LECTURE SEVEN (II)

TEACHING STRATEGIES

AND CLASSROOM TECHNIQUES

By Alec

LEARNING PRINCIPLES

There are also two main schools of thought in this regard: the behaviorist approach and the cognitive approach. The behaviorist laws commonly assume the form of maxims.

(1)           Get the students to utter the same structure repeatedly (overlearning).

(2)         Get the students to do so correctly.

(3)         Do this through good grading of structures by arranging them in order of difficulty (facilitation) and by introducing them one at a time if possible.

The behaviorist approach is repetition and drilling to the point where the student automatically makes the correct response. Lessons must be designed so as to prevent the learner making mistakes.

The cognitive principles of learning can conveniently be summarized under three headings:

(1)      The need for experience.

(2)    The process of assimilation.

(3)    Developmental stages.

These three principles are not only suited to adult learners but they have been readily adopted in the primary school, and the following are suggestions for practicing cognitive principles in the classroom with younger children.

a.      Give experience of the language they are learning—teach them rhymes, tell them stories, talk to them.

b.     Give them activities—painting, modeling, playing games, and so on.

c.      Don’t stick rigidly to a predetermined language syllabus—allow the activities that take place in the class to range freely and develop naturally and let the occurrence of stimulating events that happen in the environment influence the vocabulary and structures that are introduced and practiced in each lesson.