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Thursday, January 28, 2016

Language Learning Theories



Learning Theories
There are 12 learning theories:
    Constructivism
    Behaviorism
    Piaget's Developmental Theory
    Neuroscience
    Brain-Based Learning
    Learning Styles
    Multiple Intelligences
    Right Brain/Left Brain
    Thinking
    Communities of Practice
    Control Theory
    Observational Learning
    Vygotsky and Social Cognition
In the mid-1950s, humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow created a theory of basic, psychological and self-fulfillment needs that motivate individuals to move consciously or subconsciously through levels or tiers based on our inner and outer satisfaction of those met or unmet needs. I find this theory eternally relevant for students and adults, especially in today's education.
Learning means bringing changes, by learning human enters new society and culture. When they learned new understanding, they perform on it. Otherwise, they lose it.
As stated earlier, learning transfers changes (behaviorism) and creates new knowledge or increases information (cognitive skills).  Education empowers our brain and beliefs, so it encourages our intellectual power to improve knowledge.

Most important theories related to language learning.
1.       Behaviorist,
2.       Cognitive,
3.       Constructivism,
4.       Chomsky’s Universal Grammar
5.       Schumann’s Acculturation / Orientation in a new culture,
6.       Krashen’s Monitor
7.       Conversation
The conversation theory is a transdisciplinary learning theory. Developed by Gordon Pask in 1975, it is influenced by a range of cybernetics, linguistics, computer science concepts, cognitive psychology, and neurophysiology.

What learning theories do you follow and why?
How do you incorporate them into your teaching? Try to be as specific as you can. 
I use the mix of different theoriesIt depends on the kind of my students.
In my view, theoretical concepts do not yield concrete prescriptions for classroom application, but the good theory can be used flexibly and creatively by teachers in their planning and educational practice. At the same time, not all learning takes place in the classroom as much of it occurs at home, on the sports field, in museums and so forth (non-formal education), and sometimes implicitly and effortlessly (informal learning).
Non-formal education and informal learning are vital for improving language learning.
How People Learn and What are their Learning Styles?
This is my video about the topic

Nowadays the dominant theory is socio-constructivism which can be defined as an approach according to which individual knowledge relies on its social construction of it. (Piaget, Doise and Mugny, 1984). Particularly relevant in this respect are the communication processes (learning dialogs) occurring in situations where at least two persons try to solve a problem. The social world of a learner includes the people that directly affect that person, including teachers, friends, students, administrators, and participants in all forms of activities. Accordingly, learning designs should enhance local collaboration and dialogue but also engage other actors (e.g. domain experts) to participate in certain ways. Research on collaborative learning is particularly interested in learning mechanisms that are triggered by specific collaborative activities.
Key functionalities of a socio-constructivist learning environment are:
  • Reflection & Exchange
  • Scaffolding & Storyboarding
  • Facilitation & Content
  • Monitoring & Assessment
  • Production, Investigation, etc.
  • Psychological support & Community.
Theoretical concepts do not produce actual prescriptions for classroom application, but the good theory can be used flexibly and creatively by teachers in their planning and educational practice. At the same time, not all learning takes place in the classroom as much of it occurs at home, on the sports field, in museums and so forth (non-formal education), and sometimes implicitly and effortlessly (informal learning).
In the mid-1950s, humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow created a theory of basic, psychological and self-fulfillment needs that motivate individuals to move consciously or subconsciously through levels or tiers based on our inner and outer satisfaction of those met or unmet needs. I find this theory increasingly relevant for students and adults, especially in today's education.
Additionally, I would like to highlight Constructivism as one of the hot topics in educational philosophy right now. It potentially has profound inferences for how current `traditional' instruction is structured, since it goes with several highly exposed educational trends, for example:
  • the transition of the teacher's role from "sage on the stage" (fount/transmitter of knowledge) to "guide on the side" (facilitator, coach);
  • teaching "higher order" skills such as problem-solving, reasoning, and reflection (for example, see also creative learning);
  • enabling learners to learn how to learn;
  • increasing flexibility in the evaluation of learning outcomes;
  • cooperative and collaborative learning skills.

For me, language learning through conversation and open communication is the most effective teaching technique.
I want my students to become active learners. As the brain works on a use-it-or-lose-it style, means students must apply whatever they learn.
It is necessary to use the new phrase or character in a real situation. Also learning the words and phrases through original videos helps to learn faster.
Moreover, I encourage my students to make language learning a passion.
I combine the fun of language learning with the commitment to follow through. They should remember that feeling the need to learn a new wording is not enough to take an action. Give yourself clarity on what exactly compels you to learn a new language.
My tips are;
  • Figure out the how to comprehend a desire to learn.
  • What’s the goal behind it?
  • What’s the bigger picture?
  • How will learn a new language open opportunities in future?
  • Just answering these questions will motivate learners to get to the much higher level to take action when necessary.





Thursday, January 21, 2016

Bruce Springsteen - Save The Last Dance For Me

This for my Bartek
I LOVE dancing but Bartek doesn't know how to dance....

The Tango - Scent of a Woman






Monday, January 18, 2016

What challenges are involved in learning online?



What challenges are involved in learning online?

