The Best Teaching Strategies for Auditory Learners

It’s important to be able to customize your homeschooling to meet the strengths of your kids. Everyone has a preferred or main learning style and your auditory learners will thrive when you can adjust your teaching to them. Read on to learn about the best strategies for auditory learners.

Strategies for Auditory Learners

When you can use specific strategies for auditory learners, your kids will benefit! Not everyone learns the same way. So what should you know about the auditory learners in your homeschool?

What Is An Auditory Learner?

An auditory learner primarily processes information by listening. The most common learning styles that you are familiar with include kinesthetic learners, or tactile learners, who prefer to manipulate and touch, visual learners who need to see information to process it, and then the auditory learning style.

The learning styles theory has described how these different learning styles prefer to use specific senses to process information. So when you have an auditory learner, they will learn best by listening.

How do auditory learners learn best?

Because auditory learners learn best by listening, they will prefer to process new information through oral instruction, class discussions, or a study group. Use audiobooks instead of having them read a textbook or in addition to following along in the textbook. The learning experience of an auditory learner will focus on hearing and listening.

Don’t just assume that you have to teach all your kids the very same way. Learn about different homeschool methods to find the best options for your auditory learner.

Your auditory learners might struggle with reading and writing. Be aware that they will prefer to watch videos to learn, listen to discussions, and engage in role play. But the beauty of homeschooling is that you can customize your instruction to fit the ways your auditory learner will learn the best.

Strengths of auditory learners

Aural learners have strengths that another style of learning doesn’t have. Here are some of those strengths:

• participating in discussions
• learning a foreign language
• understanding grammar
• telling a story
• remembering music
• acting & speaking

How To Teach An Auditory Learner

You’ll want to use specific auditory learning strategies when you’re teaching an auditory learner. That means that when your child’s primary learning style is auditory, you’ll want to take time to discuss everything and read directions out loud. Here are additional methods and tools you should use.

Read-Alouds

Aural learners will benefit greatly from family read-alouds. Since an aural learner might have a harder time reading to themselves and might even be slow readers, encourage them to read long reading assignments out loud. This is a great way to help them process important information in their strength.

Younger students might need to be taught how to listen to read-alouds, but it’s worth the time and effort. Read-alouds aren’t just for younger students! No matter the age of your child, if they are an auditory learner, they will learn best by listening to books read aloud.

Use Narrations for Reports

Auditory learners will remember what they’ve heard so they will benefit from retelling what they’ve learned. And this is what narration is, simply put. It is a retelling in your own words.

So instead of requiring your auditory learner to produce a written report of what they’ve learned, look for different strategies that will play to their strengths.

The aural style of learning does well with discussion. Go ahead and encourage an oral narration instead of mostly written work for your auditory learner.

Practice Recitation Through Memory Work

Auditory repetition is a good way for aural learners to memorize things. They learn best when they hear information, and if your child can recite back in their own voice, it is an excellent way for them to learn.

Podcasts and Audiobooks

Aural learners have great listening skills, so active listening to podcasts and audiobooks is a helpful way for them to process information.

Listen to Educational Songs

Children with preferences toward auditory learning will appreciate educational songs. These kids pick up on the sing-song aspect of nursery rhymes and appreciate mnemonic devices.

Note-taking for Auditory Learners

Note-taking for kids with auditory learning skills can be difficult. An aural learner would prefer to just listen to a lecture or discussion and not to take notes at all.

Some better options for auditory learners would be voice recordings of lectures or discussions that they could review at a later date as needed.

Ways to Engage Your Auditory Learner at Home

When you want to engage your auditory learner at home, remember that verbal instructions are the most important. Always read directions out loud with your auditory learner. Allow them to do as much work orally as possible with methods such as narration.

To help them learn better, you’ll also want to remove auditory distractions from the places where they do their schoolwork. This type of learner needs a quiet environment free of background noise for better results.

In Conclusion

If your child’s preferred learning style is auditory, there are many techniques and methods you can use to help them work in their strengths. Engaging in conversation about what your child is learning everyday is an easy way to help them process information.

Auditory learners may also appreciate being a part of a homeschool co-op where they can listen to class discussions and talk about what they’re learning with others. Using some of these strategies for auditory learners will help make your homeschool experience successful.