DINA NOVITA WIJAYANTI

2003512008
ROMBEL 1
CONSTRUCTIVISM THEORY OF LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING
INTRODUCTION
There are several theories that are applied in education such as behaviorism,
cognitivism, constructivism etc. Many educators especially teachers use the theories in the
classroom based on their own roles. Each theory has its own different function and purpose
and also has a little bit correlation with each other, for example behaviorism theory. In this
theory, the teaching learning process focuses on the students centered not the teacher’s
one. It means that, if the teacher applies it in the classroom, it tends to create the passive
students. They just absorb the knowledge from their own teachers.
Constructivism theory is the response to the behaviorism theory (asiaeuniversity,
2012:106). It means that the role of constructivism theory is in the opposite of behaviorism.
The students’ role is to construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world
through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. It means that the students
construct the meaning of certain thing by assimilating and accommodating through their
own experience. It tends to create the active students. While the constructivist teachers
encourage and guide the students in order to assess the activities which help them to get
the understanding . The way the teacher guides the students can be conducted through
questioning them in order it can create the situation in which the students construct the
meaning of thing by themselves. Moreover the function of questioning is to regard the
students as the expert learners.

The other function of constructivism theory is it can create problem solving, if the
students find problem, they can discuss with other friends to get the solution. That is the
point of view about constructivism theory. The next session will be the description of
constructivism through the history, definition, types, principles, implementation in teaching
learning process, the characteristics of learning, the characters of learners, strength and
weaknesses, differences of constructivism with other theories and the comparison between
traditional to the constructivist one.ORT THIS AD

History of Constructivism
According to asiaeuniversity (2012:146)”Constructivism is a part of cognitive
revolution”. Cognitive revolution is the name of an intellectual movement in the 1950s that
began with what are known collectively as the cognitive sciences and increasingly
deliberated in the late 1960s. The term ”cognitive revolution” began to be used to take
advantage of an analysis of scientific revolution in general that was developed by Thomas
Kuhn (Royer, 2005 in the asiaeuniversity, 2012: 146). The cognitive revolution was the
response to the behaviorism (asiaeuniversity ,2012:106). As we know that, behaviorism was
a theory that based on observable changes in behavior. Moreover, behaviorism was the
theory in which central attention was in the teacher’s role. It means that the character of the
students in the teaching learning process was passive while the teacher was in the opposite.
The students just absorbed the information from the teacher rather than constructed the
meaning by their own selves. While, constructivism was a theory to learning in which
learners were provided the opportunity to construct their own sense of what was being
learned by building internal connection or relationship among ideas and facts being
taught( Brich & Tombari, 1997 as cited in asiaeuniversity,2012: 144). It means that the
character of the students in which the constructivism theory was applied was active. The
teacher as the facilitator (give little guidance to the students). So, this is the reason why
constructivism is a part of cognitive revolution that it becomes the response to the
behaviorism.

Constructivism primarily is a synthesis of the ideas from philosophy, sociology,

psychology and education (Lowenthal & Muth, 2008). According to Kanselaar
(2002)”Constructivism is not a single concept but it can involve the following three aspects”.
They are epistemological, psychological and educational beliefs. Constructivism as a set of
epistemological beliefs that is beliefs about the nature of reality, whether there is an
independent reality. Constructivism as a set of psychological beliefs about
learningandcognition (e.g that learning involves constructing one’s own knowledge).
Constructivismas a set of educational beliefs about pedagogy (e.g that one should allow the
learners to define their own learning objective that knowledge emerges from constructive
interaction between the teacher and the students or between collaborating students).
Based on the history of constructivism comes from experts, I can infer that, in the
beginning constructivism was derived from some aspects that were philosophy, sociology,
psychology, education and epistemological beliefs. All of the aspects united into a general
sense of constructivism that it was a theory of learning or making meaning that individuals
created their own new understanding on the basis of an interaction between what they
already know, belief, ideas and knowledge with which they come into contact (Resnick,
1989 in Richardson, 2003).

