Chapter 4

Human

Contents (1 part)
st

Learning & training

Behaviourist theories
Constructivist theories
Systematic forgetting
Rogers humanistic psychology

Learning & training

Study entry behaviour
Formulate the goals
Develop some methods of training
Develop an evaluation procedure

Behaviourist theories
Ivan Pavlovs theory of classical conditioning
Unconditioned response
Conditioned response

Behaviourist theories
Skinners theory of operant conditioning
Reinforcement
Punishment

Constructivist theories
Ausubels subsumption theory
Learning is seen as relating new events to already
existing cognitive concepts
Rote learning : Mental storage of items having little or
no association with cognitive structure
Meaningful learning (Subsumption): Relating new
material to relevant entities in cognitive structure

A learning situation is
meaningful if:
Learners have a meaningful learning set
The learning task itself is meaningful to the learners

Systematic forgetting
Cognitive pruning: elimination of unnecessary clutters
clearing the way for more material to enter in the
cognitive field
Language attrition:
-possible both for L1 and L2
-some aspects of language are more vulnerable to
forgetting (ex: lexical, phonological items)
Subtractive bilingualism: the case when L2 replaces L1

Rogers humanistic
psychology
Has a more affective focus than a cognitive one
Rogers studied the whole person as a physical and cognitive
but primarily emotional being
His study focused on the internal forces that cause a person to
act
In education, his theory focuses away from teaching toward
learning
In his view, learning how to learn is more important than being
taught
In order for teachers to be learning facilitators must discard
masks of superiority and omniscience

Contents (2

nd

part)

Types of learning
Transfer, Interference, And Overgeneralization
Inductive And Deductive Reasoning
Intelligence And Language Learning
Learning Theories in Action

Types of learning (Gagne identifies eight types of learning)

1. Signal learning = response to a signal
2. Stimulus response learning = precise response to a
discriminated stimulus (e.g. acquisition of the sound system)
3. Chaining = two or more stimulus-response connections (e.g.
acquisition of phonological sequences and syntactic patterns)
4. Verbal association = learning of chains that are verbal (e.g.
basically, it makes the distinction between verbal and
nonverbal chains)
5. Multiple discrimination (e.g. a word has to take on several
meanings)

Types of learning (Gagne identifies eight types of learning)

6. Concept learning = common response to a class of

stimuli
7. Principle learning = a chain of two or more concepts
8. Problem solving = a process of thinking based on
previous acquired concepts and principles

TRANSFER, INTERFERENCE, AND OVERGENERALIZATION

Language learning processes are

being explained by three terms
Transfer
Interference
Overgeneralization

TRANSFER, INTERFERENCE, AND OVERGENERALIZATION

Transfer
Positive transfer
Negative transfer (e.g.: I am in New York since
January" for Je suis a New York depuis janvier)
Interference
Previously learned material interferes with
subsequent material

TRANSFER, INTERFERENCE, AND OVERGENERALIZATION

Overgeneralization
e.g.: to overgeneralize regular past tense
endings (walked, opened) as applicable
to all past tense forms (goed, flied )

INDUCTIVE AND DEDUCTIVE REASONING

Inductive reasoning
one stores a number of specific instances and induces a general law
or rule or conclusion that governs or subsumes the specific instances
(e.g.: learning in the field natural, untutored language learning)

Deductive reasoning
Specific subsumed facts are inferred or deduced from a general
principle (e.g.: Classroom learning)

Both inductively and deductively oriented teaching methods

can be effective, depending on the goals and contexts of a
particular language teaching situation

LANGUAGE APTITUDE
John Carroll's (Carroll & Sapon, 1958) construction of the Modern
Language Aptitude Test (MLAT)
Tasks: learning numbers, discriminating sounds, detecting spelling
clues and grammatical patterns, and memorizing word meanings
measured ability to perform focused, analytical, context-reduced
activities and not the native abilities
Robinson (2005) aptitude = processing speed, short- and longterm memory, rote memory, planning time, pragmatic abilities,
interactional intelligence, emotional intelligence, and self-efficacy.
Aptitude = learner characteristics (intelligence, learning styles,
strategies)

INTELLIGENCE AND LANGUAGE LEARNING

1. Linguistic
2. Logical-mathematical
3.

Musical

4.

Spatial

5.

Bodily-kinesthetic

6. Naturalist
7. Interpersonal
8. Intrapersonal intelligence

INTELLIGENCE AND LANGUAGE LEARNING

Robert Sternberg - three types of smartness"
Componential ability for analytical thinking
Experiential ability to engage in creative thinking, combining
disparate experiences in insightful ways
Contextual ability: Street smartness" that enables people to
play the game" of manipulating their environment

Each intelligence relates to certain demands in the

classroom
Oiler
Language may be the very foundation of intelligence itself

LEARNING THEORIES IN ACTION:

TWO LANGUAGE TEACHING
METHODS IN CONTRAST
The Audiolingual Method
1. New material is presented in dialog form.
2. There is dependence on mimicry, memorization of set phrases, and
overlearning.
3. Structures are sequenced by means of contrastive analysis and taught one at a
time.
4. Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills.
5. There is little or no grammatical explanation
6. Vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in context.
7. There is much use of tapes, language labs, and visual aids.
8. Great importance is attached to pronunciation.
9. Very little use of the mother tongue by teachers is permitted
10. Successful responses are immediately reinforced.
11. There is a great effort to get students to produce error-free utterances.
12. There is a tendency to manipulate language and disregard content

LEARNING THEORIES IN ACTION:

TWO LANGUAGE TEACHING
METHODS IN CONTRAST
Community Language Learning

Students and teacher join together to facilitate learning in

a context of valuing and prizing each individual in the
group.
Advantage
Overcomes some of the affective factors

Disadvantage
The initial grueling days and weeks of floundering in ignorance in
CLL could be alleviated by more directed, deductive learning: by
being told
Interpretation is so complex that can cause mistranslation

Conclusion
the study of these learning principles aimed to expand our
understanding of human learning
there is no consistent combination of theory that works for
every context of SLL
teacher will have to adopt the best theory for the context at
hand.