This is a little quiz to have an idea about your students’ brain dominances. The test was given by Gulfem Aslan, a teacher trainer,  at a seminar in British Council in 1999. Thanks to her.

1. Are you better at recognizing and remembering names or faces?

Choose one: Names                         Faces

2 .Are you an organized individual or a spontaneous individual?

Choose one: Organized                  Spontaneous

3. Do you like realistic stories or stories that deal in fantasy?

Choose one: Realistic                     Fantasy

4. Do you problem-solve using logic or intuition?

Choose one: Logic                           Intuition

5. Do you like well-structured assignments or open-ended assignments?

Choose one: Well-structured     Open-ended

6. Do you remember things easily through language or through pictures?

Choose one: Language                  Pictures

7. Do you consider yourself to be very creative or not creative?

Choose one: Creative                    Not creative

8. Do you often produce humorous thoughts and ideas or serious thoughts and ideas?

Choose one: Humorous               Serious

9. Do you read for details and facts or for main ideas and overviews?

Choose one: Details/facts           Main idea/overview

10. Do you learn through systematic plans or through exploration?

Choose one: Systematic plans   Exploration

Scoring Procedure

Question 1. Faces=right-brain behaviour; Names=left-brain behaviour

Question 2. Spontaneous=right-brain behaviour; Organized=left-brain behaviour

Question 3. Fantasy=right-brain behaviour; Realistic=left-brain behaviour

Question 4. Intuition=right-brain behaviour; Logic=left-brain behaviour

Question 5. Open-ended=right-brain behaviour; Well-structured=left-brain behaviour

Question 6. Pictures=right-brain behaviour; Language=left-brain behaviour

Question 7. Creative=right-brain behaviour; Not creative=left brain behaviour

Question 8. Humorous=right-brain behaviour; Serious=left-brain behaviour

Question 9. Main idea and overview=right-brain behaviour; Details and facts=left-brain behaviour

Question 10. Exploration=right-brain behaviour; Systematic plans=left-brain behaviour.

© 2000 by Education World ®. Permission is granted to teachers to reproduce this skill page for classroom use.

1. 

   CoffeeAddict

   07 March 2011 at 13:32

   So, what does that mean for our learners, – do we have to do something special as ESL teachers to cater to the two groups?
   CoffeeAddict

   Reply
2. 

   Merve Oflaz

   07 March 2011 at 13:32

   If we know their brain dominance, we can plan activities according to them. Left brain dominance requires analytical and sequential work to do where as right one requires art work, music and creativity. As teachers we should balance both in our plans ans lessons so the students make a progress in their non dominant brain as well.

   Reply
3. 

   Tiffany

   22 April 2011 at 18:12

   Hi Merve,

   Have you read James Olson’s book “The Whole Brain Path to Peace?” (http://www.thewholebrainpath.com/index.html). His approach is to acknowledge that each of has a dominant brain hemisphere and then to educate ourselves as to how this biases our view of the world, and how we process information. His goal is to foster better cooperation among people and society. It seems to me this would be a good technique to incorporate into education early on but I am not aware of any tools that we can use in the classroom.

   Reply
   1. 

      Merve Oflaz

      23 April 2011 at 12:28

      Dear Tiffany,

      Thank you for the book you have recommended. What we have to do as teachers is to use a similar method just as James Olson presents. Our students need to develop the nondominant parts of their brains and that is only possible by the activities we provide for them. Unfortunately, we are under the effect of the dominant parts of our own brains as teachers and we prefer the methods and techniques according to that unconsciously. It is good to search and learn different ways of reaching our students in terms of their learning styles.

      Thank you for your interest and constructive comment:)

      Reply