The following diagram and process for assessment was taken from the document "Asking the Right Questions" developed by The Learning Centre, Calgary and the Alberta Vocational College, Calgary, 1992. There are four common areas which can present barriers to learning. These can be described as follows:
Barriers to Learning

graphic of four Barriers to Learning: 1.Skills and knowledge:reading,writing,math,learning strategies 2.Cognitive processing:attention,perception,sequencing,auditory,memory,organization 3.Affective factors:feelings and emotions 4.Motivational factors:openness to change,desire to achieve

Each barrier to learning can influence the others. This sometimes makes it difficult to determine the primary cause for the learning barriers. For example, a person may have a potential learning disability and struggle with his or her inability to organize information. This can lead to affective factors such as frustration and low self-esteem. If the learning barriers continue, the learner's motivational factors could be impacted.