CONCEPT
THE 4 SENSORY MODALITIES
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The VARK questionnaire was developed by Neil Fleming, an educator at Lincoln University in New Zealand. Charles Bonwell, an instructional consultant, has also been noted for being a co-author and contributor to VARK’s development. The questionnaire was the first to systematically present a series of questions with help-sheets for students, teachers, employees, and others to use in their own way. VARK is not a full-fledged learning style though. The term “learning style” is now used loosely to describe almost any attribute or characteristic of learning but technically the term refers to all the components that might affect a person's ability to learn. Some inventories report on a number of components in a style (motivation, surface-deep approaches to learning, social, physical and environmental elements) and some personality inventories have learning characteristics as a part of their wider descriptions. VARK considers only one component, ones preference for taking in and putting out information.
VARK has little to say about personality, motivation, social preferences, physical environments, or introversion/extraversion. The choice to limit VARK to modal preferences was made because that is where Fleming had most success in assisting students with their learning. Of course, changing the other dimensions affected learning, but it was the modal preferences that had the most direct application for more effective learning.
VARK consists of only 16 questions because “experience suggests that if there are too many questions (25+) some people take the questionnaire less seriously and some may become bored with it or provide spurious answers because of questionnaire fatigue.
- VARK is a questionnaire that provides users with a profile of their learning preferences. These preferences are about the ways that they want to take-in and give-out information.
- The acronym VARK stands for Visual, Aural, Read/Write, and Kinesthetic sensory modalities that are used for learning information. Fleming and Mills (1992) suggested four modalities that seemed to reflect the experiences of the students and teachers.
THE 4 SENSORY MODALITIES
- Visual (V): This preference includes the depiction of information in charts, graphs, flow charts, and all the symbolic arrows, circles, hierarchies and other devices that instructors use to represent what could have been presented in words. It does NOT include movies, videos or PowerPoint.
- Aural / Auditory (A): This perceptual mode describes a preference for information that is "heard or spoken." Students with this modality report that they learn best from lectures, tutorials, tapes, group discussion, email, speaking, web chat, talking things through.
- Read/Write (R): This preference is for information displayed as words. Not surprisingly, many academics have a strong preference for this modality. This preference emphasizes text-based input and output - reading and writing in all its forms.
- Kinesthetic (K): By definition, this modality refers to the "perceptual preference related to the use of experience and practice (simulated or real)." Although such an experience may invoke other modalities, the key is that the student is connected to reality, "either through concrete personal experiences, examples, practice or simulation"
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The VARK questionnaire was developed by Neil Fleming, an educator at Lincoln University in New Zealand. Charles Bonwell, an instructional consultant, has also been noted for being a co-author and contributor to VARK’s development. The questionnaire was the first to systematically present a series of questions with help-sheets for students, teachers, employees, and others to use in their own way. VARK is not a full-fledged learning style though. The term “learning style” is now used loosely to describe almost any attribute or characteristic of learning but technically the term refers to all the components that might affect a person's ability to learn. Some inventories report on a number of components in a style (motivation, surface-deep approaches to learning, social, physical and environmental elements) and some personality inventories have learning characteristics as a part of their wider descriptions. VARK considers only one component, ones preference for taking in and putting out information.
VARK has little to say about personality, motivation, social preferences, physical environments, or introversion/extraversion. The choice to limit VARK to modal preferences was made because that is where Fleming had most success in assisting students with their learning. Of course, changing the other dimensions affected learning, but it was the modal preferences that had the most direct application for more effective learning.
VARK consists of only 16 questions because “experience suggests that if there are too many questions (25+) some people take the questionnaire less seriously and some may become bored with it or provide spurious answers because of questionnaire fatigue.
MY RESULTS
PERSONAL REFLECTION
After taking the VARK Questionnaire, I confirmed the fact that I am above all a visual learner (6 out of 16). Since I was a boy in primary school, I have always enjoyed classes in which the visual element was preeminent. Now that I teach languages, both English and Spanish, I find myself using visuals, graphic organizers, and videos all the time to enhance my students' learning. Something which I didn't know about myself was that I tend to be a kinesthetic learner (6 out of 16) as well. I seemed to have had the wrong impression that kinesthetics basically referred to sports. Actually as a teacher, I promote a lot of movement in my classes. In fact, I always foster mingling activities in which students have to stand up and ask each other questions. What's more, I promote role plays that simulate real life settings. For example, when I am teaching my students the functional language they should employ when they are in a restaurant, I try to recreate a real restaurant ambience by using tables, chairs, menus and real food.
After taking the VARK Questionnaire, I confirmed the fact that I am above all a visual learner (6 out of 16). Since I was a boy in primary school, I have always enjoyed classes in which the visual element was preeminent. Now that I teach languages, both English and Spanish, I find myself using visuals, graphic organizers, and videos all the time to enhance my students' learning. Something which I didn't know about myself was that I tend to be a kinesthetic learner (6 out of 16) as well. I seemed to have had the wrong impression that kinesthetics basically referred to sports. Actually as a teacher, I promote a lot of movement in my classes. In fact, I always foster mingling activities in which students have to stand up and ask each other questions. What's more, I promote role plays that simulate real life settings. For example, when I am teaching my students the functional language they should employ when they are in a restaurant, I try to recreate a real restaurant ambience by using tables, chairs, menus and real food.