LEARNING THEORIES

Learning Theories

Learning Theories

Introduction

Motivation, meaningful learning, and creative teaching are usually discussed separately, but actually they are all teaching strategies. After learning so many theories and teaching strategies, I argue that there is no perfect theory to meet each individual learner's needs. However, we can take strengths from various theories and have them maximize the effectives.

For the cognitivst, the study of learning theory focuses on “How” learning occurs. That is the process of learning. However, for behaviorists, they are more interested in “What” stimulates learning. In this chapter, I make a link among three key strategies and approaches. In effect, the basic elements covered here all contribute to successful student achievement. From my point of view, motivation is the most important factor for learning. According to the on-line Cambridge advanced learner's Dictionary, the definition of motivation is, first, “enthusiasm;” second, it is the need or reason for doing something. These definitions foretell some characteristics of motivation: negative and positive motivational forces, intrinsic and extrinsic motivational forces, internal and external control over one's tasks and activities, etc.

Bandura's Work

Albert Bandura developed a learning theory that follows the paradigms established by behaviorists and cognitive researchers. Bandura is a social psychologist, and his social learning theory was officially established in his 1977 book Social Learning. Similarly to Chomsky, Bandura proposes that a diversity of factors act together as agents of learning. These factors can be behavioral, social, personal, and/or environmental (Bandura, 1977, p. 9). He bases the process of learning on observation and modeling. The notion of reinforcement, stimulus and conditioning offered by Skinner is not entirely rejected but is seen more of a tool that facilitates the acquisition of behaviors, rather than the only agents of change in a person (p. 10). Lastly, Bandura will demonstrate how his theory is applicable to language acquisition ...