University of Algiers 2 \ faculty of Foreign Languages \ Department of English\ Academic year 2021-2022

Groups: 1& 3 Teacher: Ms. Salhi

Course: ESP
Theories of learning : review
The purpose of this handout is to understand how theories of learning apply in ESP

A. THE BEHAVIOURIST ORIENTATION TO LEARNING.

The behaviourist movement in psychology has looked to the use of experimental procedures to
study behaviour in relation to the environment.

In essence three key assumptions underpin this view:

 Observable behaviour rather than internal thought processes are the focus of study. In
particular, learning is manifested by a change in behaviour.

 The environment shapes one’s behaviour; what one learns is determined by the elements
in the environment, not by the individual learner.

 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. (Merriam and Caffarella 1991: 126)

In terms of learning, according to James Hartley (1998) four key principles come to the fore:

 Activity is important. Learning is better when the learner is active rather than passive.
(‘Learning by doing’ is to be applauded).

 Repetition, generalization and discrimination are important notions. Frequent practice –

and practice in varied contexts – is necessary for learning to take place. Skills are not
acquired without frequent practice.

 Reinforcement is the cardinal motivator. Positive reinforcers like rewards and successes are
preferable to negative events like punishments and failures.

 Learning is helped when objectives are clear. Those who look to behaviourism in teaching
will generally frame their activities by behavioural objectives e.g. ‘By the end of this session
participants will be able to…’. With this comes a concern with competencies and product
approaches to curriculum.

B. THE COGNITIVE ORIENTATION TO LEARNING.

Where behaviorists looked to the environment, those drawing on Gestalt turned to the individual’s
mental processes. In other words, they were concerned with cognition – the act or process of
knowing.

‘Learning results from inferences, expectations and making connections. Instead of acquiring
habits, learners acquire plans and strategies, and prior knowledge is important’ (1998: 18). The
principles he identifies are:
  Instruction should be well-organized. Well-organized materials easier to learn and to
remember.

 Instruction should be clearly structured. Subject matters are said to have inherent
structures – logical relationships between key ideas and concepts – which link the parts
together.

 The perceptual features of the task are important. Learners attend selectively to different
aspects of the environment. Thus, the way a problem is displayed is important if learners are
to understand it.

 Prior knowledge is important. Things must fit with what is already known if it is to be
learnt.

 Differences between individuals are important as they will affect learning. Differences in
‘cognitive style’ or methods of approach influence learning.

 Cognitive feedback gives information to learners about their success or failure

concerning the task at hand. Reinforcement can come through giving information – a
‘knowledge of results’ – rather than simply a reward.

C. HUMANISTIC ORIENTATIONS TO LEARNING.

In this framework the basic concern is for human growth. We look to the work of Maslow and
Rogers as expressions of this approach.

The best known example is Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of motivation. At the lowest level are
physiological needs, at the highest self-actualization. Only when the lower needs are met is it
possible to fully move on to the next level. A motive at the lower level is always stronger than those
at higher levels. Tennant (1997) summarizes these as follows:

 Level one: Physiological needs such as hunger, thirst, sex, sleep, relaxation and bodily
integrity must be satisfied before the next level comes into play.

 Level two: Safety needs call for a predictable and orderly world. If these are not satisfied
people will look to organize their worlds to provide for the greatest degree of safety and
security. If satisfied, people will come under the force of level three.

 Level three: Love and belongings needs cause people to seek warm and friendly
relationships.

 Level four: Self-esteem needs involve the desire for strength, achievement, adequacy,
mastery and competence. They also involve confidence, independence, reputation and
prestige.

 Level five: Self-actualization is the full use and expression of talents, capacities and
potentialities.

Self actualizers are able to submit to social regulation without losing their own integrity or personal
independence; that is they may follow a social norm without their horizons being bounded in the
 sense that they fail to see or consider other possibilities. They may on occasion transcend the
socially prescribed ways of acting. Achieving this level may mean developing to the full stature of
which they are capable. (Tennant 1997: 13)

Learning can, thus, be seen as a form of self-actualization, it contributes to psychological health

(Sahakian 1984 in Merriam and Caffarella 1991: 133).

Much criticism has been levelled at this model. For example,

 Do lower needs really have to be satisfied before higher ones come into play? People may
well put physiological needs on one side to satisfy the need for love, for example.

 Are we all propelled to the sorts of qualities that Maslow identifies with ‘self actualization’?
To what extent are these qualities culturally-specific?

The idea of a hierarchy of needs, the identifying of different needs and the notion of self-
actualization did. However, exert a powerful hold over adult education writers like Malcolm
Knowles. Humanistic psychology’s positive view of people and their ability to control their own
destiny, and the seemingly unlimited possibilities for individual development provided some hope
for educators.

