Piaget’s Developmental Theory

Sensorimotor Pre-operational Concrete Formal operational

stage stage operational stage stage
(Birth-2 yrs)  (2-7 years)  (7-11 years)  (11 years and up) 

• Student-centered approach.
Egocentric • Space to explore and
Memory & imagination are experiment.
developed • Heterogeneous grouping.
Classifies objects by a single • Concrete "hands on"
experiences.
feature
Represent objects by – Eg: creating a e-mail
account.
images/words • Concrete props & visual aids.
Think logically – Eg: realia/smartboard.
Achieve conservation • Use familiar examples.
Classify objects  several • Classify info with increasing
complexity.
features
• Present problems that require
Order objects in series logical analytic thinking.
imension – Eg: language games.

DISCOVERY LEARNING
• Pre-operational
(2-7 years) Learns to use language and to represent
objects by images and words Thinking is still egocentric:
has difficulty taking the viewpoint of others Classifies
objects by a single feature: e.g. groups together all the
red blocks regardless of shape or all the square blocks
regardless of colour
• Concrete operational
(7-11 years) Can think logically about objects and
events, Achieves conservation of number (age 6), mass
(age 7), and weight (age 9) Classifies objects according
to several features and can order them in series along a
single dimension such as size.
• http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm
• The teacher's role is to facilitate learning by providing a variety of
experiences. "Discovery learning" provides opportunities for learners to
explore and experiment, thereby encouraging new understandings.
Opportunities that allow students of differing cognitive levels to work
together often encourage less mature students to advance to a more
mature understanding. One further implication for instruction is the use
of concrete "hands on" experiences to help children learn. Additional
suggestions include:
• Provide concrete props and visual aids, such as models and/or time line
• Use familiar examples to facilitate learning more complex ideas, such as
story problems in math.
• Allow opportunities to classify and group information with increasing
complexity; use outlines and hierarchies to facilitate assimilating new
information with previous knowledge.
• Present problems that require logical analytic thinking; the use of tools
such as "brain teasers" is encouraged.
 Constructivism
Jean Piaget
Vygotsky
Constructivists’ point of view:
• Learning -ACTIVE, not passive.
• Learners + ENVIRONMENT.
• Learning in GROUPS, not alone.
• Language learning –
INTERACTIVE.
• Process of inter-influence-
PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE and
new learning
Lev. S.
In the constructivist’s classroom:
EXPERIMENTAL LEARNING
• Physical actions e.g- TPR
• Hands-on activities e.g-
creating handcrafts.
• Class discussion e.g-
identify problem,
brainstorming,
communicate ideas and
info, make decision.
• Conduct experiment- e.g-
perform experiment,
discuss the result.
What is constructivism?
The idea of constructivism was originated from 2 psychologists – Jean Piaget and
Lev.S. Vygotsky. In the constructivists’ point of view, constructivism can be explained
as follows:
1) Individuals’ learning is not passive but active. The individuals act on the environment
to construct knowledge. The
connection with other
Pupils construct their own
understanding and knowledge human beings-
of the world, through teachers,peers or parents
experiencing things and
reflecting on those experiences.
2) Learning takes place in groups and learning and knowledge are interactive and dynamic.

There is a great focus and emphasis

on social and communication skills,
as well as collaboration and exchange
of ideas. This is contrary to the traditional
classroom in which pupils work primarily
alone, learning is achieved through
repetition and subjects are strictly adhered
to and are guided by a textbook.

It means that pupils are not working alone in learning. Pupils will be able to
perform better when guided by adults in the ZPD. The idea of ZPD is the pupils’
performance, under the help of adults or capable peers, it would be better than
using their own ability alone and in this way, they can achieve a higher level of
potential development.
Pupils’ actual Zone of Proximal Potential development
development Development limit
(able to learn ( unable to learn &
& perform Scaffolding perform any task
task (able to learn & perform without the help from
individually) various tasks with help others)
from others
3) Knowledge can be formed through the process of inter-influence between
previous knowledge and related new learning.

