THEORIES OF LEARNING
THEORIES OF LEARNING
The starting point for all language teaching should be an understanding of how people learn. The key to successful language learning and teaching is in understanding the structure and processes of the mind.
1. Behaviorism : learning as habit formation
This simple but powerful theory said that learning is a mechanical process of habit formation and proceeds by means of the frequent reinforcement of a stimulus-response sequence. This method, based firstly on the behaviorist stimulus-response concept and secondly on assumption that second language learning should reflect and imitate the perceived processes of mother tounge learning.
2. Mentalism : thinking as rule-governed activity
Thinking must be rule-governed : a finite, and fairly small, set of rules enables the mind to deal with the potentially infinite range of experiences it may encounter.having established thinking as rule-governed behavior, it is one short step to the conclusion that learning consists not of forming habits but of acquiring rules, aprocess in which individual experience are used by the mind to formulate a hypothesis
3. Cognitive code : learners as thinking beings
The cognitive view takes the learners to be an active processor of information. We learn by thinking about and trying to make sense of what we see, feel, and hear. The cognitive view of learning has had a significant impact on ESP through the development of courses to teach reading strategies.
4. The affective factor : learners as emotional beings
Learning of a language is an emotional experienceand the feelings that the learning process evokes will have a crucial hearing on the success or failure of the learning. Before learners can actively think about something, they must want to think about it. The emotional reaction to the learning experience is the essential foundation for the initiation of the cognitive process.
5. Learning and acquisiton
Learning is seen as a conscious process, while acquisition
The starting point for all language teaching should be an understanding of how people learn. The key to successful language learning and teaching is in understanding the structure and processes of the mind.
1. Behaviorism : learning as habit formation
This simple but powerful theory said that learning is a mechanical process of habit formation and proceeds by means of the frequent reinforcement of a stimulus-response sequence. This method, based firstly on the behaviorist stimulus-response concept and secondly on assumption that second language learning should reflect and imitate the perceived processes of mother tounge learning.
2. Mentalism : thinking as rule-governed activity
Thinking must be rule-governed : a finite, and fairly small, set of rules enables the mind to deal with the potentially infinite range of experiences it may encounter.having established thinking as rule-governed behavior, it is one short step to the conclusion that learning consists not of forming habits but of acquiring rules, aprocess in which individual experience are used by the mind to formulate a hypothesis
3. Cognitive code : learners as thinking beings
The cognitive view takes the learners to be an active processor of information. We learn by thinking about and trying to make sense of what we see, feel, and hear. The cognitive view of learning has had a significant impact on ESP through the development of courses to teach reading strategies.
4. The affective factor : learners as emotional beings
Learning of a language is an emotional experienceand the feelings that the learning process evokes will have a crucial hearing on the success or failure of the learning. Before learners can actively think about something, they must want to think about it. The emotional reaction to the learning experience is the essential foundation for the initiation of the cognitive process.
5. Learning and acquisiton
Learning is seen as a conscious process, while acquisition