Differentiated Instruction for Auditory Learners
Listening/Talking Helps Students Remember and Understand Instruction
Nov 24, 2008
Because the traditional classroom is often structured around lecture and discussion, auditory learners typically function better in that setting than students with other types of learning styles and intelligences. On the other hand, the visual component of the classroom – reading, using graphic organizers, taking notes – can present a challenge to auditory learners.
The Spoken Word and the Learning Process
The brains of auditory learners don’t easily assimilate information that is processed visually or tactilely. To prepare lesson plans for students with this learning style, teachers might imagine these students as blindfolded and handcuffed. Because sound is the vehicle through which they learn, auditory learners benefit from aural and oral activities. For example, to help students transfer a graph from visual format to auditory, have them describe and explain it.
Audios allow students to repeat words mentally until the information gains a foothold in their short-term memory. According to Marilee Sprenger in Differentiation Through Learning Styles and Memory (Corwin Press, Inc., 2003), this repetition allows them to hold onto the information long enough to jot it down or create a mental image in order to transfer it to working memory, and, ideally, into long-term memory.
Written information, such as text, photos, graphic organizers, or puzzles, may not have much meaning for auditory learners until it is heard. Sound flips a mental switch, turning on the brain’s tape recorder and allowing students to hold onto information and concepts. Lessons should include tapes, conferences, interviews, and oral reports in addition to traditional lectures. Intermittent discussion during lectures reinforces the information because it is both “heard” and “spoken.”
Helpful Techniques for Auditory Learners
To transfer written information to a form of auditory stimulus, have students
- read aloud written directions.
- repeat or explain directions given orally for reinforcement.
- review answers in a group instead of filling in worksheets.
- answer test questions aloud on a tape recorder.
- tape record notes after writing them.
- describe, discuss, or explain graphic organizers.
- read aloud to themselves, a partner, or the class.
- mouth the text as they are reading it.
- retell a story in their own words.
- repeat facts with their eyes closed.
Differentiate instruction by prerecording reading assignments or providing books on tape so auditory learners can listen (using headphones) while others read silently. Use highlighters to identify target information, and then have students read the highlighted material aloud.
Some auditory learners find that music and sound effects are helpful. That’s because rhythm, rhyme, repetition, and melody are known to aid memory. Permit students to use headphones to listen to music while they are studying. They may find it helpful to turn information into musical jingles or to tap a rhythm while they are reviewing material for a test. For example: In Fourteen-hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
Mnemonic Devices Are Useful Tools for Auditory Learners
Mnemonic techniques link new information to information already embedded in long-term memory. These memory tools find and take advantage of existing connections or create connections that aren’t obvious to the learner. All mnemonic devices help jog students’ memories, but the following are best suited to auditory learners because they can be easily repeated.
- Acronyms are words whose individual letters stand for items in lists of information. ROY G BIV represents the colors of the rainbow in order: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet.
- Acrostics are phrases or sentences in which the first letter of each word is a hint for something to be remembered. Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain is another way to remember the colors of the spectrum.
- Chaining is the process of creating a story where each word or idea that must be remembered cues the next idea. Harriet Tubman, magnolia, and trepidation become Harriet Tubman hid behind the magnolia tree with trepidation.
In short, differentiated instruction for auditory learners is necessary when information is presented as a visual or when a lesson requires writing or drawing. These techniques and tools help them retain information longer by processing information through listening and speaking. Some written information can’t be adapted. In that case, keep assignments short so as not to overwhelm students.
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