Perhaps the most persuasive exploration of a humanistic orientation to learning came from Carl
Rogers. His passion for education showed his engagement with the whole person and with their
experiences; for learning that combines the logical and intuitive, the intellect and feelings; found a
ready audience. ‘When we learn in that way’, he said, ‘we are whole, utilizing all our masculine and
feminine capacities’ (1983 20). He saw the following elements as being involved in significant or
experiential learning.

 It has a quality of personal involvement—the whole person in both feeling and cognitive
aspects being in the learning event.

 It is self-initiated. Even when the impetus or stimulus comes from the outside, the sense of
discovering, of reaching out, of grasping and comprehending, comes from within.

 It is pervasive. It makes a difference in the behavior, the attitudes, perhaps even the
personality of the learner.

 It is evaluated by the learner. She knows whether it is meeting her need, whether it leads
toward what she wants to know, whether it illuminates the dark area of ignorance she is
experiencing. The locus of evaluation, we might say, resides definitely in the learner.

 Its essence is meaning. When such learning takes place, the element of meaning to the
learner is built into the whole experience. (Rogers (1983: 20)

D. THE SOCIAL/SITUATIONAL ORIENTATION TO LEARNING.

It is not so much that learners acquire structures or models to understand the world, but they
participate in frameworks that have structure. Learning involves participation in a community of
practice.

Social learning theory ‘posits that people learn from observing other people. By definition, such
observations take place in a social setting’ (Merriam and Caffarella 1991: 134) .
 Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people ha d to rely solely on
the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do. Fortunately, most human behavior is
learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new
behaviors are performed, and on later occasion s this coded information serves as a guide for action.
(Bandura 1977: 22)

Attending to a behaviour; remembering it as a possible model or paradigm; and playing out how it
may work for them in different situations (rehearsal) are key aspects of observational learning.

A more radical model – situated learning – has been put forward by Lave and Wenger (1991).
Rather than looking to learning as the acquisition of certain forms of knowledge, they have tried to
place it in social relationships – situations of co-participation.

Learners inevitably participate in communities of practitioners and… the mastery of knowledge and
skill requires newcomers to move toward full participation in the sociocultural practices of a
community. “Legitimate peripheral participation” provides a way to speak about the relations
between newcomers and old-timers, and about activities, identities, artefacts, and communities of
knowledge and practice. A person’s intentions to learn are engaged and the meaning of learning is
configured through the process of becoming a full participant in a sociocultural practice. This social
process, includes, indeed it subsumes, the learning of knowledgeable skills. (Lave and Wenger
1991: 29)

 The idea of situated learning does provide significant pointers for practice. We can highlight
three:
 Learning is in the relationships between people – As McDermott (in Murphy 1999:17) puts
it:

Learning traditionally gets measured as on the assumption that it is a possession of individuals that
can be found inside their heads… [Here] learning is in the relationships between people. Learning is
in the conditions that bring people together and organize a point of contact that allows for particular
pieces of information to take on relevance; without the points of contact, without the system of
relevancies, there is not learning, and there is little memory. Learning does not belong to individual
persons, but to the various conversations of which they are a part.

 Educators work so that people can become participants in communities of practice – they
need to explore with people in communities how all may participate to the full. There is a
strong link here with the long-standing concern among informal educators for association.

 There is an intimate connection between knowledge and activity – Learning is part of daily
living. Problem solving and learning from experience become central processes (although
situtated learning is not the same as ‘learning by doing’ – see Tennant 1997: 73).

E. THE CONSTRUCTIVIST / SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVIST ORIENTATION TO

LEARNING.

With its roots in the work of Dewey, Vygotsky, Bruner and others, this approach involves learning
culturally shared ways of understanding and talking about the world.

1. Learners bring unique prior knowledge, experience, and beliefs to a learning situation.
2. Knowledge is constructed uniquely and individually, in multiple ways, through a variety of
authentic tools, resources, experiences, and contexts.
 3. Learning is both an active and reflective process.
4. Learning is a developmental process of accommodation, assimilation, or rejection to construct
new conceptual structures, meaningful representations, or new mental models.
5. Social interaction introduces multiple perspectives through reflection, collaboration,
negotiation, and shared meaning.
6. Learning is internally controlled and mediated by the learner.

Five guiding principles of constructivism

1. engage students in problems that become relevant and meaningful

2. Organize curriculum into activities that address broad primary concepts
3. Seek out and value students' perspectives
4. Encourage students to investigate and challenge their assumptions and suppositions
5. Use assessment to guide student learning.