Learning theories

Prof.Grama Irina Cătălina,ȘcoalaGimnazialăGâdinți

            In Psychology and Educational Sciences, learning is defined[1] as the process that integrates cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences and experiences for acquiring, enhancing, or making changes in one’s knowledge, skills, and values.

Learning as a process focuses on what happens when learning takes place. Explanations of what happens constitute learning theories.

A learning theory is an attempt to describe how people learn, thus helping us understand the inherently complex process of learning. Learning theories have two chief values: one is to provide us with vocabulary and a conceptual framework for interpreting the examples of learning that we observe, and the other is to suggest where to look for solutions of practical problems. The theories do not give us solutions, but they do direct our attention to those variables that are crucial in finding solutions.

          Learning theories can best be described as conceptual or philosophical orientations about ways that human beings learn. These include behaviorist, cognitive, and sociocultural perspectives.I summarized that in Tabel 1. Behavioral learning theory views learning as a response to stimuli in the environment; the student is a creature of habit who can be manipulated, observed, and described[2]^,[3]^,[4]. Behaviorist influences in second language teaching can be observed in methods such as the audio-lingual approach and situational language teaching.

Learning theory	Origination	Definitions and instructional implications
Behaviorist	US c. 1914; influenced by European empiricism	Learning as a response to environmental stimuli and that can be manipulated, observed, and described[5],[6]. Teaching is through practice, repetition, and rewards.
Cognitive	1950s to Present	Learning can be explained as deep, complex psychological phenomena such as motivation, schemas, and processes for learning[7],[8].Teaching occurs in phases with gradual complexity.
Sociocultural	1970s to Present	Learning is influenced by social, cultural, and historical factors. Learning takes place within social interactions[9],[10]. Teaching occurs through meaningful interactions between experts and novices.

Table 1.          Overview of Learning Theories and Teaching Implications

            Behaviorism was primarily developed by B. F. Skinner. It includes the work of Thorndike, Guthrie, or Hull. Essentially, three basic assumptions are held to be true: learning is manifested by a change in behaviour, the environment shapes behaviour, and the principles of contiguity (how close in time two events must be for a bond to be formed) and reinforcement (any means of increasing the likelihood that an event will be repeated) are central to explaining the learning process. For behaviorism, learning is the acquisition of new behaviour through conditioning. There are two types of possible conditioning: classical conditioning (where the behavior becomes a reflex response to stimulus) and operant conditioning (where antecedents follow a behavior which leads to a consequence such as a punishment, or reward). The first one works like a reflex response to stimulus, but the second works like something that is learnt, as a lesson, and the consequences are already known-if you do that ,you will get that-a punishment or a reward. 

            Cognitive learning theories attempt to explain deeper, complex psychological phenomena such as motivation, schemas, and other processes for learning. This orientation can be described as comprising two branches, developmental cognitive learning, from the work of Piaget (1974)[11], and socio-constructivist, based on the work of Vygotsky (1978)[12] and Bruner (1996)[13]. Developmental approaches propose that learning occurs in stages and follows a sequence, whereas socio-constructivist approaches propose that development occurs because of learning and because it is scaffolded (Bruner, 1996) or supported through interaction of some kind. The knowledge and the meaning in this case are generated through sequential cognitive abilities. First he or she recognizes, then recollects, analyses, reflects, applies, creates, understands and in the end evaluates. To develop prior knowledge and to integrate the new knowledge, the students need assistance, and the teacher’s role is to manage the content of the learning activities.

             Constructivism is based on psychological studies of cognitive development of Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner, and it emphasizes the importance of the active involvement of students in constructing knowledge for themselves, and building new ideas or concepts based upon current knowledge and past experience.

            Constructivism tries to justify how knowledge is constructed in the human being when information comes into contact with existing knowledge that had been developed by experiences. Constructivism has implications for the theory of instruction. Discovery, experiential, project-based, collaborative, and task-based learning are a number of applications that focus teaching and learning on constructivism.

The learning theories of John Dewey and Maria Montessori serve as the foundation of constructivist learning theory.  Active learning, discovery learning, and knowledge building are three varieties of it, but all versions promote, within a given framework, student’s free exploration. The teacher is a facilitator who encourages students to discover principles for themselves and to form knowledge by working to solve practical problems.

              Sociocultural views of learning, which build upon constructivist approaches, are often linked together in the psychological and pedagogic literature, and they include the premise that second language teaching and learning take place within the social interactions of students and more capable others and seek to understand the cultural and historical influences on learning[14]^,[15]^,[16]. A sociocultural theory of learning begins with the assumption that action is mediated and that it cannot be separated from the social milieu in which it is carried out[17]. I summarized the basic tenets of sociocultural theory in Table 2  .

v  Learning precedes development.

v  Language is the main vehicle (tool) of thought.

v  Mediation is a central concept of learning.

v  Social interaction is the basis of learning and development. Internalization is a process that transforms learning from the social to the cognitive (individual) plane.

v  The Zone of Proximal Development is the primary activity space in which learning takes place.

Table 2.          Tenets of Sociocultural Theory

            Informal and post – modern theories

            In theories that make use of cognitive restructuring, an informal curriculum promotes the use of prior knowledge to help students gain a broad understanding of concepts. New knowledge cannot be told to students, it believes, but rather the students’ current knowledge must be challenged. By using this method students gain the broad understanding they are taught and later are more willing to learn and keep the specifics of the concept or theory.

Other informal learning theories look at the sources of motivation for learning. Intrinsic motivation may create a more self-regulated student, yet schools undermine intrinsic motivation. Critics argue that the average student learning in isolation performs significantly less well than those learning with collaboration and mediation. Students learn through talk, discussion, and argumentation.

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[1]Ormrod, J. E., Educational Psychology: Principles and Applications, Englewood Cliffs,  NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1995.

[2]Brown, H. D., Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, 3^rd edition.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents, 1994.

[3]Gass, M. S., Selinker, L., Second Language Acquisition, Millsdale Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 1994.

[4]Skinner, B.F., Verbal Behaviour, Copley Publishing Group, 1957.

[5]Watson, J.B., Psychology – From the Standpoint of a Behaviorist, , J. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia and London, 1919.

[6]Skinner, B.F., TheBehaviour of Organisms, D. Appleton – Century Co. New York- London, 1938.

[7]Bruner, J., The Culture of Education, HarvardUniversity Press, Cambridge, MA, 1996.

[8]Piaget, J., The Grasp of Consciousness (trans. S. Wedgood), HarvardUniversity Press, Cambridge, MA,  1974.

[9]Vygotsky, L.S., Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes, HarvardUniversity Press, Cambridge, MA,1978.

[10]Wertsch, J.V., Voices of Mind – A Sociocultural Approach to Mediated Action,Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1991.

[11]Piaget, J., The Grasp of Consciousness (trans. S. Wedgood), HarvardUniversity Press, Cambridge, MA, 1974.

[12]Vygotsky, L.S., Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes, HarvardUniversity Press, Cambridge, MA, 1978.

[13]Bruner, J., The Culture of Education, HarvardUniversity Press, Cambridge, MA, 1996.

[14]Faltis, J. C., Hudelson, S. J., Bilingual Education in Elementary and Secondary School Communities: Toward Understanding and Caring, Boston-Allyn and Boston, 1998.

[15]Lave, J., Wenger, E., Situated Learning. Legitimate Peripheral Participation,CambridgeUniversity Press, Cambridge ,1991.

[16]Wertsch, J.V., Voices of Mind – A Sociocultural Approach to Mediated Action, Harvard University Press, Cambridge,MA, 1991.

[17]Idem, p. 18.