Learning theories

Since the dissertation aims to examine teacher learning, the need arises to situate it in a wider context and review major learning theories. The following section attempts to give a comprehensive overview of major learning theories or orientations, as well as summarise key terms used to describe learning. After refining our concept of knowledge, the major theories to be discussed are the following: behaviourism (including connectionism or stimulus-response learning theory), cognitivism (including gestalt learning theory), humanistic theories, social learning, experiential learning and constructivism. As it can be seen, we will proceed from more traditional “empty vessel” theories to more innovative and interactive theories of learning.

2.3.1 Theories of knowledge

The way theorists formulate their principles is determined by the way they interpret the world around them. Thus, Plato’s belief that all concrete objects have corresponding abstract

representations in our minds led him to believe that by thinking about the abstract forms, one may know more about them. Aristotle, on the other hand, believed that it is through the senses that one perceives the world and therefore knowledge may be based on one’s impressions.

The dichotomies of knowledge as well as the distinction between knowledge and skills have already been mentioned in 2.2.2. This dichotomy of the classic and pragmatic kinds of knowledge might be the result, or at least the reflection, of the ways the nervous system processes stimuli. A similar dichotomous distinction is made between ‘knowing what’ and

‘knowing how’. ‘Knowing what’ refers to theoretical knowledge, whereas ‘knowing how’ is the application of knowledge in real-life contexts. The former has a larger role in educational or academic hierarchy, whereas the latter is appreciated in everyday practical contexts. It is interesting to note that theoretical or book knowledge is believed to be transmitted vertically, whereas pragmatic knowledge is said to be transmitted both vertically and horizontally. In vertical transmission, knowledge is transmitted from the knower to the uninitiated learner (e.g. from parent to child or from teacher to student), while horizontal transmission refers to learning from peers (Bower & Hilgard, 1981).

2.3.2 Towards a definition of learning

An everyday definition of learning could be that learning is the process of acquiring knowledge and skills. A common definition that psychologists used until the 1950s was that learning is a change in behaviour (Merriam & Caffarella, 1991). Thorndike, for instance, repeatedly states that “human learning consists of changes in the nature and behaviour of human beings” (1931, p.4). As defined in a dictionary of psychology, learning is a “relatively permanent change in response potentiality which occurs as a result of reinforced practice”

(Reber, 1985, p. 395). The term “response potentiality’ indicates that learning is a phenomenon that cannot be measured and therefore one may only presume that it is learning that generated a change or changes in behaviour or performance.

Neuroscientists see learning as a change in the nervous system, the nerve cells. It is the sensory system through which we perceive phenomena; encoding takes place in the brain and we react by activating our muscles if we are motivated to do so. Learning thus is enhanced by repeated exposure to stimuli.

There seems to be an agreement on four issues: 1) learning results in relatively permanent and not temporary changes in behaviour. 2) Learning is a hypothetical event in the sense that it is only recognizable through measurable changes in observed performance. 3) Learning is reinforced through practice. 4) Repeated occurrences improve learning.

2.3.3 Behaviourism: associationistic and functionalistic theories

Behaviourists believe that all learning is motivated by the desire of the individual to reduce distress or stress induced by the environment (Allport, 1980). The most important assumption of behaviourism or stimulus-response (S-R) learning theory is that it is overt behaviour that may be examined and not the underlying thought processes. Behaviourists like Watson, Thorndike, Guthrie, Hull and Skinner hold the somewhat mechanistic view that learning is reacting or learning is a reaction (e.g. Thorndike & Gates, 1929), that is, it is the environment that shapes one’s behaviour; for example, a child learns a language in reaction to stimuli coming from adult communication. Therefore, what one learns is determined by the environment and not the learner. The consequences of behaviour will determine whether a certain response is strengthened or weakened. For behaviourists the most effective way of learning is when “learning is the means of satisfying some want” (Thorndike & Gates, 1929, p. 85).