Previous knowledge = schemata. It is a useful

way to organize and simplify information. When
pupils’ new learning taps into their previous
knowledge, it reduces complexity thus facilitating
understanding.
 Krashen's Five Hypotheses

The Natural Order Input Monitor Affective

Acquisition/ hypothesis hypothesis hypothesis filter
Learning hypothesis
hypothesis

1) The Acquisition/ Learning hypothesis

Acquisition is implicit, subconscious natural exposure
learning; learning by immersion and osmosis and Activity can be done in the
Learning is artificial, explicit rule based learning, classroom:
traditional school settings.
2) Natural Order hypothesis
language rules and concepts are acquired in
certain order. 1) TPR
3) Input hypothesis
Be exposed to information at a level that is 2) Desuggestopedia
slightly beyond his/her level of proficiency.
4) Monitor hypothesis 3) Community language
Individual learners internalize the rules of the second
language and use these to monitor their own errors learning
before and after language production.
5) Affective filter hypothesis
A positive affective (stress free) learning environment
will enhance language learning
TPR
TPR works because it is an excellent way of providing students with
comprehensible input; the teacher's movement provides the background
knowledge that makes the command more comprehensible. Evidence that this
is so is the finding that those who observe TPR activities do about as well on
tests involving physical movement as those who actually do the physical
movements (Asher & Price, 1967)

Desuggestopedia
Desuggestopedia is called an affective-humanistic approach, an approach in
which there is respect for students’ feelings. Desuggestopedia is to help
students eliminate the feeling that they cannot be successful or the negative
association they may have toward studying and, thus, to help them overcome
the barriers in learning.

Community language learning

aimed to remove the anxiety from learning by changing the relationship
between the teacher and student. In CLL, that relationship the “teacher” – who
is known not as the teacher but as the “knower”, the one who knows the
language – is seen as being in the same relationship to the student as the
counsellor is to a client : the client has a “problem” (in this case not knowing the
language) which is currently creating confusion and causing problems. The
counsellor’s role is not to tell the client what to do, but to help him or her
explore and resolve the problem while retaining personal autonomy.
 Behaviourism
B.F.
Ivan Pavlov John Watson
Skinner
Behaviorists’ point of view: In the behaviourists’ classroom:

• Learning: Imitation, Practice, • Grammar Translation

Reinforcement (or feedback on success),
Habit formation Method (GTM): Translation
• Classical Conditioning: • Audio-lingual Method:
Stimulus & Response
Repetition Drill & Chain Drill.
• Operant Conditioning:
(+/-) Reinforcement, Punishment, • Desuggestopedia:
Extinction.
Classroom setup &
• Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis
(CAH): Peripheral learning
1st & 2nd language shared similarities & • Total Physical Response
differences.
Sufficient encouragement through (TPR): Action sequence
stimulus = better achieve game
desireable behaviour.
 CLASSICAL CONDITIONING:
The neutral stimulus could be any event that does not result in an overt behavioral response
from the organism under investigation. Pavlov referred to this as a conditioned stimulus
(CS). Conversely, presentation of the significant stimulus necessarily evokes an innate,
often reflexive, response. Pavlov called these the unconditioned stimulus (US) and
unconditioned response (UR), respectively. If the CS and the US are repeatedly paired,
eventually the two stimuli become associated and the organism begins to produce a
behavioral response to the CS. Pavlov called this the conditioned response (CR).

OPERANT CONDITIONING TECHNIQUES

• POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT = increasing a behavior by administering a reward
• NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT = increasing a behavior by removing an aversive
stimulus when a behavior occurs
• PUNISHMENT = decreasing a behavior by administering an aversive stimulus
following a behavior OR by removing a positive stimulus
• EXTINCTION = decreasing a behavior by not rewarding it

Constrastive Analysis Hypothesis

(CAH)
• Predicts that where there are similarities between the 1st language and the target language,
the learners will acquire the target language structures with ease; where there are differences,
the learners will face difficulties.