“Your learning styles have more influence than you may realize. Your preferred styles guide the way you learn. They also change the way you internally represent experiences, the way you recall information, and even the words you choose” (“Why Learning Styles? Understand the Basis of Learning Styles”). Believe it or not, according to learning-styles-online and many other sites, there are more than just the standard visual, mathematical, and listening styles. There are eight different learning styles, or “intelligences”— Logical/Mathematical; Language, or linguistic; Visual, or spatial; Naturalistic; Body Movement, or kinesthetic; Musical, or aural/auditory; Social, or interpersonal; and Self, or intrapersonal. My primary learning styles are linguistic and social; I am constantly thinking and playing with words and love engaging in group learning. Even if prior to now you had no idea that learning styles existed, they were shown throughout your life in school, work, and play. Mine have definitely been spotlighted at different points of my life and the idea of learning styles had never even been brought to my mind!

As a linguistic learner, I love to mess around with language (or should I say words, expressions, vocabulary or terminology?). According to learning-styles-online.com, linguistic-styled people “like playing on the meaning or sound of words”. We talk to others using new and exciting expressions and sayings we find (“The Verbal (Linguistic) Learning Style”). Many students find it hard to sit around and listen to lectures or read from a textbook instead of a hands-on approach, but it doesn’t bother me. Linguistic learners excel in subjects like reading and writing (Logson), and could easily spend all day drafting a novel or getting lost in the world of literature. If you are a linguistic learner, you “find it easy to express yourself” on and off paper (“The Verbal (Linguistic) Learning Style”). When I have something to say I almost always say it, and when a writing project is assigned I jump on the chance for creativity. Speech, deliberation, language, journalism and written projects are all classes, careers and activities that linguistic learners enjoy (Logson). My favorite classes, writing, drama, Spanish, history and civics, all have to do with language and people. They are well-suited to me and reflect my learning style as a person who loves speech and language.

Imagine that you are walking down the road. A small person whom you have never seen before comes up from behind, taps you on the shoulder, and asks in a straightforward manner: “Will you talk with me about my chemistry lesson?” His face gazes hopefully up at you and you take a long look at his innocent, gleaming eyes. What do you do? If I were in that situation I would decline his invitation with a feeling of confusion and would have a quite awkward sensation about the person’s inquiry. But now that I know about learning styles I can tell that this person is a social learner in need of a fellow scholarly soul. I am a social learner, and even though I can study alone in my room in the peace and quiet, I love being with people in a classroom setting just as this person does. Social learners are “people persons” and learn best in groups. We use dialogue and body language and are very in touch with others’ ideas and opinions (Logson). We communicate well with both children and adults and can understand and relate to others (“The Social (Interpersonal) Learning Style”). According to this article we “are good at reading people and are good at getting to the root cause of communication problems”. We social learners learn well by storytelling, imaginative/role play, drama, speech, and debate (Logson & Liston). When I play, I don’t just sit down with some dolls and tell them what I did that day. I put myself in their place where myths, language, wishes, nonfiction, dialogue, drama, dreams and speeches are all rolled up into one world. And if I can’t find someone to play with, I’ll imagine someone to play with! Since I understand my learning styles now, I guess I understand why some people are called social butterflies…

When applying learning to my life I use words and explore with other individuals. Understanding peoples’ feelings through speech and non-verbal language are powerful ways to use and apply both linguistic and social learning styles. Learners similar to me love to imagine and apply our thoughts and dreams to real life. Working things out with other people creatively, we are always thinking of new ways to word things and communicating with others about our experiences. Everyone has their own special intelligence, and linguistic and social are mine. Linguistic learners’ words will slowly spell out what path they are to take in their education, and the people social learners know will counsel and steer them to take the voyage to wisdom.