Psychology and Students

Teaching and learning process in classroom basically applies one of the four learning theories, which are behaviourism, cognitivism, social constructivism and humanism. Based on the lesson that I have observed in the classroom, the teacher practiced the behavioursm learning theory. Behaviourism is actually the earliest learning theory that is being applied in the lesson. According to Tracey & Morrow (2012), behaviourism is theoretical perspective on learning that focuses on observable changes in behaviour (pg. 194). In other words, learning is involved whenever there is change in behaviour. Behaviourists believe that “learning is any more or less permanent change in behaviour which is the result of experience” (Jarvis, Holford & Griffin, 2003, pg. 25). Behaviourism concerns any form of response to a stimulus that can be measured. For example, behaviourists believe that intelligence can be measured by tests and examinations. Therefore, from the observation that I have made, behaviourism is about repetition, reinforcement and teacher-centered orientation.
First thing first, in the teaching and learning process which applied behaviourism theory, drilling or repetition is being emphasized the most. Repetition is very efficient in helping students “to transfer knowledge from their short term to long-term memories” (Harmer, 2007, pg. 56). Therefore, the more the students encounter the drilling process, the higher the opportunity for them to remember and they might be able to use it more often. Skinner (1968) said that “learning needs to be trained in the same way as muscles are trained, which means all learning behaviour has to be trained frequently through repetition, drill and rote learning to reach positive effects” (pg. 1). As in the classroom, teachers often ask students to repeat what they utter for many times in production of drilling process. It happened in Madam Kamari’s class when she preferred to repeat again and again every sentence that she wrote on