Auditory learning is one of the main learning styles, and people who are auditory learners learn best through sound, spoken language, storytelling and oral instruction. These students tend to learn best with repetition or rote learning – hearing a concept and then relaying it into their own words. Often they learn best when reciting or reading out loud. 

The Characteristics of an Auditory Learner

You probably know an auditory learner, and this may even be your secondary learning style. Here are just some of the characteristics of an auditory learner:

  • Talks frequently, to both themself and others
  • Prefers spoken directions
  • Finds it difficult to concentrate in noisy environments
  • Enjoys attending lectures and discussions
  • Remembers people by their name and not their face
  • Musically minded

Teaching Auditory Learners

As with all learning styles, it is important to recognise auditory learners. Some teaching strategies you can use in your course that will suit auditory learners include:

  • Creating courses with sound, music or speech
  • Encouraging discussion
  • Encouraging students to explain topics of the course to each other
  • Allow recording of lectures or allow access to recorded lectures
  • Provide opportunities for individual attention

How to Help Auditory Learners

Auditory learners may have difficulty following along on a mostly text-based course so there are a few ways that you can help them, including:

  • Including spoken sections
  • Group study and discussions
  • Pre-recorded videos or making recordings available 

As a course creator, it is important to understand the learning styles and how your students will learn best from you. If you don’t feel comfortable running live course sessions, pre-record and make them available or if you don’t feel comfortable sitting in front of a camera, teach live but have the session audio recorded. Remember to break up any text-heavy components of your course with audio recordings, videos, group discussions and live sessions. 

What is Your Learning Style?

Take the Learning Style Quiz