COGNITIVE
VARIATIONS IN LEARNING LANGUAGE
v Types of Learning
According
to Robert Gagne, there are eight types of learning that he identified in different
types that used by all human. Those eight types of learning are:
- Signal learning
The
individual learns to make a general diffuse response to a signal. This is the
classical conditioned response of Pavlov.
- Stimulus-response learning
The
learner acquires a precise response to a discriminated stimulus. What is
learned is a connection or, in Skinnerian terms, a discriminated operant,
sometimes called an instrumental response.
- Chaining
What
is acquired is a chain of two or more stimulus-response connections. The
conditions for such learning have also been described by Skinner.
- Verbal association
Verbal
association is the learning of chains that are verbal. Basically, the
conditions resemble those for other (motor) chains. However, the presence of
language in the human being makes this a special type because internal links
may be selected from the individual’s previously learned repertoire of
language.
- Multiple discrimination
The
individual learns to make a number of different identifying responses to many
different stimuli, which may resemble each other in physical appearance to a
greater or lesser degree. Although the learning of each stimulus-response
connection is a simple occurrence, the connections tend to interfere with one
another.
- Concept learning
The
learner acquires the ability to make a common response to a class of stimuli
even though the individual members of that class may differ widely from each
other. The learner is able to make a response that identifies an entire class
of objects or events.
- Principle learning
In
simplest terms, a principle is a chain of two or more concepts. It functions to
organize behavior and experience. In Ausubel’s terminology, a principle is a
“subsume” – a cluster of related concepts.
- Problem solving
Problem
solving is a kind of learning that requires the internal events usually
referred to as “thinking”. Previously acquired concepts and principles are
combined in a conscious focus on an unresolved or ambiguous set of events.
v Strategies of Learning
Two
basic categories of strategies can be distinguished in language learning:
learning strategies and communication strategies. According to Brown (1980:83),
a learning strategy is a method of perceiving and storing particular items for later
recall. By contrast, a communication strategy is a method of achieving
communication, of encoding or expressing meaning in a language. Although, there
is a strong relationship between the two types of strategy above, they are
clearly different in their manifestation.
1.
Learning Strategies
There are four terms which are commonly
explained in the literature on language learning strategies, namely: Transfer,
interference, simplification and overgeneralization.
a.
Transfer
and Interference
According
to Brown, 1980, Positive transfer happens when the prior knowledge benefits the
learning task, that is, when a previous item is correctly utilized in the
present subject matter.
The
positive transfer can be referred to as transfer, which is a general term that
describes the carryover of previous performance or knowledge to subsequent
learning.
By
contrast, negative transfer happens when the previous performance hinders the
performance on a second task. The negative transfer can be referred to as
interference.
b.
Generalization
and Simplification
To
generalize means “to infer or drive a law, rule, or conclusion, usually based
on observation of special instances.” Meaningful learning is really
generalization, in the sense that, items are subsumed (generalized) under
high-order categories for meaningful retention. Much of human learning is a
process of generalization.
Simplification
is a term that has also been used in the literature on second language
acquisition. In one sense all human learning is simplification: the process of
“uncomplicating,” of reducing events to a common denominator, to as few parts
or features as possible. Simplification is synonymous with generalization. But
simplification can be contrasted with complexification,
the act of discovering many varied parts of a whole, or even parts that do not
fit into a whole.
2.
Communication Strategies
According to Brown (1980), communication
strategies are systematic attempts to express meaning in the target language
(TL), in which the speakers must tend to both form of language and function of
language. Communication is the output modality and learning is the input
modality of language acquisition. While strategies of communication are related
to strategies of learning, it is nevertheless appropriate to consider the two
types separately.
v Styles of Learning
The
cognitive style is the way we learn things in general and the particular attack
we make on a problem seem to hinge on a rather amorphous link between
personality and cognition. Ausubel (1968) defines cognitive style as
“self-consistent and enduring individual differences in cognitive organization
ad functioning. The term refers both to individual differences in general
principles of cognitive organization…, and to various self-consistent idiosyncratic
tendencies…that are not reflective of human cognitive functioning in general.”
There
are five cognitive styles that are particularly relevant to second language
learning.
1. Field
independence and Dependence
Field
independence (FI) style is the ability to perceive a particular item or factor
in a ‘field’ of distracting items. On the other hands, Field dependent (FD)
style is the tendency to de ‘dependent’ in the total field.
In
psychological terms, the ‘field’ may comprise the different things, it may be
perceptual; it maybe more abstract; such as ideas, thoughts, or feelings. On the other hand, dependence style parts
emended within the field are not easily perceive although then total field is
perceived more apparently as a unified whole.
2. Reflectivity
and Impulsivity
It
is common for us to show in our personalities certain tendencies toward
reflectivity sometimes and at other times impulsivity. Psychological studies
have been conducted to determine the degree to which, in the cognitive domain, a
person tends to make either a quick, or gambling (impulsive) guess that at an
answer to a problem, or a slower, and more calculated (reflective) decision.
David Ewing (1977) refers to two styles that are closely related to the
reflectivity-impulsivity dimension: systematic and intuitive styles.
3. Tolerance
and Intolerance of Ambiguity
A
third cognitive style concerns the degree to which you are cognitively willing
to tolerate ideas and propositions that run counter to your own belief system
or structure of knowledge.
Again,
advantages and disadvantages are present in each style. The person who is
tolerant of ambiguity is free to entertain a number of innovative and creative
possibilities, and not be cognitively or affectively distributed by ambiguity
and uncertainty.
Intolerance
of ambiguity also has its advantages and disadvantages. A certain tolerance at
an optimal level enables one to guard against the wishy-washiness referred to
above, to close off avenues of hopeless possibilities, to reject entirely contradictory
material, and to deal with the reality of the system that one has built. But
clearly intolerance can close the mind too soon, especially if ambiguity is
perceived as a threat; the result is a rigid, dogmatic, brittle mind that is
too narrow to be creative. This may be particularly harmful in second language
learning.
4. Broad
and Narrow Category Width
The
sentence above means that people have to categorize items either broadly or
narrowly. Narrow categorizers, like impulsive learners, are more often willing
to take the risk of being wrong in problem-solving situations by attending to
“smaller” subordinate concepts, while broad categorizers may choose a larger
slice of the pie in an attempt to encompass more possibilities.
5. Skeletonization
and Embroidery
This
cognitive style is referred for some individuals to skelitenize and others to
embroider in the recall of cognitive material, related to the distinction
between simplification and complexification strategies.
According
to Brown (1980), embroidery is a natural offshoot of the human intellectual
tendency toward closure; sometimes one will perceive something that is not
present in the data simply because he extrapolates beyond the overt stimuli.
