Of course, students whose learning style is predominantly visual, when given worksheets in a language class, prefer them. But auditory and tactile kids, when given the same worksheets, feel defeated.
Visual language students in a traditional language classroom don’t have to change – the worksheets save them. (This probably accounts for a part of the massive resistance in most language classrooms to comprehensible input language instruction – many language teachers probably learned the language visually, excelling at work sheets, and so they teach visually and the kids learn visually and the beat goes on.)
You must level with your students. Tell them in the first days of class that the first and most important thing that they will have to do in your class is to learn how to listen, and that their grade in the class will be a reflection of how well they listen.
Next, give them the “learning styles inventory” so that they can understand how their own individual learning style will interface with and adjust to the way you will be teaching them that year.