Language Learning & Development

1. Language Learning & Development

2. What age groups are covered in the term young learners? • Primary education is very different in various parts of the world. In some contexts, primary school lasts from five to 11 years of age, while in other contexts children start school later, at the age of six or seven. • Children may start learning English at different stages of their primary education or even before they are at school. • In some contexts , children start learning English in KG at the age of five or even earlier. In other contexts, they may start at eight or ten. • In order to embrace most contexts where English is taught to children, the ideas in this course can be applicable to all these age groups, from five to 14 of age.

3. Young learners • Young learners are children at pre-school or in the first couple of years of schooling • Generally they have holistic a approach to language, which means that they understand meaningful messages but cannot analyze language yet • They have lower levels of awareness about themselves as language learners as well as about process of learning • They have limited reading and writing skills even in their first language • Generally, they are more concerned about themselves than others • They have a limited knowledge about the world • They enjoy fantasy, imagination, and movement

4. Older learners • Older learners are children who are well established at school and comfortable with school routines • They show growing interest in analytical approaches, which ,means that they begin to take an interest in language as an abstract system • They show a growing level of awareness about themselves as language learners and their learning • They have well developed skills as readers and writers • They have a growing awareness of others and their viewpoints • They have a growing awareness about the world around us • They begin to show interest in real life issues

5. Learning and development What is learning?How does it occur?How do we know when someone has learned something?

6. There are no simple answers to these questions. In this course, we'll examine several different theories or sets of theories that have attempted to address these questions. Two competing theories may be equally good at explaining the same learning or behavior outcome in a person and they'll likely explain them in entirely different ways. • Which one is "right"? - There is not likely an absolute answer to that question. - No single learning theory is adequate to account for all aspects of learning.

7. What is Learning? • Learning is a relatively permanent change in the capacity of an individual to make a response, provided that the change cannot be explained on the basis of maturation or temporary states of the individual For example: if I'm capable of doing something today that I couldn't do a year ago, you can suppose that I've learned, so long as this can't be explained by something such as, I was 6 months old a year ago, and I'm 18 months old now, or I was sick a year ago, and I'm not now.

8. LEARNING • Traditional View: learning is the passive transmission of information from the ‘expert’ to the learner. Excellence in recall and summarizing of information indicators of effective teaching. The learner is a passive recipient of information from teacher or written texts Reception not construction is the goal. • Constructivists View: Learningis an active, social process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based on their current knowledge. Learning experiences should allow students to discover principles for themselves

9. Constructivism ((Active learning Piaget

10. What is Constructivism? It is a teaching theory based on a type of learning in which the learner forms, or constructs, much of what he or she learns and comprehends. • Learning is active, social, and contextualized –meaning children learn best by figuring things out on their own or with the help of others, and that what you learn is related to you (your fears& existing knowledge). • Learning takes time! You learn through experiencesas you grow.

11. Learners should be actively involved in their learning. They should be more and more responsible for their learning as they grow older. They build their own path! • Children become actively involved in learning when they are interested and motivated. They become happy to try new things and to experiment with ideas and thoughts in conversations with adults and teachers.

12. Children learn through explorations, play, and through opportunities to talk things through with others, usually adults. Exploring can refer to things in concrete terms (e.g. playing with sand and water or building with toy bricks) or in abstract terms in conversations with others. • Often the two happens simultaneously, for example, children and adults can play together with water and sand and talk about what they are doing.

13. Who came up with this theory? Formalization of the theory of constructivism is generally credited toJean Piaget. He began to develop his ideas in the first half of the 20th century. He referred to active learning as (constructivism) • He suggested that children construct knowledge for themselves by actively making sense of their environment. For example, a young child might know that baby birds such as checks are hatched from eggs. When this child comes across other animals during a visit to a farm, he or she assumes that sheep are hatched from eggs too. According to Piaget, this is the process of “assimilation”

14. The child is assimilating information to fit his or her own interpretation of the world and existing ways of thinking (i.e. all animals are hatched from eggs). • At a later stage, maybe, in a conversation about animals, a parent might explain the sheep are not hatched from eggs. At this point, the child will have to change his or her way of thinking to accommodate this new idea. • Piaget refers to this process as “accommodation”. Without this change that the child has to do for himself, learning would not take place.

