According to the book in this chapter, there are five kinds of learning styles. They are Field independence/Dependence (FI/D), Left and Right Brain Functioning, Ambiguity Tolerance, Reflectivity and Impulsivity, Visual and Auditory Styles. In my case, I believe that my left brain functioning and visual styles are my dominances. It is simply because in terms of thinking, I think I’m more into intellectual rather than intuitive and I respond more to verbal instructions and explanations rather than illustrated or symbolic instructions. And also in learning activities, I find that it’s easier for me to study when I can visualize the lesson. I love when the teacher gives us a kind of presentation and I don’t know why I feel like I’m more understandable If I see the presentation slide rather than listening to the explanation. Well, for me this two styles are the most dominant learning styles that really affect me.
I think the most distracting tendency inside me is my laziness. Why? It is because when I want to do something (eg. Homework or assignment) and then I don’t get enough motivation to do it, and the due date of the assignment is near, I will get really depressed because I haven’t done anything. So, I need to do some specific things to motivate myself to suppress my laziness. First of all, I need to divide my daily activities into such a balance condition. Time to play and time to work/study have to be put in balance. Because if It’s not in a balance state, I will get exhausted due to the overtime in doing one activity. So, it’s like I need to have enough rest after doing some self-study. And then I need to be proportional in managing my play time. Therefore, when I study I can do it fully concentrated because I have got enough rest and refreshing time.
By looking from the Learning Styles Checklist on page 136, I realize that I need to emphasize more in terms of trying out new words and structures. Even though I know how important it is, sometimes I find it hard to start it. That’s why I need to get more motivation to improve my English. In my opinion, sometimes by watching western movies, it motivates me to learn English. Because I want to understand about what the actors are talking about. Also in listening to the music, sometimes I search the lyrics on the internet, and if there are some words that I don’t know the meaning about, I’ll look for it in the dictionary. That’s how I improve my English.
On the table 5.2, I usually use the point number one (I don’t mind if people laugh at me when I speak). This is really helpful because if I shy automatically I won’t continue learning English. But, when I make mistakes I’ll try to correct it the next time I have the chance to speak. In point 3, I also think that I feel very confident in my ability to succeed in learning English. This optimism brings me a good motivation to keep learning English. I think in the near future I need to continue learning language outside of the classroom. I realize that this is also important because if we only use English in the classroom, how long will it take to get fluent in English? So, as far as I can I try to keep practicing even outside the classroom by using English in a situation outside classroom that has a possibility for me to use it. I also need to analyze more details in my speaking and grammar, so that I’ll understand exactly what is said and what is written.
So far, the communication strategies that have been used by me are Build self-confidence, develop intrinsic motivation, and practice intuition. In this term, my self-confidence is like a shield that protects me and keeps me continuing my English study. Once I lose my self-confidence, I don’t thing I can improve my English. It’s like when you try to speak and then you’ve made several mistakes, you’ll get shy. This shyness is actually a thing that you need to suppress. That’s why I think building self-confidence is really important. The other strategies are to develop intrinsic motivation. By having a great deal of motivation in learning English, it encourages me to keep studying even outside the classroom. This brings a good benefit for me, because I always try to emphasize my English no matter where I am as long as it’s possible. I will have a lot of practices which are very good to improve my English. Another strategy is about practice intuition. For example, when I read a book and then there are some vocabularies that I don’t get the meaning, I’ll try to use my intuition to guess the meaning, of course by considering the information given on the passage.
Based on my experience about my previous teacher, I think all of them using a various kinds of strategies. For example, my senior high school English Teacher always gave a presentation using a visually equipments (projector, etc). It helps me a lot in learning, because I can see clearly what I’m learning about. Another example, my primary teacher taught me how to be discipline in arranging my own study. Both of them were using the different methods, but I think it’s really effective. They also encourage me with a good motivation so that I won’t stop learning English.
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