Language Learning Theories1. Behaviourism

2. Cognitivism

3. Social Constructivism

4. Humanism

Behaviourism The core to all of behaviorism is the assumption that human and animal behaviours are determined by learning and reinforcement.

Whether by classical conditioning or operant conditioning, species acquire new skills, deepening on the effects these skills have on the specie's environment.

A famous proponent of behaviourism, Burrhus Frederic Skinner, noticed that the responses he was recording when he experimented with rats that behaviour were influenced not only by what preceded them but also by what followed them. The common behavioural approach at the time was influenced by the work of Pavlov and Watson, both of whom focused on the stimulus-response paradigm.

B.F Skinner found that if an action proves to have a positive outcome (e.g., by pressing a button, a rat receives food), the organism is more likely to continue to repeat this behaviour.

However, if the outcome is negative (e.g., if by pressing a button, a rat receives a shock), the organism is less likely to repeat the behaviour.

Skinner, and Stimulus-Response (S-R) adherents, believed that behaviourist theory could be used to infer a learning history.

They held that one could take an animal or person, observe its/his/her behaviour, and figure out what had been reinforced previously.

Behaviorists reduced all responses to associations, to a pattern of positive and negative reinforcement that establishes links between stimuli and their environmental antecedents and consequences.

Cognitive psychologists challenge the limitations of behaviorism in its focus on observable behaviour.

They incorporate mental structure and process into their learning theories.

However like behaviourists, they engage more in the hypotheico-deductive scientific inquiry.

Cognitivism

Cognitive psychology emphasizes the internal processes and structures processes inferred through the observation of behaviour.

The internal representation of the learners can echo the external reality, which asserts a position of objectivism that the mind can stand separate and independent from the body.

Thus, knowledge can be transferred from the outside of the mind into the inside of the mind.

Noam Chomsky asserted that language learning must include internal constructs. (cognitivism)A theory that only considers the observable stimuli and responses in linguistic interaction is not sufficient.Psychologists believed that knowledge comes from more than just experience; it also involves the knower actively imposing organization on sensory data.

Kohler (1925, The Mentality of Apes) proposed that behaviour could not be explained by the principles of association alone.

He proposed that there was an inner process that enabled the apes to grasp the structure of a situation, in which learners recognized the interconnection based on the properties of things themselves.

As posited by Kohler (1925), Learning, therefore, does not occur in a regular, continuous way from a pattern of trial and error.

Instead, learning occurs with a realization of a new relationship, 'the insight experience'.

Piaget's Cognitive DevelopmentPiaget's theory intends to explain the following phenomena:1. What are the psychological states that children pass through at different points in their development?2. What are the mechanisms by which they pass from one state to another? How do changes in children's thinking occur?

Piaget (1970) proposed that children progress through an invariant sequence of four stages: sensormotor, pre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational.

Those stages are not arbitrary, but are assumed to reflect qualitative differences in children's cognitive abilities.

Piaget postulated that being controlled by the logical structures in the different developmental stages, learners cannot be taught key cognitive tasks if they have not reached a particular stage of development.

learning process is iterative, in which new information is shaped to fit with the learner's existing knowledge, and existing knowledge is itself modified to accommodate the new information. (Piaget, 1985)

The major concepts in thiscognitive process include:Assimilation: it occurs when a child perceives new objects or events in terms of existing schemes or operations. Children and adults tend to apply any mental structure that is available to assimilate a new event, and they will actively seek to use a newly acquired structure. This is a process of fitting new information into existing cognitive structures

Accommodation: it has occurred when existing schemes or operations must be modified to account for a new experience. This is a process of modifying existing cognitive structures based upon new information.

Equilibration: it is the master developmental process, encompassing both assimilation and accommodation. Anomalies(irregularities) of experience create a state of disequilibrium which can be only resolved when a more adaptive, more sophisticated mode of thought is adopted.

Piaget'sconception of equilibration(1985) implied a dynamic construction process of human's cognitive structure. There is no structure apart from construction because the being of structure consists in their coming to be, that is, their being 'under construction.

The latest catchword in educational circles is "constructivism, " applied both to learning theory and to epistemology---both to how people learn, and to the nature of knowledge.

What is meant by constructivism?

The term refers to the idea that learners construct knowledge for themselves---each learner individually (and socially) constructs meaning---as he or she learns.Constructing meaning is learning; there is no other kind.

The dramatic consequences of this view are two fold;1) we have to focus on the learner in thinking about learning (not on the subject/lesson to be taught):

2) There is no knowledge independent of the meaning attributed to experience (constructed) by the learner, or community of learners.