15. Therefore, through processes of  accommodation and assimilation, individuals construct new knowledge from their experiences. • Assimilation and accommodation go together: you can't have one without the other • Such interaction between the environment and children’s existing knowledge, is ongoing and throughout the years, further and further refinement are added to the growing knowledge base. • In this way, children are active constructors of their knowledge of the world.

16. Active Learning in the Classroom Students solve problems, answer questions, formulate questions of their own, discuss, explain, debate, or brain storm during class.

17. Examples on Active Techniques: Think-pair-share. Role playing, simulations Group quizzing Generate lists Cooperative learning Minute papers and writing assignments Case study  Concept maps

18. Jean Piaget(1896-1980) • He was a biologist who originally studied biology but moved into the study of the development of children's understanding, through observing them and talking and listening to them while they worked on exercises he set. • Jean Piaget is credited with coming up with a majority of the constructivist theory. • He came up with the idea that children learn differently than adults.

19. Piaget's Key Ideas

20. Piaget’s Cognitive Development Cognition= How people think & Understand. Piaget developed 4stages to his theory of cognitive development: • Sensori-Motor Stage • Pre-Operational Stage • Concrete Operational Stage • Formal Operational Stage.

22. Sensori-Motor Stage (from birth- to 2 years of age) • The child explores the world surrounding them using his senses. • Initially sucking/grasping reflex and moving onto reaching for objects out of reach.

23. Object permanence……… Major development within this stage: • Initially the baby cannot understand an object exists out of sight. • As the baby reaches around 7/8 months a child will begin to understand the object/person still exists when out of sight.

24. Pre-Operational stage (2-7yrs old) • Toddler can understand the use of symbols and language. • The child’s thinking is largely reliant on perception but he gradually becomes more and more capable of logical thinking. • Language is now understood. • This stage is characterized by egocentrism and a lack of logical thinking.

25. Development of…….. 1. Animism or Animistic thinking • (the attribution of life to inanimate objects or lifeless objects). • child believes inanimate objects have feelings as they do. E.g, a child believing the wind talks to the trees.

26. Conversation between Piaget & a preoperational child demonstrating animalistic thinking: • Piaget: Does the sun move? • Child: Yes, when one walks it follows. When one turns around it turns around too. • Piaget: Why does it move? • Child: Because when one walks, it goes too. • Piaget: Why does it go? • Child: To hear what we say. • Piaget: Is it alive? • Child: Of course, otherwise it wouldn’t follow us, it couldn’t shine. (Piaget, 1960, p.215)

27. 2. Egocentricism. • The belief that you are the centre of the universe and everything revolves around you. • Can only see the world from their own point of view • Not moral "selfishness", just an early stage of psychological development. The dialogue where the sun follows the child illustrates the child’s sense of egocentric thinking.

28. Concrete Operational Stage(7-11 yrs) • Year seven is the turning point in cognitive development because childldren’s thought processes become more mature and "adult like“. • They develop the ability to apply logical reasoning in several areas of knowledge (such as math, science, or map reading) but abstract, hypothetical thinking has not yet developed. • children are now able to conserve(what is conservation?)

29. CONSERVATION .“the awareness that a quantity remains the same despite a change in its appearance” Meaning, the children understand that although the appearance has changed the thing it self does not

30. Formal Operational Stage(11-16 yrs ) • Most of previous characteristics discussed have now developed. • Children develop the ability to think about abstract concepts . • At this point, the person is capable of hypothetical and deductive reasoning. • They achieve formal logic. • The child shows logical thinking and is able to work through abstract problems and use logic without the presence of concrete manipulation. An example of inferential reasoning is: If Mona is taller than Sara and Sara is taller than Nora who is the tallest?.