One of the great thinkers of behaviourism, Thorndike asserted that “learning consists of changes in the strength of S→R connections” (1931, p. 5), but maintained that strengthening is not the result of mere repetition. Through the example of a blindfolded person’s task of having to draw a four-inch line 3000 times, he illustrates his argument that

repetition in itself does not cause learning (1931). He developed the Law of Effect, referred to by Thorndike & Gates as “the fundamental law of learning and teaching” (1929, p. 94), which is, in today’s terminology, the Thorndike hypothesis. With the example of a hungry cat in a confining box, Thorndike demonstrated that only rewarded behaviour results in retention and learning. As Thorndike says he wanted to give the “coup de grace to the despised theory that animals reason” (1898, p. 39). Thorndike also developed the Law of Readiness, whereby

‘wants’, desires and interest, the motives of learning, have different intensity, and when an individual is ready to act, for him that is satisfying (ibid.). In his view, it is the will to achieve satisfaction that generates learning. When the theory was criticised for not being able to describe the process of acquiring complex skills like cycling, typewriting or driving, for instance, Thorndike argued that the acquisition of these skills includes the combination and integration of reactions. The principle of belonging is also associated with Thorndike, who argues that without belonging, or linking the new stimulus to old ones, no learning takes place.

Two fundamental concepts are associated with behaviourism. Type S, classical or Pavlovian conditioning refers to the phenomenon when a stimulus results in the organisms’

(e.g. Pavlov’s dogs) unconditional response, whereas Type R, operant, instrumental or Skinnerian conditioning refers to responses that have been reinforced or rewarded. In

Pavlov’s experiments (1927, cited in Bower & Hilgard, 1981), food was given to dogs, which served as the unconditioned stimulus. The reflex or response of the dogs was salivation. The provision of food was later combined with light, and thus the conditioned stimulus, the light, was linked to the unconditioned stimulus, the food. Eventually, after repeating the procedure many times, light evoked salivation as well. Second-order or higher-order conditioning was also a phenomenon reported by Pavlov (1927, cited in Bower & Hilgard, 1981). By this term he refers to the phenomenon that a previously unconditioned stimulus, light in the example

above, may become a conditioned stimulus in another pairing with a second unconditioned stimulus, a tone, for instance. The difference between classical and operant conditioning is that in the case of operant conditioning, reward or reinforcement is provided on condition that the desired response occurs, whereas in classical conditioning reward is provided even if the response is unacceptable.

One of Piaget’s arguments against behaviourism is that electro-encephalographic examinations of the nervous system reveal spontaneous activities that are “not reactions to stimulus” (1970, p.16). Moreover, he suggests that in effect the relationship of the stimulus and the response might be circular or reciprocal and not linear as behaviourists stated.

Another argument against behaviourism might be the existence of latent learning, i.e. learning that takes place during non-reinforced-exposure periods. Thorndike himself discusses the co-existence of primary learning and concomitant learning. By primary learning he means the mastery of the assigned task, whereas the term ‘concomitant learning’ in his view refers to all the other reactions that accompany the completion of the task. As examples, he lists attitudes towards the teacher, the task, the subject or life in general.

2.3.4 Cognitive theories

According to cognitivists like Bruner, Piaget or Lewin, the theory or theories of stimulus and response is/are not adequate to describe the thought processes of an individual.

The brain, the human mind is said to make sense of the stimuli of the environment.

Cognitivists believe that it is the learner who controls the learning process and not the environment. In cognitivists’ opinion, the purpose of education is to learn how to learn and how to learn better. Bruner (1968), for example, advocates learning through discovery.

The original cognitive learning theory was gestalt or relational learning theory. The German word ‘Gestalt’ means figure, form, shape or pattern. For gestalt psychologists, a gestalt “is an articulated whole”; the term means that the whole possesses properties that are

absent in the elements that comprise the whole (Sahakian, 1984). The founder of gestalt psychology was Max Wertheimer; other theorists included Köhler and Koffka. Analysis for a gestalt psychologist means looking at phenomena from above with a bird’s eye view and not dissecting the phenomena into its components. “Isn’t a symphony something quite different from the sum of the sounds that happen to be made at about the same time by a variety of people playing a variety of musical instruments in the same room?” Michael Wertheimer asks (1980, p. 208). A famous experiment that epitomises the lesson one can learn from gestalt psychology is the exposure of a rod to light from two different directions. The shadow of the rod on the screen behind appears to be moving. This experiment is referred to as the phi phenomenon and demonstrates that “wholes and structures contain a reality that is not found

in any of the elements of which they are comprised” (Sahakian, 1984, p. 304). Thus gestalt psychologists see learning as an appreciation of the meaning of the whole structured situation in its totality. For them, learning means the learning of the relation between two stimuli or objects. Learners do not learn the absolute value of the stimulus, only their relative value that only makes sense in comparison with that of others (Sahakian, 1984). In Wertheimer’s words:

“Associative hookups are the caricatures of ‘real learning’, which is characterised by the satisfying ‘click’ of understanding something that previously made no sense – the famous

‘Aha!’ experience of genuine insight” (1980, p. 209). Based on animal experiments and observations, gestaltists believe that Thorndike’s hungry cat manages to escape from the box by insight and not by trial and error.