Definition of Constructivism
Constructivism is a theory of how learning occurs (Henson, 1996 in asiaeuniversity,
2012:143). It means that this theory determines how learning happens. It is one of the
useful learning in which it determines the lives of learners; try to look for their own
understanding about something that they are curious to know. The ways to seek can be
done through questioning of their knowledge and new discoverers. Constructivism as a
learning theory learns about how people learn to construct something in their own
understanding by relating the prior knowledge and new information. By doing this, a
constructivist learners try to be an active creators.
 Boris &Tombari (1996) in asiaeuniversity (2012:144) stated that constructivism is an
approach to learning in which learners are provided the opportunity to construct their own
sense of what is being learned by building internal connection or relationship among ideas
and facts being taught. According to Cheeks (1992) in asiaeuniversity (2012:145) humans
are not passive information receiver. Humans are active information receivers. They build
network of information with their previous information and they assimilate or accommodate
new knowledge with the prior information in order to build their own understanding of new
information. From the two perceptions from two experts, I can infer that constructivism is a
theory to help the learners to construct the meaning of thing. They try to create learners to
be active to assimilate what is being learned and prior experience.

Constructivism as a theory of learning emerged from the work of cognitive psychologist

such as Piaget, Vygotsky, and Bruner. With the development of cultural psychology, the two
perspectives become dominant. They are individual and social constructivism. Individual
constructivism focuses on the construction of meaning inside the person while social
constructivism focuses on the construction of meaning among people.

Types of Constructivism
Constructivism is a theory of learning to help the learners to construct something based
on their own understanding by assimilating prior knowledge and new ones. According to
Kanselaar (2002) there are two major constructivist perspectives. They are Jean Piaget from
Swiss and Lev Vygotsky from Russia.

1.Jean Piaget (1896-1980) Cognitive Constructivism as individual perspective

Piaget is a Swiss psychologist who describes knowledge development from a holistic and
cognitive perspective, emphasizing that there are many channels that are used to construct
understanding e.g reading, listening, exploring, and experiencing (Savery & Duffy,1995).

Cognitive constructivism developed as a reaction to behaviorist and information

processing theories of learning (Lowenthal & Muth, 2008). As the reaction to behaviorist,
since constructivism tries to help the students as active learners while behaviorism is in
opposite. In the information processing, the learner perceives stimuli encodes them into
useful information then stores the information for later use while in the constructivism tries
to assimilate the previous knowledge and the new one to be the current problem solving.
In this case, cognitive constructivism tries to make a situation in which learning as the result
of constructing based on individual perspective and his or her previous knowledge.

The development of the human intellectual can be processed through the process of
adaptation and organization. Adaptation is a process of assimilation and accommodation.
According to Cynthia et al (2005) the term assimilation occurs in which learners add new
knowledge into their existing knowledge framework and accommodation occurs when
individuals adjust to new information. In this case, I can infer that assimilation is the way to
relate what has already know and prior experience while accommodation to correct the way
relating to the new information.
Piaget also organizes scheme to produce the adult mind by using schemata. According to
Brynes(1996) in asiaeuniversity (2012: 148) schemata or prior knowledge links organize our
experience more efficiently for processing. It is important to produce the effective problem
solving. Overall, Piaget’s cognitive constructivism focuses on how the individual processes
and relates new information to information that already in mind.

2. Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) Social Cultural Constructivism (socio-constructivist

perspective
Vygotsky is a Russian psychologist who introduces the constructivism through socio-
constructivist perspective. In this case, the theory of Vygotsky emphasized in the learning
based on context through the interaction with others. According to Safery & Duffy (1995)
constructing understanding through interaction with others in social environments in
whichknowledge is to be applied.

Vygotsky as the expert of constructivism in socio cultural perspectives assumed that the
theory came from the theory of language, thought and mediation in social environment.
According to Lowenthal & Muth (2008) pure social constructivists believe that learning
occurs via construction of meaning in social interaction within cultures and through
language. Social constructivism classroom is rooted from Vygotsky’s psychological theory
that knowledge is not transferred from teachers to students but constructed in the students’
mind (asiaeuniversity, 2012:152). It means that the social constructivism which rooted from
Vygotsky’s perspective can be applied in education field. In this case, the focus of
knowledge doesn’t come from teacher to students but how the students can construct by
their own selves Here are the list of some characteristics of social constructivism classroom.

à The goal is emphasized in collaborative meaning.

à The role of teacher is as facilitator who monitors the students’ thinking

à The social interaction can occur in classroom

à The curriculum that is applied in classroom can absorb the interest of the students and
then assimilate it with their own cultures.

From the characteristics of social constructivism, it is important to emphasize to the social

environments not within the individual’s mind. Moreover, it is also important that the
teacher and peers also have the significant role in the application itself. There are four tools
for social constructivism. They are scaffolding, cognitive apprenticeship, tutoring, and
cooperative learning (asiaeuniversity,2012: 153-154).