31. Summary of Piaget: Criticisms • Problems With Research MethodsPiaget used a small research sample, he only observed his own three childrenand other children that were all from high well-educated status. Because of this unreliable sample, it is difficult to generalize his findings to a larger population. • Underestimated the ability of children Some children at the age of 4 or 5 have a rather complicated understanding of their own mental processes as well as those of other people. They have some ability to take the perspective of another person, meaning they are far less egocentric than Piaget believed. • Underestimated the impact of CULTURE Piaget underestimated the role of society and culture.

32. Social Constructivism The Role of Interaction Vygotsky’s theory of learning

33. Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory • Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory is the work of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky(1896-1934),who lived during Russian Revolution. His work was largely unknown to the West until it was published in 1962. • He stated that • Cognitive growth occurs in a socioculturalcontext that influences the form that it takes. • Many of a child’s most noteworthy skills evolve from social interactions with parents, teachers, and other skilled elders.

34. Vygotsky agreed with Piaget that children construct knowledge for themselves and that they actively participate in the learning process. • However, he pointed out that the social environment too has an important role to play. • He turned teachers and parents attention to the powerful effect of the social context.

35. He was interested to explore what individual children were capable of achieving with the help and support of knowledgeable partners. • Vygotskyawakes our eyes to the powerful role of culture and community in learning. His theory presents the radical idea that our very thought and intelligence is really not our own. It’s the product of history and culture.

36. ( Theories of Cognitive Development ) Vygotsky vs. Piaget Vygotsky’ssociocultural theory: • Cognitive development varies across cultures • Stems from social interactions • Social processes become individual-physiological processes • Adults are important as change agents Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory: • Cognitive development is mostly universal across cultures • Stems from independent explorations • Individual (egocentric) processes become social processes • Peers are important as change agents

37. Theory of Multiple Intelligences Gardner

38. Gardner's approach to intelligence • Howard Gardner (1983) an American psychologist suggested that intelligence had no unitary character, rather, it manifested itself in many different ways in different children. He refers to these multiple intelligences as “frames of mind”.

40. Here are the eight Intelligences: 1) Linguistic Intelligence • The ability to read, write and communicate with words. Authors, journalists, and poets are obvious examples of people with linguistic intelligence. • Famous examples: Charles Dickens, Abraham Lincoln, T.S. Eliot.

41. 2) Logical-Mathematical Intelligence • The ability to reason and calculate, to think things through in a logical, systematic manner. These are the kinds of skills highly developed in scientists, economists, accountants, and detectives. • Famous examples: Albert Einstein, John Nash. 3) Visual-Spatial Intelligence • The ability to think in pictures, visualize a future result. To imagine things in your mind's eye. Such as architects, sculptors, and photographers.. • Famous examples: Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright

42. 4) Musical Intelligence • The ability to make music, to sing well, to play musical instruments or to understand and appreciate music.  • Famous examples: Mozart, Leonard Bernstein, Ray Charles. 8) Naturalist Intelligence • The ability to nurture and relate information to one’s natural surroundings. for example in hunting, farming, or biological science. Farmers, biologists, environmentalists would all display aspects of the intelligence

43. 5) Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence • The ability to use your body skillfully to solve problems, create products or present ideas and emotions. People who have high bodily-kinesthetic intelligence should be generally good at physical activities such as sports, dance, acting, and building and construction. • Famous examples: Charlie Chaplin, Michael Jordan.

44. 6) Interpersonal (Social) Intelligence • The ability to work effectively with others, to relate to other people, and display empathy and understanding, to notice their motivations and goals. This is a vital human intelligence displayed by good teachers, therapists,, religious leaders and sales people. • Famous examples: Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Oprah Winfrey. 7) Intrapersonal (self) Intelligence • This refers to having a deep understanding of the self; what one's strengths/ weaknesses are, what makes one unique. being able to make plans and set goals. Philosophers and counselors have this form of intelligence. • Famous examples: Freud, Plato.

45. Assignment • As for yourself, which of these intelligences you find yourself in ? Justify your choice. • Describe some school students you observed last semester, who were gifted in some sort of these intelligences.

46. Next Week Learning the First & a Second Language at Home & at School