Human Learning and Second Language Acquisition

Principles of Human Learning

Prepared by:

Nature of Learning; Language Teaching & Learning; Theories of Learning

John Paul C. Vallente

Nature of Human Learning


Learning:

acquiring of knowledge of a subject or skill by study, experience, or instruction

a relatively permanent change in a behavioral tendency

the result of reinforced practice


Summary of How People Learn:(Rita Smilkstein)

Stage1: MOTIVATION/Responding to stimulus in the environment: watching, observing, having a need or an interest in learning a particular skill or concept, being curious


Stage 2: BEGINNING PRACTICE/Doing it: practicing; trying & making mistakes; learning from mistakes; asking questions; consulting others; understanding the basics; taking lessons; achieving some success

Stage 3: ADVANCED PRACTICE/Increasing in skill and confidence: gaining some control; reading; becoming encouraged; experimenting; trying new ways; achieving more success; beginning to share skill with others


Stage4: SKILLFULNESS/Becoming creative: more practicing, doing it one's own way, feeling good about oneself, receiving positive reinforcement, sharing knowledge with other, achieving more success, increasing in self-confidence


Stage 5: REFINEMENT/Making further improvement: learning new methods, skill becoming second nature, continuing to develop skill, becoming different from anyone else, becoming creative, receiving validation from others, forming habits, teaching others


Stage 6: MASTERY/Applying skills in broader ways: taking on greater challenges, teaching, continuing to improve or else dropping the skill, going to higher levels that feed other interests, getting better and better



Simple Forms:

1. Habituation

- the tendency to become familiar with a stimulus after repeated exposure to it


2. Sensitization

- the increase that occurs in an organism’s responsiveness to stimuli following an especially intense or irritating stimulus


Influential Factors:

1. Age

Age-related illnesses that involve a deterioration of mental functioning can severely reduce a person’s ability to learn.


2. Motivation

Learning is usually most efficient and rapid when the learner is motivated and attentive.


3. Prior Experience

How well a person learns a new task may depend heavily on the person’s previous experience with similar tasks.


4. Intelligence

People differ individually in their level of intelligence, and thus in their ability to learn and understand.


5. Learning Disorders

A variety of disorders can interfere with a person’s ability to learn new skills and behaviors.

Language Learning and Teaching

Language Learning & Teaching

Nature of Language Learning:

Learners are not ‘empty vessels’ ready to be filled with the teacher’s knowledge.


Learning is more effective when the learners are involved in the process.


Nature of Language Teaching:

The teacher’s job is to help learners to learn effectively, or to facilitate learning.


The best teachers have a range of techniques available to them.


Teachers make decisions on what techniques to use based from the following questions: Who are the learners? What are their needs? What are their

expectations? What material and

resources are available?


Approaches to Language Learning & Teaching:

1. Grammar-translation MethodIt relies on the teacher having a fairly expert command of both the mother tongue of the students and of the target language.


2. Audio-lingual ApproachThe benefits of repetition are still intuitively recognised by many teachers today, and this element of the approach continues in many classrooms.


3. Functional ApproachIt refers to the defining of the communicative functions that learners are likely to want to engage in (making requests, agreeing, disagreeing, ordering a coffee and so on).


4. Natural ApproachAssociated to Stephen Krashen, it attempts to recreate as closely as possible the context in which infants learn their first language.

Theories of Learning


Classical Conditioning:

developed by a Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)

association is the key element


Types of Stimulus & Response:


Three Phenomena in Classical Conditioning:1. Generalization – occurs

when similar stimuli to a CS produce the CR.

2. Discrimination – refers to the ability to differentiate between similar stimuli


3. Extinction – process of unlearning a learned response because of the removal of the original source of learning.


For better understanding, watch this:


Operant Conditioning:

pioneered by Thorndikea form of learning in which

the consequences of behaviour lead to changes in the probability that the behaviour will occur


Types of Reinforcement & Punishment:

Reinforcement Punishment

Positive Negative Positive Negative


For better understanding, watch this:


Schedule of Reinforcement:

1. Fixed-ratio Schedule – a behavior is reinforced

after a set number of responses have occurred


2. Variable-ratio Schedule Fixed – the number of responses needed to gain the reinforcement is not constant


3. Fixed-interval Schedule – a behavior will be reinforced after a certain period of time. No matter how often

it occurs, the behavior will not be reinforced until the time is up


4. Variable-internal Schedule – also based on time

passing but the time period keeps changing


Dangers of Punishment:

Punishment can be abusive. Punishment may create a

new problem, which is aggression.


Meaningful Learning:

advanced by David Ausubellearned knowledge is fully

under stood by an individual and that the individual knows how that specific fact relates to other stored facts


Ideas about Meaningful Learning Experience:

occurs when learners actively interpret their experience using internal, cognitive operations

requires that teachers change their role from sage to guide


the teacher’s role becomes one of stimulating and supporting activities that engage learners in thinking

teachers must also be comfortable that this thinking may transcend their own insights


requires knowledge to be constructed by the learner, not transmitted from the teacher to the student (Jonassen, et al., 1999)


Experiencing Meaningful Learning:

Expository MediatorsAdvanced Organizers


Humanistic Approach:

Carl Rogers- believed that people needed unconditional positive regard


Abraham Maslow- people have a variety of needs that differ in immediacy and which need satisfying at different times


Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:


Five Basic Objectives of Humanistic Approach:

1. Promote positive self-direction and independence

(development of the regulatory system);


2. Develop the ability to take responsibility for what is learned (regulatory and affective systems);


3. Develop creativity (divergent thinking aspect of cognition);4. Curiosity (exploratory behavior, a function of imbalance or dissonance in any of the systems); and


5. An interest in the arts (primarily to develop the affective/emotional system).

Education

Human Learning and Second Language Acquisition