Learning is not understanding the "true" nature of things, nor is it (as Plato suggested) remembering dimly perceived perfect ideas, but rather a personal and social construction of meaning out of the bewildering array of sensations which have no order or structure besides the explanations which we fabricate for them. Dewey, Piaget and Vigotsky among others are famous proponents of this thought.

Principles of learning;

Learning is an active process in which the learner uses sensory input and constructs meaning out of it.

The more traditional formulation of this idea involves the terminology of the active learner (Dewey's term) stressing that the learner needs to do something; that learning is not the passive acceptance of knowledge which exists "out there" but that learning involves the learners engaging with the world.

People learn to learn as they learn: learning consists both of constructing meaning and constructing systems of meaning.

For example, if we learn the chronology of dates of a series of historical events, we are simultaneously learning the meaning of a chronology.

Each meaning we construct makes us better able to give meaning to other sensations which can fit a similar pattern.

The crucial action of constructing meaning is mental: it happens in the mind.

Physical actions, hands-on experience may be necessary for learning, especially for children, but it is not sufficient; we need to provide activities which engage the mind as well as the hands.(Dewey called this reflective activity.)

Learning involves language: the language we use influences learning.

On the empirical level; researchers have noted that people talk to themselves as they learn.

Vigotsky argues that language and learning are inextricably intertwined.

Learning is a social activity: our learning is intimately associated with our connection with other human beings, our teachers, our peers, our family as well as casual acquaintances, including the people before us or next to us at the exhibit. We are more likely to be successful in our efforts to educate if we recognize this principle rather than try to avoid it.

We are more likely to be successful in our efforts to educate if we recognize this principle rather than try to avoid it.

Learning is contextual:we do not learn isolated facts and theories in some abstract ethereal (delicate/light) land of the mind separate from the rest of our lives: we learn in relationship to what else we know, what we believe, our prejudices and our fears.

On reflection, it becomes clear that this point is actually a corollary (direct/formal) of the idea that learning is active and social. We cannot divorce our learning from our lives.

One needs knowledge to learn: it is not possible to assimilate new knowledge without having some structure developed from previous knowledge to build on.

The more we know, the more we can learn.

Therefore any effort to teach must be connected to the state of the learner, must provide a path into the subject for the learner based on that learner's previous knowledge.

It takes time to learn: learning is not instantaneous.

For significant learning we need to revisit ideas, ponder them try them out, play with them and use them. This cannot happen in the 5-10 minutes.

Reflect on anything you have learned, you will soon realize that it is the product of repeated exposure and thought.

Moments of profound insight, can be traced back to longer periods of preparation.

Language Learning Theories

HUMANISM AND LANGUAGE LEARNING

Preliminary Discussion In a language course, success depends less on materials, techniques and linguistic analysis, but more on what goes on inside and between the people in the classroom.

Teachers can affect the lives and personal growth of learners of any age by what transpires in the classroom.

Whats Humanism?

APPROACH WHICH STUDIES THE UNIQUENESS, EACH PERSONS INDIVIDUALITY, AS WELL AS THOSE PROCESSES WHICH MAKE US MORE HUMAN.

Humanism focuses on;

Students uniqueness: personality, behaviour, learning styles, motivation, self-esteem and autonomy.

Teachers attitude towards students.

Learning atmosphere

Humanism - concerned with human worth, individuality, humanity, freedom for the individual to determine personal actions. Development of human potential is highly valued; the attainment of material goals is emphasised.

Self-actualisation - the end toward which all humans strive.

Humanism would concentrate upon the development of the child's self-concept.

If the child feels good about him or herself then that is a positive start.

Feeling good about oneself would involve an understanding of ones' strengths and weaknesses, and a belief in one's ability to improve.

Learning is not an end in itself; It is the means to progress towards the pinnacle of self-development, which Maslow terms 'Self-actualisation'.

A child learns because he or she is inwardly driven, and derives his or her reward from the sense of achievement that having learned something affords.

Humanistic approach is where education is really about creating a need within the child, or instilling within the child self-motivation.

Behaviourism is about rewards from others. Humanism is about rewarding yourself!

Tutorial task

Group Discussion: Share experiences in learning English and link it to constructivism and cognitivism.

Describe ones commitment, involvement and effort to learn for each learning theory.

ISL week 3

Source for and do extensive reading on Maslows idea of the self-development which he terms as self-actualisation and relate it to English language learning.