What Type of Learner Am I?

[Conal R Smith]

First and foremost, I believe that there is no one specific way of learning a foreign language but multiple strategies that each individual, after time and experience, develops and that it suits their behavioral pattern and educational experience. I have been exposed to a variety of different languages, cultures, and countries in my short life. I lived in Italy for 3 years as a child though never spoke the language. I was forced to take French class for two years in junior high school though I wholeheartedly did not enjoy it. I began taking basic Spanish classes as a freshman in high until my senior year of high school. Within those four years, I took a full year of basic Latin and a one semester, a 5 month course of German. At Richmond, I spent my entire junior year abroad in two different cities in Spain. Thus, over time, I developed an affinity for languages. After having completed two multiple intelligence tests over the weekend, both tests reinforced the basic foundation of my learning style that now I had finally taken the time to realize and analyze. What stood out did not surprise me.I prefer to learn in groups, to see how other students think, develop repetitive strategies to comprehend and see the transition of the pronunciation of words from the first time spoken until students have nearly perfected it. Furthermore, I try to notice the change in pitch or inflection, principal stress(es) within a word from how a professor speaks or how a native would speak. Learning in groups gives me the ability to unconsciously analyze the strategies and sounds of other students. After spending time abroad, I think I have a developed very good set of interpersonal skills, thus being in a social environment is where I enjoy learning. Saying that, I think I carry a good sense of self-awareness, decent self-analytical skills, strong grammatical understanding, and solid linguistic background. I learn by doing and prefer to work alone. When I work independently, I am most efficient and learn best. I believe self-study is the one way that I am fully able to be successful in comprehending a language. I tend to be introverted and quite intuitive at times with my learning skills. After spending a year abroad and achieving a higher level of proficiency, I developed the art of imitation, the ability to imitate what one hears and then regurgitate the sound. I might not understand the reason for that particular sound at that moment but I do later on.What are my learning goals for this semester? Since I have no experience nor know very little about Persian/Farsi, other than it is a script alphabet and has Arabic origin and influence, I don't plan on being fluent or achieving the level of proficiency as a native speaker, clearly. I would like to be able write short, simple notes and messages, such as a small letter of correspondence. I want to be able to accurately pronounce the majority of sounds in the Persian alphabet, thus gradually leading to a simple conversation of basic information between myself and a native speaker, maybe even achieve the description of basic objects and general information. I would like to be able competent in reading very short, simple texts such as from advertisements, menus, signs in airports etc. I think listening will be the most difficult part of my learning. As I do not know what to expect, I would like to have the ability of understanding very basic phrases and simple dialogue when people speak clearly and not too fast. At the moment, I'm really hungry. Goodbye Mr. Ning.