1. Scaffolding is the technique to increase the students’ competence and to reduce the
teacher’s guidance.
2. Cognitive apprenticeship is the technique where the teacher’s belief about the students’
competence to show the best performance and to create the learning situation as well as
possible
3. Tutoring is the effective technique to help the students’ learning by giving explanation
that can be done between an adult and a child or between a more-skilled child and less
skilled child.
4. Cooperative learning is the learning by discussing something in group based on their
own experience.
Those are the viewpoint of individual and social cultural constructivism .In the followings are
the three primary propositions that characterize constructivism from a cognitive and social
viewpoint (Safery & Duffy, 1995).

¶ Cognitive is seen as the tool for sharing the people’s understanding about something
that they want to know then they test it.

¶ The goal is to assimilate the people prior knowledge and the new one in order to
construct new understanding.

3. Bruner (Constructivist theory)

In this case, Jerome Bruner, one of the psychologists of constructivism who supports the
cognitive constructivism based on Piaget. It means that Bruner also has the same thinking
about individual constructivism that it focuses on how the individual process occurs and it
relates new information to information already in the mind. The theoretical framework of
Bruner is that learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concept
based on their current or past knowledge. Moreover, the focus of Jerome Bruner in
cognitivist constructivism is in instruction. So, in this case, the role of the instructor should
try and encourage students to discover principles by themselves. The instructor and the
students should engage in active activities.

There are three principles of instruction from Jerome Brunner(Meyer, 1998)

1. Instruction must be concerned with the experience and the contexts that make the
students willing and able to learn (readiness).
2. Instruction must be structured so that it can be easily grasped by the students(spiral
organization)
3. Instruction should be designed to facilitate extrapolation or fill in the gaps (going beyond
the information given)
Bruner also uses discovery learning in translating cognitive constructivism principles in
teaching and learning in the classroom. In this case, the teacher presents examples and the
students work with the examples until they discover the interrelationship between the
subject structure. Furthermore, Jerome Bruner also emphasizes in the importance of
understanding the structure of a subject being studied. Subject structure refers to the
fundamental ideas, relationship, or patterns of the fields that connect all of the essential
information (asiaeuniversity,2012:149). According to Bruner, learning will be more
meaningful, useful and memorable for students if they focus on understanding the structure
of the subject if they focus on understanding the structure of the subject being studied.

This is the application of Bruner’s teaching technique in the classroom

(asiaeuniversity,2012:149-150)

à Firstly, present examples and non-examples of the concepts that you are teaching

Example: give example that include people, kangaroos, whales, cats, dolphins as examples
while non-examples are chicken, fish, penguin

à Secondly, help students see connections among concepts

Examples: ask questions such as these: what do we call things we eat? Food

Use diagrams, outlines and summaries to pint out connections

à Thirdly, pose a question and let students try to find the answer

Example: How could the human hand be improved?

What is the relation between the area of one tile and the area of the whole floor?

à Fourthly, encourage students to make intuitive guesses

Example: Instead of giving a word’s definition, say,” Let’s guess what it might mean by
looking at the words around it.

The Principles of Constructivism

There are some principles of constructivism that must be paid attention in applying this
theory in teaching learning process ( Simon, 1990)
1. Knowledge is actively constructed by the individual.
It means that knowledge is seen or viewed as learning in how the learners construct the
meaning of something that can make sense to them. In other words, it creates the learners
as active creators.

2. Learning is both an individual and a social process.

We find the meaning of learning through the interaction with others in natural contexts.

3. Learning is a self-regulated process

Individual’s learning is determined by the inborn characteristics and external factors that
influence them.

4. Learning is an organizational process that enables people to make sense of

their world.
Learning is viewed as process to relate the prior knowledge and new one by assimilating and
accommodating.

5. Cognition serves the organization of the experiential world, not the ontological
reality. Truth as viability, not validity.
In doing the term ”learning” an individual has different ways, perspectives, life and the
purpose of it. So, he or she has different result in interpreting the term “learning” that it is
based on his or her experience.
6. Reality represents an interpretation.
To construct our understanding of the meaning of certain thing, we can’t separate with the
term interpretation.

7. Learning is a socially situated activity that is enhanced in meaningful contexts.

The term “learning” happens in social environments in interaction with others in meaningful
context.

8. Language plays an essential role in learning. Thinking takes place in

communication.
Language is seen as the tool to connect with what has been learning with component of
language such as words, sentence etc. then combine it in order to create the effective
communication.