The most prolific theorist of the cognitive tradition is Piaget (1970). His psychogenetic epistemology is the examination of developmental processes that children undergo. He distinguishes the following stages of learning: Sensorimotor orientation from birth to the age of 2, the preoperational thought period from 2 to age 7, the concrete operations period between the ages of 7 and 11, the formal operations period between

approximately 12 and 15. Piaget thinks knowledge is organised into schema, mental representations of the world, which become richer as the child develops.

For Piaget, learning is adapting to the changing circumstances. There are two terms central to Piaget’s theory: assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation involves the incorporation or absorption of new knowledge, using existing schema to interpret a new situation. Accommodation, on the other hand, refers to situations in which the existing schema do not work and changes exerted on the individual by the environment result in changes in the system of mental representations. Learning, or in Piaget’s terms, cognitive adaptation, takes place when there is an equilibrium between assimilation and accommodation (Sahakian, 1984).

2.3.5 Humanistic theories

Humanistic or significant theories of learning examine learning from the point of view of the individual’s potential for growth. Humanists like Rogers, Goldstein, May, or Holt believe that the individual has unlimited potential for growth. They believe that the brain has been designed to learn, and its capacity will grow by use. In the humanist view, learning is the individual’s personal act to fulfil his or her potential and learners are intrinsically motivated to become better. “Trust children,” says Holt (1967, p. viii) and in his interpretation this means trusting children to learn since he believes children enjoy learning about the world around them. As Maslow puts it, “learning contributes to psychological health” (cited in Sahakian, 1984, p. 438). In the humanist view, both the affective and cognitive needs of the individual are taken into consideration. The goal of learning for a humanist is actualization or self-realisation.

Maslow wished “to bring soul back to psychology” (cited in Sahakian, 1984, p. 425) and take psychology out of the animal laboratory. He preferred to deal with people as whole persons and referred to his own theory as the holistic approach. Learning for Maslow means satisfying one’s curiosity. The goal of education is ”to aid the person to grow to the fullest

humanness, to the greatest fulfilment and actualization of his highest potentials” (Maslow, 1964 cited in Sahakian, 1984, p. 438). Maslow valued intrinsic learning over extrinsic learning. By intrinsic learning he means learning to become a person, whereas by extrinsic

learning he means learning imposed from the outside.

Rogers discusses his theory of learning in his book, Freedom to learn for the 80s (1983). He, too, believes in the holy curiosity of inquiry (Einstein cited in Rogers, 1983) and the freedom of learners to decide what they wish to focus on. In his book, Rogers draws a parallel between psychotherapy and teaching. Teachers, he says, are not there to transmit knowledge but to facilitate learning. Learning is the most effective if the learner is involved personally, if learning is self-initiated and self-directed, and if it is meaningful, i.e. relevant for the learner. Self-assessment and self-regulation are key concepts (Rogers, 1983).

2.3.6 Social learning

Social learning is also referred to as observational learning. Bandura (1977) proposes that learning takes place by having the learner observe someone else perform the task. A term often used by social learning theorists is modelling, which refers to the subject observing the model and then attempting to imitate the behaviour observed (Reber, 1985). Bandura separates the act of observation from the act of imitating and says that the information from the observation is retained for future use. He proposes an interactive model in which behaviour is the function of the interaction of the person with the environment and people too influence their environment. Hence, learning is set in a social context. The goal of learning is to model new behaviour. Rotter’s social theory of learning is said to integrate three trends in psychology: behaviour, cognition and motivation, which are all influenced by the situational context in question (Phares, 1980). A key concept in Rotter’s social learning theory is expectancy. Expectancy is the expectation of reinforcement in a given situation, which is largely based on other experiences (Sahakian, 1984).

2.3.7 Experiential and reflective learning

Although experiential learning does not equal reflective learning, they share many characteristics and underlying beliefs. According to advocates of experiential or reflective learning, “every experience is an opportunity for learning” (Bond et al., 1993, p. 8). Learning, in these traditions, takes place when a person “enters into a dialogue with their experience (…) which is created in the transaction between the learner and the milieu in which he or she operates” (ibid. p. 11). Experience is both the starting point and the reason for learning. In experiential learning, “the material of learning is usually direct experience and reflection is usually involved” (Moon, 2004, p. 123). Reflective learning is a “purposeful framing and reframing of material in internal experience with the intention of learning… there is not necessarily an input of new material of learning” (Moon, 2004, p. 99). It is reflective learning that is advocated by Schön for many professions (e.g. architects) in his book entitled

‘Educating the Reflective Practitioner’ (1986). He takes the example of a design studio, in which professionals learn by both doing and coaching. Coaching is the support given to novice professionals by experienced senior colleagues on entering the workplace. Coaching seems to be a buzzword in management as well these days, but a similar peer coaching scheme could be a component in teacher training programmes, as advocated by Vacilotto and Cummings (2007, pp. 159-160).

