responding to the full range of learning and cognitive styles present in any classroom is not merely good pedagogical practice — in bilingual education, it may be the difference between a student who acquires fluency and one who does not.