PLLT Chapter.4 summary

Summary – CHAPTER4. Human Learning

In this chapter, the cognitive processes are focused on by examining general nature of human being,

Learning and Teaching
When we train untalented pet dog, we need 4 steps. We will need to specify entry behavior, formulate explicitly the goals of the task, devise some methods of training, and need some sort of evaluation procedure. Even though human being learning is much more complex than this process, the process is very similar. We must have a comprehensive knowledge of the entry behavior of a person, of objectives we wish to reach, of possible methods that follow from our understanding of the first two factors, and of an evaluation procedure. From now, we can learn from the theories of four psychologists.

Pavlov’s Classical Behaviorism.
Pavlov had an experiment to make a dog salivate by classical conditioning. He thought that the learning process consisted of the formation of associations between stimuli and reflexive responses. We also know that some responses can be derived from stimuli automatically and indirectly. It is behaviorism. John. B. Watson adopted classical conditioning theory as the explanation for all learning by mentioning that human behavior should be studied objectively, rejecting mentalistic notions of innateness and instinct.

Skinner’s operant conditioning
B. F. Skinner was one of the leading behaviorists in the United States. He added a unique dimension to behavioristic psychology. He criticized Pavlov’s theory by calling it respondent conditioning, because it plays little part in human conditioning. He tried to explain most of human learning and behavior by his operant conditioning. The operant behavior is the behavior in which one “operates” on the environment; the importance of stimulus is less important in this model. We should consider the consequences rather than stimulus. Through several accidental discoveries, the baby operated on her environment. Her responses were reinforced until finally a particular concept or behavior was learned. He claimed that reinforcers are very strong. He also claimed that we should study the effect of these consequences and attend carefully to reinforcers, because we are governed by the consequences of our behavior.
Operants are sets of responses that are emitted and governed by the consequences. In contrast, respondents are sets of responses that are elicited by identifiable stimuli.
Skinner believed that punishment works to the disadvantage of both children and parents. But he also said that the active reinforcement of alternative responses can make extinction work faster than the absence of any reinforcement.
His theories had an impact on our understanding of human learning and on education. He said that a carefully designed program of step-by-step reinforcement is very effective and successful for learners. Skinner’s verbal behavior had an impact on whole new era in language teaching. Audiolingual method was a prime example.

Ausubel’s Meaningful Learning Theory.
David Ausubel mentioned that learning takes place in human organism through a meaningful process of relating new events or items to already existing cognitive concepts or propositions. The cognitive theory of learning is best understood by contrasting rote learning and meaningful learning, While rote learning involves the mental storage of items having little or no association with existing cognitive structure, meaningful learning may be described as a process of relating and anchoring new material to relevant established entities in cognitive structure. Meaningful learning is more important, because it can result in long-term memory.

Systematic Forgetting
When we use rote learning, our memory is influenced by some inhibition, which is called proactive and retroactive inhibition. Meaningful learning helps us keep the long memory. In the case of such learning, forgetting takes place in much more international and purposeful manner, because it is a continuation of the very purpose of subsumption by which one learns. Like pruning a tree, we can make more material enter the cognitive field by eliminating unnecessary things. An important aspect of the pruning stage of learning is that subsumptive forgetting is not haphazard or chance but it’s systematic. This notion has important implications for language learning and teaching. We might better achieve the goal of communicative competence by removing unnecessary barriers to automaticity.

Roger’s Humanistic Psychology
Carl Rogers carefully analyzed human behavior in general by means of the presentation of 19 formal principles of human behavior. Rogers felt that inherent is the ability of human beings to adapt and to grow in the direction that enhances their existence. According to Rogers, “fully functioning persons” live a t peace with all their feelings and reactions; they are able to reach their full potential. The focus of this education is away from teaching and toward learning.
Rogers is not as concerned about the actual cognitive process of learning because if the context for learning is properly created, human beings will learn everything they need to. When we adapt Roger’s ideas to language teaching and learning we need to see to it that learners understand themselves and communicate with others freely and teachers as facilitators must provide the nurturing context for learners to construct their meanings in interaction with others.

Types of Learning
Here are Gagne’s 8 types of learning and they are sequenced in cognitive terms.
1. Signal learning: The individual learns to make a general diffuse response to a signal. It generally occurs in the total language process.
2. Stimulus-response learning: The learner acquires a precise response to a discriminated stimulus. It’s evident in the acquisition of the sound system of a foreign language,
3. Chaining: What is acquired is a chain of two or more stimulus-response connection. It’s evident in the acquisition of phonological sequences and syntactic patterns.
4. Verbal association: Verbal association is the learning of chains that are verbal.
5. Multiple discrimination: The individual learns to make a number of different identifying responses to many different stimuli. Multiple discriminations are necessary particularly in second language learning where , for example, a word has to take on several meanings.
6. Concepts Learning: The learner acquires the ability to make a common response to a class of stimuli even if the individual members of that class may differ widely from each other. It includes the notion that language and cognition are inextricably interrelated.
7. Principle Learning: A principle is a chain of two or more concepts. It is the extension of concept learning to the formation of linguistic system.
8. Problem solving: It’s a kind of learning that requires the internal events usually referred to as “thinking”. It’s clearly evident in second language learning as the learner is continually faced with sets of events that are truly problems to be solved,

Transfer, Interference, and Overgeneralization
Transfer is a general term describing the carryover of previous performance or knowledge to subsequent learning. Interference is that negative transfer occurs when previous performance disrupts the performance of a second task. Overgeneralization is a particular subset of generalization. In second language acquisition, it has been common to refer to overgeneralization as a process that occurs as the second language learner acts within the target language, generalizing a particular rule or item in the second language beyond legitimate bounds.

Inductive and Deductive Reasoning
Inductive reasoning is a movement from specific instances to a generation. First and second language learning in the natural field involves a largely inductive process. On the other hand, deductive reasoning is a movement from a generation to specific instances. Classroom learning tends to depend more on deductive reasoning than it should be.




Aptitude and Intelligence
Aptitude
Some people can learn language faster and more efficiently than others for many casual factors. John Carroll made the Modern Language Aptitude Test(MLAT).It was for prospective language learners before they began to learn a foreign language. There was another test: the Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery. The popularity of these two tests has steadily waned for two reasons. First, they simply reflected the general intelligence or academic ability of a student. Second, rarely does an institution have the luxury or capability to test people before they take a foreign language.

Intelligence
Intelligence has traditionally been defined and measured in terms of linguistic and logical-mathematical abilities. Our notion of IQ is based on these two. Howard Gardner described seven different forms of knowing.
1. linguistic
2. logical-mathematical
3. spatial
4. musical
5. bodily-kinesthetic
6. interpersonal
7. intrapersonal intelligence
Robert Sternberg proposed three types of “smartness”
1. Componential ability for analytical thinking
2. Experiential ability to engage in creative thinking, combining disparate experiences in insightful ways
3. Contextual ability
Finally, Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence (1995) is persuasive in placing emotion at the seat of intellectual functioning. Goleman would place emotion at the highest level of hierarchy of human abilities. In its traditional definition, intelligences may have little to do with a person’s success as a second language learner. However, thanks to these three people, we can learn that people who have a wide range of IQ are more successful in acquiring a second language learning.