2.3.8 Constructivism

Constructivism gained momentum in the second half of the 20^th century. It was Piaget’s work that paved the way for constructivists, like Vygotsky, Glaserfeld or Kolb, who believe that knowledge is actively constructed in human interaction. The role of reflection is not negligible here, either, and in fact constructivist teacher education programmes aim to develop reflective practitioners: “Graduates also need the skills, tools and processes for

continuing their own learning of teaching throughout their professional lives” (Malderez &

Bodóczky, 1999, p. 13).

According to constructivism, what one reads, sees, hears, feels, etc. is tested against one’s previous experience and knowledge and if it is compatible with your mental world, it may form new knowledge. Constructivism is a theory that easily lends itself to both language teaching and language teacher education where the knowledge and skills to be learnt are not only complex, but need to be proceduralised as well. According to this theory, knowledge is reinforced if you can apply it successfully in your own context. Learners are not just passive

“memory banks”, knowledge therefore cannot be "transmitted”, but it has to be created by linking it to existing knowledge. Advocates of constructivism claim that with it the issue of

“human subjectivity […] returned to the discussion” (Hua Liu et al., 2005, p. 387) and challenges are like “stepping stones to help the learner’s journey” (Malderez & Bodóczky, 1999, p.10) whereas opponents might say that memorization and mechanical learning techniques are too easily forgotten (Fox, 2001).

The most critical evaluation of the constructivist learning theory is that it has almost become a religion. Fox also argues that learning is not always active, it is not always socially constructed and it is not always personal. He argues that a lot of learning “consists of adaptive reactions” (ibid., p. 24), in which the learner is not an active agent. Furthermore, he thinks that learning cannot at the same time be both idiosyncratic and socially constructed; these two tenets are contradictory. Another argument against constructivism is that if the emphasis is on the sharing, the communication and the construction of knowledge, the individual and subjective factor tends to be ignored. In his view all experience is individual, subjective and personal (ibid. p. 29).

By and large, constructivism has two major strands: cognitive constructivism and social constructivism. The focus in cognitive or radical constructivism is on

discovery-induced learning while the focus in social or realist constructivism is rather on interaction with the social context. Or, as Sparks Langer & Berstein Colton put it (1991, p. 38):

“Knowledge is constructed through interaction between the mind and the context surrounding the problem”.

A recent development in education that builds on constructivism is the proliferation of virtual learning environments, such as Moodle. On these information and communications technology assisted platforms, students are expected to actively construct knowledge for themselves as well as for their learning community (http://docs.moodle.org/en/Philosophy).

2.3.9 Summary

Having read about the theories discussed above, one may conclude that to date no comprehensive learning theory has been developed. Even though psychologists, philosophers and therapists have spent a large amount of time and energy working out their systematic schemes to explain the operation and mechanism of and the motivation for learning, there is no theory as yet that accounts for all the phenomena that can be categorised under the umbrella term of human learning. A consensus has not been reached concerning the definition of learning, either. It is very likely that no single theory can explain all the different ways in which human beings learn. Individuals probably select the most suitable way of learning for the given knowledge or skill to learn or acquire depending on the nature of the subject matter, the time and place of the learning opportunity. Both drills and communicative activities do have a role in mastering a given language phenomenon, for instance, and the role of rote learning and the search for connections are both important in learning history. Individual personal differences as regards the success of learning are also likely to account for the existence of a plethora of methods and theories. All in all, what one can state with confidence is that “learning is not a homogeneous activity: it comes in many different shapes and sizes and these start to kick in at different stages of development” (Claxton, 1999, p. 5). In addition,

each learning opportunity is also a step in the development to become a better learner, or as Claxton puts it, “learning to learn is the lifelong shadow of learning itself” (1999, p. 9).

All the theories outlined above, however, have contributed to what the world knows about learning today. In terms of teacher learning, all the theories may be of some relevance, but the most pertinent theories for the present investigations appear to be those of experiential learning, reflective learning and constructivism.