What is an aural learner?
Aural learners learn best when the concepts that they are learning are put to a tune. This can be accomplished by learning material to a rhythm, sound, rhyme, or music. Aural learners should use recordings to provide a background and help in giving visualizations of material. Common phrases of an aural learners include “That sounds right,” “Clear as a bell,” and “That’s music to my ears.” Aural learning is all about putting information to music. Aural learners are most commonly seen as musical people. Much Aural training and learning is through learning how to play music and tuning one’s ear to be sensitive to different notes (Learning Styles, 2013).
Who is an aural learner?
(Melanie)
The simple answer? Everybody!
According to Katherine Kimball and Lisa O'Connor (2010), biologically, studies have found that at a young age, a majority of children are aural learners. A fetus in its mother’s womb can’t do all that much other than float around and listen to what is going on in the outside world. Because a fetus relies so heavily on listening, the “aural path” is one of the first things to develop to allow learning. Since this "aural path" is the first thing to develop while being a fetus, it is the first method of learning that everybody innately has. Therefore, nearly everybody, at least at some point in their lives, is an aural learner.
Also according to Katherine Kimball and Lisa O'Connor (2010), music activates many parts of the brain. To sufficiently learn something, it is best to have as much of the brain working as possible. With so much of the brain working at once, many resources are pulled to assist in the learning of the material. This also locates the memory in our brain into many different places, rather than just a few, which also assists in helping people remember the information.
According to Katherine Kimball and Lisa O'Connor (2010), biologically, studies have found that at a young age, a majority of children are aural learners. A fetus in its mother’s womb can’t do all that much other than float around and listen to what is going on in the outside world. Because a fetus relies so heavily on listening, the “aural path” is one of the first things to develop to allow learning. Since this "aural path" is the first thing to develop while being a fetus, it is the first method of learning that everybody innately has. Therefore, nearly everybody, at least at some point in their lives, is an aural learner.
Also according to Katherine Kimball and Lisa O'Connor (2010), music activates many parts of the brain. To sufficiently learn something, it is best to have as much of the brain working as possible. With so much of the brain working at once, many resources are pulled to assist in the learning of the material. This also locates the memory in our brain into many different places, rather than just a few, which also assists in helping people remember the information.
Aural learning with age? Gender?
One of the first things children learn is based on aural learning. It would be quite a difficult task for children to learn 26 letters in order based off of pure memorization. To make it easier, the letters are put to a tune. The strength of aural learning is presented with a majority of people still able to sing the common “ABC” song without having to think all too much.
As people get older, the strength of aural learning is also shown. According to Oliver Sacks (2006), older people with Alzheimer's or other dementias who can no longer understand or respond to language are still able to be moved emotionally by music. Music is so rooted in our brains that even without the ability to understand language, tunes are able to evoke an emotion. In a study on music in dementia patients, Julia C Hailstone, Rohani Omar, and Jason D Warren (2008) found that there is a relatively preserved knowledge of music in these patients. This further exemplifies the idea that once someone musical is learned, it is very difficult for the brain to unlearn it.
In a study by Sydelle Shapiro (1966), children were split into different age groups (elementary school, middle school, high school) and split into their different genders. They were presented two different lists, a list that was the "base" words, and a list that complimented those words. For example, 'boy' was a "base" word, while 'girl' was the complimenting word. In the study, the complimenting words were jumbled up. So, 'boy' may have been paired with "pay" while 'money' may have been paired with 'girl.' The children were then tested when the words were given to them in an aural way or in a visual way. When tested -- which consisted of the reader giving the "base" word, and the children having to say the complimenting word -- there was no difference between male and female. However, the study did find that there was a slight different between age groups. Younger kids did have a slight advantage when it came to aural learning. Sydelle Shapiro thought similarly to Katherine Kimball and Lisa O'Connor in attributing this to younger kids relying more on auditory learning due to being a fetus more recently. However, schooling today is more based on visual learning than aural learning, so the older kids may be more acclimated to learning in a visual environment.
As people get older, the strength of aural learning is also shown. According to Oliver Sacks (2006), older people with Alzheimer's or other dementias who can no longer understand or respond to language are still able to be moved emotionally by music. Music is so rooted in our brains that even without the ability to understand language, tunes are able to evoke an emotion. In a study on music in dementia patients, Julia C Hailstone, Rohani Omar, and Jason D Warren (2008) found that there is a relatively preserved knowledge of music in these patients. This further exemplifies the idea that once someone musical is learned, it is very difficult for the brain to unlearn it.
In a study by Sydelle Shapiro (1966), children were split into different age groups (elementary school, middle school, high school) and split into their different genders. They were presented two different lists, a list that was the "base" words, and a list that complimented those words. For example, 'boy' was a "base" word, while 'girl' was the complimenting word. In the study, the complimenting words were jumbled up. So, 'boy' may have been paired with "pay" while 'money' may have been paired with 'girl.' The children were then tested when the words were given to them in an aural way or in a visual way. When tested -- which consisted of the reader giving the "base" word, and the children having to say the complimenting word -- there was no difference between male and female. However, the study did find that there was a slight different between age groups. Younger kids did have a slight advantage when it came to aural learning. Sydelle Shapiro thought similarly to Katherine Kimball and Lisa O'Connor in attributing this to younger kids relying more on auditory learning due to being a fetus more recently. However, schooling today is more based on visual learning than aural learning, so the older kids may be more acclimated to learning in a visual environment.
Aural Learning in the Classroom
(Hope)
In the classroom, aural learners are assisted in listening to a lecture. Their ability to hear and pick out and separate information allows them to be very good listeners. To help aural learners learn better than just lecturing at them, information should be presented in such a way that it can be remembered through a rhyme. For example, in teaching English words, a very useful rhyme could be “I am tired, I want to go to bed, I want to lie down, a pillow under my head.” This very simple rhyme to teach English connects very similar thoughts, such as tired, bed, and pillow, and will help aural learners learn different English words. However, the best way to help aural learners in the classroom, is to put information to a tune. Music is their number one way of remembering and learning information. Another example of how aural learning can be done in the classroom, more specifically for math, is to put equations to a tune, especially a tune known by many people such as “Pop goes the Weasel.” See the video below for an example of this.
Learning and knowing music and rhythm is a very basic human skill. Aural learning can be utilized in young children, old children, and even adults. Our brains are very wired to be susceptible to music, and it helps encode information very well.
Learning and knowing music and rhythm is a very basic human skill. Aural learning can be utilized in young children, old children, and even adults. Our brains are very wired to be susceptible to music, and it helps encode information very well.
(Quadratic Formula Song Rockford Christian, 2013)