In general I think it's a good idea to adapt our teaching style to match our learners' learning styles.  There are two other important points, however, that I think we need to remember:

 

Varies Learning Styles

In any class with more than one student they are bound to have different learning styles.  If we cater specifically to one group of learners, we might be hindering the progress of other learners.  So, rather than adapting to the learners it can often be more a matter of catering to different styles at different times.  More or less.

 

Teaching Styles

In one school I worked for all the teachers regularly taught lessons based on exactly the same materials.  They had some freedom to adapt to their learners, but the base materials were the same.  In order to cut down on preparation time and lesson planning the school came up with a policy in which at the beginning of each week, each teacher would be assigned one base lesson, and would then prepare a supplementary task or activity that would work for that lesson.

There were some advantages of this policy, but we were doing a workshop on it one day, in which teachers presented some of their ideas by doing mock examples of the activities with the other teachers acting as students.  Discussing the activities afterwards, one teacher commented:

"But I can't do that."

I can't remember exactly, but it was in response to a 'fun game' style activity.  When we asked him why not, do you know what he said?

"That's not my style."

It was true.  He walked slowly.  He was generally less emotional than other people (not easily excited, not easily angered, not easily upset, neither smiled nor frowned often).  He was calm, relaxed, and mild.  Some people might say he was a boring teacher.  Some people might say that he needed to try out that activity and learn how to do it because he needed to learn how to do it to better cater to his learners.  But his students' didn't.  They loved his classes and regularly commented on how interesting his classes were.

It was simply that his style was to engage the learners through interesting topics, natural conversation, good teacher-learner rapport due to having a pleasant demeanour, and a personal interest in the language and texts he was teaching.  He didnt need to be bubbly and game playing and if did try, his lessons would be all the worse for it.  I understood him immediately because I am the same - there are times when I can see that something is effective for other teachers, but not for me.

Sometimes we, as language teachers who care about our learners' needs, need to stand up and say, "Yes, I will try to cater to my learners' learning styles.  But, don't forget my teaching style! "

One of the reasons why I'm sailing through this site is the need and the want I have to attend and match my students' expectations, mainly the teenager ones. It's undeniable that they do need different stimuli in order to learn as I do believe they have different learning styles if we consider the techy world they  live nowadays. It's extremely important for my job to be in touch with new ideas and tendencies if I really want to be a good English teacher.

Adapting or not adapting the activity has to do with the relevance it brings to the student. I usually adapt the activity when it means getting the exercise more relevant to my student. Imagine being a student, having a specific activity and ending up asking the question: "Why am I doing this? How can this activity help me?". It is very important to show the student what your objective is with a specific exercise. 

Carla D'Elia - English Teacher

Creating an environment based on 'consensus' must be a priority for effective learning. Whatever we might mean by 'learning styles' will play a part in this but there is the risk of letting this aspect overshadow everything else. A lot will depend on the teaching situation. Being able to recognise and exploit different learning styles when working with young children will have a big influence on learning, an influence which tends to diminish with age as people 'learn to learn' through the hundreds of different learning experiences they encounter.

As long as the teaching situation adults find themselves in is not 'inappropriate' (the course is writing-based for someone who wants to learn to speak, or vice versa; or irrelevant content) or 'hostile' (unfriendly teacher or classmates, cramped cold environment, class at wrong level) most people will be able to focus their minds, adapt to and cope with a 'teaching style' that does not always or exactly match their natural 'learning style'. Results are their own reward and if students can see these and maintain their motivation, they are on the right track. Teachers can be accommodating, responsive and engaging without spending so much time bending over backwards looking for individual learning styles that they can't get on with the job that their students want them to do. Respecting individuals includes keeping them on track for the objectives they set themselves.  

My idea of different learning styles and intelligences our students have is that they should be taken into account while planning a lesson. A teacher can be either melancholic or a choleric, but what we are talking about is the lesson (s)he gives. The activities a lesson comprises should cater for different intelligences and corresponding learning styles.