Introduction
Learning is an enduring change in behavior, or in the capacity to behave in a given fashion, which results from practice or other forms of experience.”
Dale H. Schunk
Almost every source I have read has stated that there is no one definition of “learning” agreed upon by everyone. I have chosen a quote from Dale H. Schunk as my definition because it brings together much of what I have read thus far. Just as there is no one accepted definition of learning, there are several learning theories that speak to how students learn, and each has its own recommendation on how to create the best learning environment.
Peggy A. Ertmer and Timothy J. Newby outline three of the most widely accepted learning theories in their article, “Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism: Comparing Critical Features from an Instructional Design Perspective”. At the conclusion of their article, they discuss the likelihood that there is no one learning theory that works for all learns in all situations (Ertmer and Newby, 1993, p. 67). They emphasize that educators need to consider both the learners themselves and the task at hand before choosing a learning strategy (Ertmer and Newby, 1993, p. 68).
I agree with the constructivists who tell us that the learner’s attitudes and beliefs affect their learning (Ertmer and Newby, 1993, p. 59). I also believe that it is my job as an educator to nurture student curiosity and to create an environment where students can construct their own learning using the scaffolding I create for them and authentic projects (Learning Project Team of HKU, 2018). If I am going to provide each of my students with personalized learning experiences, it stands to reason that my learning philosophy must incorporate various aspects of behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, and social constructivism.
Who am I as a learner?
Prior to beginning my DLL courses at Lamar University, I was a “sage on the stage” learner. I just wanted someone to tell me what I needed to know and how I needed to show what I had learned? Although I do not teach that way, it is the way I preferred to learn because it was what I knew, and it felt safe. My first course with Lamar pushed me out of that comfort zone. I felt as though I had no direction, and I did not like it. Four courses later, and I cannot imagine learning what I am learning in a different format. While the “sage on the stage” model still has its appeal, I no longer mind having to be an active participant in my learning, provided that what I am doing is authentic and has value for me personally.
What makes me a behaviorist?
Behaviorisms equates learning with change in either the form or frequency of observable performance.
Peggy A. Ertmer and Timothy J. Newby (1993, p. 55)
According to the theory of behaviorism, learners respond to stimuli (Learning Project Team of HKU, 2018). There are areas where this applies in my learning environments.
My behaviorist tendencies are most evident when it comes to classroom management. For most of my career, I have been teaching students who were raised on the “time out” principle of discipline. When my students are having difficulty calming down as a class, I begin to count to three. Almost without fail, they quiet. This occurrence is the epitome of Pavlov’s classical conditioning. When they were small children, they became conditioned to refocus when their parents counted to three so that they could avoid the negative consequence of a time out. Ten years later, my teenage students continue to respond to this stimulus.
Behaviorism is evident in my instructional techniques with the drills and practice activities that I use to reinforce vocabulary and grammar structure (Learning Project Team of HKU, 2018). Behaviorism lends itself to the memorization of facts (Bates, 2014). While the end goal of my students’ learning experiences is always effective communication, behaviorism is an effective tool for rote memorization when students see new concepts for the first time.
What makes me a cognitivist?
…learning is possible if you base the more complex structure on simpler structures, that is, when there is a natural relationship and development of structures and not simply an external reinforcement.
Jean Piaget (1964, p. 184)
My whole class instructional techniques are cognitivist in nature. I provide an introduction and explanation of new material and I provide examples of how to use the new structures (Ertmer and Newby, 1993, p. 58). Students then practice the new content, and I provide feedback. Because world language is a skill subject more than a content subject, I use simplification, or the breaking of knowledge into its simpler building blocks (Ertmer and Newby, 1993, p. 59), which is also supported by Piaget (1964, p. 184).
One of my goals each year is to encourage each student to think about how they learn best. I spoke earlier about the need for more personalized learning experiences, but that is only possible if students are aware of how they learn, which is an important element of cognitivism (Ertmer and Newby, 1993, p. 58). I encourage students to think about how they learn best and to develop new learning strategies when the old ones are no longer working (Smith, 2018).