Perhaps one of the greatest challenges for teachers is to deliver a consistent experience to a large and varied general populations.
Teachers and students should not carry through device management. Their priorities should be placed on learning.
Technology is not the creator. Substantial belief in innovation is less important than the requirements of students and teachers.
Teachers have a well-defined responsibility with implementing, and identifying, the best combination of digital learning tools for each student.
Different approaches to learning, such as project-based learning,  active education, game-based learning, and more, is a part of personalized blended learning models. Consequently, such innovations will call for demonstration how their package improves learning outcomes.
Most challenges have to do with the procedures, but they have nothing to do with the teaching itself. To make it simple, if you know how to teach, all you need to do is learn about the elementary online tools available for online teaching, and begin using them.
As mentioned earlier, teaching an online class can be time-consuming. Also, developing an online course can be overwhelming. Learning and becoming proficient using an LMS takes time, and uploading materials to the online environment is also demanding and takes much time. Once you learn how to use the LMS, you need to get to teach students through it.
The time required to generate a new class can be a problem with developing online classes.
The instructor should be able to take care of the subject matter rather than spend countless
time is managing difficulties connected with the technology.
One of the most recommended ways to cope with the additional time required for teaching online classes is to decrease the class size.
Students also regularly run into technological problems and they need support with technology issues.
Navigating the Unique Challenges of Online Teaching. (n.d.). Retrieved from  


HALINA'S LEARNING, TEACHING AND MUCH MORE....: LEARNING AND TEACHING ONLINE

HALINA'S LEARNING, TEACHING AND MUCH MORE....: LEARNING AND TEACHING ONLINE: LEARNING AND TEACHING ONLINE by Halina Ostankowicz-Bazan   There are numerous definitions of online learning in the literature, de...

LEARNING AND TEACHING ONLINE



LEARNING AND TEACHING ONLINE
There are numerous definitions of online learning in the literature, definitions that reflect the diversity of practice and associated technologies. Carliner (1999) defines online learning as educational material that is presented on a computer. Khan (1997) defines online instruction as an innovative approach to delivering instruction to a remote audience, using the Web as the medium.
However, online learning involves more than just the presentation and distribution of the materials using the Web: the learner and the learning process should be the focus of online learning.
Teaching face-to-face and teaching online are both teaching, but they are qualitatively different.Online education starts when faculty move from the traditional classroom to the online classroom. There are some things that the two have in common, but there are also plenty of differences.
  1. The online teacher plays the role of guiding students through one or more online learning experiences. These experiences are every so often designed and planned long before the course starts so that the teacher can devote more time to guiding the students and less time preparing lessons. Within this role, the teacher directs and redirects the attention of learners toward fundamental concepts and ideas.
  2. Learning is hard work and studying online can sometimes feel isolating, confusing, or discouraging without the guide.
As a result, the effective online teacher makes intentional efforts to communicate precise encouraging messages to individual learners and the group as a whole. Moreover, even when providing constructive feedback, the teacher as supporter finds a way to promote positive messages alongside the critiques. Encouragement and welcoming support are an important approach to maintaining an overall positive morale in the class. At times, learners may fall into negative comments about themselves, the class, or their classmates (even the instructor, on occasion). The coach makes every effort to find ways to listen, respect the learner’s frustrations, but also to help them reframe the situation in a manner that students are more active and creative.
  1. Many people focus on the role of the teacher as role model, and that is valuable. However, the role of the coach is just as important, even more, important if we want learners to develop high levels of competence and confidence. The online teacher must move beyond just modeling a depth motivation for the subject and personal skill with the content. The mentor needs to find ways to hand the matter over to the students to do something with it. Applied projects and papers work well for this, and it gives the teacher an opportunity to be a coach and advisor.
  2. Learners need some feedback about their work. How are they doing? Are they getting closer to meeting the learning objectives or not? The effective online teacher finds ways to give thoughtful feedback to individual learners and, when appropriate, groups of students.
  3. Without intentional efforts to build a positive social environment, online learning can feel lonely and impersonal. As a result, the online teacher must serve as an encouraging host, facilitating introductions, using discussion starters to enable conversations among students, and taking the time to get to know students and referencing that knowledge in interactions with them.
  4. The whole thing is documented in an online course. The teacher can tell when and how many times a student logs into the course, what pages were viewed or not, how many discussions posts the student contributed, and much more. This data can be abused, but it can also be used to make adjustments and informed decisions by an online teacher. If a student is not logging in or failing to visit pages in the course with the direct instructions, the coach points that out to the learners or reorganizes the content so that it is easier to find.
  5. Online courses are rich with content and sometimes students can get lost in all that content. The teacher as regulator intentionally releases content in chunks that are appropriate for students. Sometimes this comes in the form of only publishing content one week at a time. Other times, the teacher releases it all at once but directs students only to focus on individual parts at a time. Another key is to break content into smaller segments. Rather than a twenty-page document of instructions, it is better to consider breaking it into ten two-page documents.
  6. Good teachers are lifelong learners, and they can model that learning for their students in a variety of ways in the online classroom. The teacher can be active (but not too active or it will silence students) participant in online discussions, sharing what they are learning about the subject, and even complete all or fragments of some assignments, sharing their work with the students. The procedure goes a long way in building an exciting and dynamic online learning community where one and all in the community commits to exemplifying the qualities of a lifelong learner.