The better player typically avoids getting hit in the first place. So i always find that my light armor skill is always very low. Not saying i have a better solution, just find it odd.

Also lets be honest: Skyrim does not have a dodging mechanic , unless you use the block perk (which i can't use as a dual swordsman ) But even so its not hard to avoid getting hit if you plan things accordingly.

PS:

Offtopic, but i dont want to spam the forum with threads: How does one figure out swing speed? Is it tied to the weight of the weapon? (ironsword is faster than dragonbone?)

I've never had any trouble with it, probably because I am not able to avoid getting hit all the time. Other than one-handed, light and/or heavy armor are often the quickest to reach skill level 100 for me.

I've really never thought about it that way before; interesting point.

I've noticed that around level 30, my armor skill is much lower than others.
Especially if I play a Stealth character.

That's when I find some Sabre Cats and let them beat me up.

Another problem is that high weapon skills can also prevent you from getting hit and prevent your armor skill from leveling.

In Morrowind I'd select my armor skill as a Major skill and my weapon skill as Minor or Miscellaneous, to give my poor armor skill a chance to gain a few levels. Because once my weapon started hitting regularly I rarely got hit anymore and my armor gains practically stopped.

It's a little easier in a modded game because I'm often surrounded by modded enemies and they can get hits in. I can also adjust the rate of skill gain to try to balance out offensive and defensive skill gains.

But basically I guess the best thing a person can do is buy training.

I particularly find it noticeable with 2-handed, seeing as I tend to dodge FAR more often in that case.

That being said, every character I've made who uses 1-handed ends up leveling armor at either the SAME rate as 1-h, and in some cases, faster.

Note that that is using block as well, not dual

To your off topic question:

I'm pretty sure weapon material doesn't affect the swing. What does however, is its type (Greatsword, Battleaxe, Warhammer).

Greatswords are the fastest and deal the least amount of damage.

Due to a weird way it was programmed, the Battleaxe has the same speed as a Greatsword, and is in the middle when it comes to damage.

The Warhammer is the slowest but deals the most damage.

That's about it for me, too.

In Morrowind, I would go aggro a bunch of Mudcrabs, Kagouti, Allits, and maybe a Cliff Racer and just stand there as they took their swipes at me to level my armor

[EDIT]

I don't think I have maxed out any armor skill yet in Skyrim...

In Morrowind I just enchant a bunch of restore health gear and then let guards in balmora take turns smacking me around. I don't think there is a master medium armor trainer, so getting beat on is the only option to max that out.

In Skyrim I just let myself get hit a little at the end of 'easy' fights. It's the only way to keep my armor skill remotely comparable to my weapon skill when I'm leveling. It's a bad mechanic if you ask me. Your skill in armor should improve by dodging attacks, not getting hit by them.

I stopped worrying about my armor skills a year and a half ago. None of the perks interested me as I always found something else that warranted the perk other than one of those.

My mages avoid direct combat at all cost. My Assassins and Archers never take damage anyway. My Dualists use strategy, surroundings and high damage output.

Similarly my Warriors are pretty much the same yet they are hardened tanks that can stand in the thick of it. They take more hits than the other classes but even then, they don't really advance the skill that much.

I just smith my gear the beast I can and move on. That's not to say I focus on my AR either. I just got to the point that it doesn't matter to me.