1.
Week 9 Language Acquisition
Principles and Methods of (Language) Teaching
DR. RUSSELL RODRIGO

2.
Words of
Wisdom
• I hear, I forget
• I see, I remember
• I do, I understand
(Confucius)

3.
Conditions for learning
 Clear objectives: expressed as learning outcomes;
 Students feel a need to achieve those objectives;
 Motivation: a PRODUCT of good teaching;
 Students engage with the material;
 Students can work collaboratively in dialogue with
others;
 Students receive positive feedback.

4.
Learning
styles
 Visual learners
 Auditory
Learners
 Kinesthetic
/tactile
learners
(Neill Fleming ‘s Vark)

5.
The Kolb Cycle
Kolb, David A., (1984)
What?
So What?
Now What?

6.
LEARNING THEORIES

7.
General learning theories
1. Cognitivism
2. Behaviorism
3. Constructivism

8.
Background Information
 Learning theories allow teachers to better
understand the process of learning.
 Together with the use of technology, learn theories
have made a significant impact in the classroom.

9.
Cognitivism
 Information Processing looks at how information is retrieved and
stored.
 This theory focuses on how to store and retrieve information.
 Learning is attained through rehearsal and consistent use of the
information.
 Retention strategies such as breaking down information and
comparing the information to long term storage are great techniques.

10.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
 Taxonomy of Cognitive Objectives
 1950s- developed by Benjamin Bloom
 Means of expressing qualitatively different kinds of thinking
 Adapted for classroom use as a planning tool
 Continues to be one of the most universally applied models
 Provides a way to organise thinking skills into six levels, from the most basic
to the higher order levels of thinking
 1990s- Lorin Anderson (former student of Bloom) revisited the taxonomy
 As a result, a number of changes were made
(Pohl, 2000, Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn, pp. 7-8)

11.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
 Bloom’s taxonomy is an attempt to classify forms of
learning.
 It identifies three “domains” of learning each of which is
organised as a series of levels or pre-requisites.
 Lower levels must be covered before moving on to higher
levels – adopts a ‘building blocks’ view of learning.
 The three levels are:
cognitive
affective
psycho-motor

12.
Bloom’s domains
Cognitive
Domain

13.
Blooms Taxonomy (1956)
The recall of specific information
An understanding of what was read
The converting of abstract content to concrete situations
The comparison and contrast of the content to personal
experiences
The organization of thoughts, ideas, and information from the
content
The judgement and evaluation of characters, actions
outcome etc., for personal reflection and understanding

14.
Original Terms New
Terms
•Creating
•Evaluating
•Analysing
•Applying
•Understanding
•Remembering
(Based on Pohl, 2000, Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn, p. 8)
 Evaluation
 Synthesis
 Analysis
 Application
 Comprehension
 Knowledge

15.
Why use Bloom’s Taxonomy?
 Objectives (learning goals) are important to establish in a
pedagogical interchange so that teachers and students alike
understand the purpose of that interchange.
 Teachers can benefit from using frameworks to organize objectives
because
 Organizing objectives helps to clarify objectives for themselves
and for students.
 Having an organized set of objectives helps teachers to:
 "plan and deliver appropriate instruction";
 "design valid assessment tasks and strategies“ and
 "ensure that instruction and assessment are aligned with the
objectives."

16.
Writing Learning Objectives

17.
Sample Lesson Objectives:
 At the end of the lesson, students are expected
to:
1. Identify the uses and forms of past simple tense
of the verb.
2. Construct sentences using past simple verb
tense.

18.
http://www.stedwards.edu/cte/files/BloomPolygon.pdf

19.
Behaviorism
 The theory originates from the works of Ivan Pavlov’s, classical conditioning,
and B. F. Skinner’s, operant conditioning.
 Classical Conditioning is when an unconditioned stimulus and
response is manipulated with a conditioned stimulus to create a
conditioned response.
 Operant Conditioning is a controlled response with a reward/
punishment system according to the behavior.
 The learner needs reinforcements to keep interest.
 Stimuli are effective in controlling behavior.
 As a result, the behaviors can be measured to record learning success.

20.
Behaviourist theories of
learning
 Learn by being rewarded for ‘right responses
(Stimulus-Response model)
 Law of ‘positive reinforcement’
 Highly structured materials/externally imposed
goals
 ‘traditional’ teaching pattern ‘teacher initiates-
student responds’ Common in work on managing
classroom behaviour

21.
Constructivism
 Constructivism views learning as a process in which the
learner constructs knowledge based on their past
experiences.
 The teacher only acts as a facilitator who encourages
students to explore within a given framework
 Learners may collaborate with others to organize their
ideas and learn from each other to construct their own
knowledge.

22.
Constructivism Cont.
The social nature of
knowledge.
 Learning regarded as interpsychological, taking place
with others who may be more experienced. It is defined
as a social activity.
 As new ideas and knowledge are internalised, learners
use language to comment on what they have learnt;
language is used to both transmit and clarify new
information and then to reflect on and rationalise what
has been learnt.
 learning moves from the interpsychological to the
intrapsychological.

23.
Teaching role in learning
 Giving feedback to learners
 Helping learners become better learners
 Focusing on motivation
 Comparing deep and surface learning
 Experiential learning
 Looking at the learning process
 Looking at learning styles

24.
Putting It All Together
Learning Theory Learning Process Technology Support
Behaviorism
Through positive/ negative
reinforcement and
punishment
Educational software can be
used to measure the
students assessment
Cognitivism
Rehearsing information
and then storing it for long
term use
Flashcards and memory
games can help retain
information taught in a
lesson
Constructivism
Constructing ones own
knowledge through past
experiences and group
collaboration
Group PowerPoint projects
allow students to work
together and combine their
knowledge to learn

25.
Web Resources
 Behavioral Learning Theory
 http://suedstudent.syr.edu/~ebarrett/ide621/behavior.
htm
 Cognitivism Learning Theory
 http://web.syr.edu/~walker/COGNITIVISMTHEORIES.ht
m
 Constructivism Learning Theory
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_theories