Factors Affecting Learning

Factors Affecting Learning

• when people fail to learn something which they have been taught, the failure is attributed to one or more of three factors: • lack of motivation • lack of ability or aptitude • poor teaching.

It is commonly believed, that in order to be successful, the language learner should be: • • • • • • •

1. young (beginning L2 before the end of the Critical Age Period) 2. self-confident 3. highly motivated 4. very sociable and someone who likes to mix with speakers of other languages 5. an extrovert 6. willing to take risks when speaking the L2 (i.e. not to be afraid of making mistakes) 7. intelligent with a good memory

Problems to consider when measuring learning factors:

• - Many complex elements are involved in trying to measure e.g. a learner’s degree of motivation or level of intelligence, or extraversion; • - nature of the text; • - interpreting the correlation between a learner characteristic and performance.

INTELLIGENCE

APTITUDE • Different qualities for different subjects. • Learning quickly is the distinguishable feature of language aptitude. Aptitude tests are based on the view that aptitude is composed of 4 different types of abilities: • (1) the ability to identify and memorize new sounds; • (2) the ability to understand the functional of words in sentences; • (3) the ability to figure out grammatical rules from samples; • (4) the ability to memorise new vocabulary.

• Notice that some learners may be strong in one area of aptitude (e.g. memory) but only average in others (e.g. grammar analysis). • Question: What should we do about our teaching activities if don’t have this information?

PERSONALITY • Are extravert learners more successful than introvert learners? • Does self-esteem, talkativeness, dominance affect performance?

MOTIVATION • Are learners more highly motivated because they are successful or are they successful because they are highly motivated?

Types of motivation: At least 4 types of motivation have been identified: • Extrinsic motivation: • - instrumental • - integrative • -resultative • Intrinsic

• LEARNER PREFERENCES (LEARNING STYLES)

• e.g. learning style assessment package ( Shelly Loewen)

Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic Sometimes Kinaesthetic is said to include “Tactile” learning and sometimes this is added as a separate learning style. Some analysts subdivide the Visual and Auditory categories into verbal- and non-verbal. •

Any individual will operate in all three “modalities”, but with a preference for one or two.

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Visual learners are likely to prefer mind-maps, diagrams, picturesque language, flow charts, use of colour, white space on the page etc.

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Auditory learners are likely to prefer discussion, explaining things to others, using a tape recorder, teaching linked to anecdotes/jokes etc.

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Kinaesthetic learners are likely to prefer group work, using models/objects in describing things, walking around while learning, hands-on activities, books with strong plot etc.

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Teachers should be aware of their own VAK preferences. Pupils should be made aware of their individual preferences:

Kolb’s theory (1981) •

The work of Kolb and others produced the classification of learners into four groups: ACTIVISTS, REFLECTORS, THEORISTS and PRAGMATISTS

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Activists like practical work such as labs, field work, observation exercises and using visual source material for information etc

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Reflectors like to learn by watching others, by taking time to consider observations of their own experience etc

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Theorists like lectures, reading papers on topics, considering analogies etc

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Pragmatists like simulations, case studies, homework etc

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Thus the four types might approach the learning of a software programme in different ways: Activists might just start using it and feel their way into it Reflectors might have a go at using it and then take time to think about what they have just done Theorists might begin by reading the manual Pragmatists might start using the programme, but make frequent references to the Help files.

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Learning styles © BBC | British Council 2006 www.teachingenglish.org.uk

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Worksheet F – Learner styles Answer the following questions by thinking about the way you learn. Do you like learning: 1. by memory? 2. by problem solving? 3. by getting information for yourself? 4. by listening? 5. by reading? 6. by copying off the board? 7. by listening and taking notes? 8. by reading and making notes? 9. by repeating what you hear? 10. by using tables and charts?

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(Tick your four favourite ways of learning) 1. Go around the room and try and find people who have ticked the at least three of the same sentences as you. 2. In your new groups discuss what sort of learners you think you are. 3. Write a list of your own strengths and define a list of learning strategies which you can use to help you learn better in the future. 4. Ask your teacher for guidance at this stage.

Learner Beliefs

Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning • There is more than one type of learning. A committee of colleges, led by Benjamin Bloom (1956), identified three domains of educational activities: • Cognitive: mental skills (Knowledge) • Affective: growth in feelings or emotional areas (Attitude) • Psychomotor: manual or physical skills (Skills)

Cognitive: • the most-used of the domains, refers to knowledge structures (although sheer “knowing the facts” is its bottom level). It can be viewed as a sequence of progressive contextualisation of the material. (Based on Bloom, 1956

Revised taxonomy of the cognitive domain following Anderson and Krathwohl (2001)

Food for Thought • Boy’s academic performance has dropped in the last 20 years in American schools. • According to US Dept. of Education the average 11th grade boy writes at the same level a the average 8th grade girl. • US Dept. of Education projects that by 2011 there will be 140 female colledge graduates for every 100 male graduates

Differences start early (with reference to Dr. Susan Grant) males females 2x as many conceptions as births

25% lower mortality rate

99% of speech comprehensible by 4th year

99% of speech comprehensible by 3th year

Play rough, competitive and aggressive

Play quieter, more cooperative

Slower to acquire reading and writing skills

Read better and sooner

More likely to ignore voices, even parents’

Hears equally well with both ears

Best at detecting colour and texture

Location, direction and speed

Genetic Explanations: •

Genetic explanations of gender differences in attainment were influential in psychology during the 1970’s, though the biological determinist approach has a long history. • The crucial belief of biological theorists is that gender differences are natural and therefore unalterable. Educationally, then, it would be right and proper to treat boys and girls differently in schools, because their natural inclination are towards different adult roles. Any socially constructed differences between men and women were built upon and constrained by these natural differences. • For example, theories were advanced that females excelled at language based subjects because of their greater verbal and reasoning abilities, yet under-performed in Maths and science based subjects because of lower levels of innate spatial ability, which restricted their understanding of shape and form.

But What About the Fact that Girls Out-Perform Boys? • These biological theories of innate intelligence have been strongly criticized. • Kelly suggests (1982) that gender differences in spatial ability may be attributed to the types of toys children play with rather than their genetic make up. Furthermore, genetic explanations cannot adequately account for the narrowing of gender differences in Maths and Science based subjects since the 1980’s - if the differences were biologically determined we would expect them to remain constant over time.