What makes me a constructivist?
…constructivist learning encourages the learner to engage in the active process of meaning – construction in real-authentic problems and situations, and where learners are able to socially construct knowledge with others.
Seng Chee Tan and David Hung (2003)
Constructivism is rooted in authentic experiences (Tan and Hung, 2003). If the primary goal of language learning is effective communication and cultural understanding, most of the assessments in the world language classroom should be authentic. While written and spoken expression have always been part of my students’ learning experiences, I have allowed them to be overshadowed by traditional tests and quizzes. As part of my implementation plan for my in-class blended learning environment, I will be putting less emphasis on the traditional standardized assessments that are more behaviorist in nature in favor of performance assessments where students have the opportunity to participate in real world, authentic situations.
Tan and Hung tell us, “…responsibility and ownership for learning must be on the learner” (2003). As I incorporate a version of station rotation in my classes, students will learn to recognize what they need to be successful, and they will choose activities that will help them reach their communication goals. Ertmer and Newby state it clearly, “To be successful, meaningful, and lasting learning must be all three of these crucial factors: activity (practice), concept (knowledge), and culture (context)” (1993, p. 64). The new activities that I am developing will encourage students to transfer vocabulary and grammar structures that they learned previously to new situation in order to communicate.
What makes me a social constructivist?
…one learns first through a social setting of person to person interactions and then personally through an internalization process that leads to deep understanding
Interpretation of Lev Vigotsky by Robin Fogarty (1999, p. 6)
As Ertmer and Newby explain, “If learning is decontextualized, there is little hope for transfer to occur” (1993, p. 64). In the past, two common methodologies for teaching language were the audio-lingual method and grammar-translation. Both of these pedagogies are behaviorist in nature. They emphasize memorization and do not allow for the myriad ways that students can express their ideas. In today’s world language classrooms, learning is both a social activity because it involves communication and constructivist because learners are using authentic tasks to construct meaning. All world language teachers should be social constructivists to some degree because it is the essence of language learning.
Conclusion
When I completed my undergraduate program in the late nineties, the Internet was only beginning to take hold of society. There were no smartphones or tablets. In fact, I remember when the first fiber optic cables were installed on my college campus. It is not surprising that use of technology did not play a significant role in my pre-service education courses.
Researching learning theories and reflecting on my own learning philosophy have led me to the conclusion that there should no longer be undergraduate education courses focusing on teaching strategies. The proliferation of information with the Internet and access to digital learning tools have made those courses passé. If education programs want to prepare their students to work with the students of the twenty-first century, they need to replace Teaching Strategies 101 with courses such as Strategies for Facilitating Learning and Creating Significant Learning Environments. Otherwise, teachers will not be prepared to construct the learning environments that their students need to succeed today and in the future.
References
Bates, T. (2014, July 29). Learning theories and online learning [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.tonybates.ca/2014/07/29/learning-theories-and-online-learning/
Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 6(4), 50-The 72. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1937-8327.1993.tb00605
Fogarty, R. (1999). Architects of the intellect. Annual Conference and Exhibit Show of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Learning Project Team of HKU. (2018). What teachers should know about learning theories. Retrieved June 15, 2019, from https://kb.edu.hku.hk/learning_theory_history/
Piaget, J. (1964). Part I: Cognitive development in children: Piaget. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 2, 176-186.
Schunk, D. H. (2012). Learning theories: An educational perspective (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Smith, M. K. (2018). Learning theory. Retrieved June 15, 2019, from The Encyclopedia of Informal Education website: http://infed.org/mobi/learning-theory-models-product-and-process/
Tan, S. C., & Hung, D. (2003). Beyond information pumping: Creating a constructivist e-learning environment. Educational Technology, 42(5), 48-54.
For more information on the sources cited in this learning philosophy, please visit my annotated list of references.
Growing my Classroom 