What is Caught is What is Taught: FORMAL VS. INFORMAL LEARNING

Thursday, January 26, 2012

FORMAL VS. INFORMAL LEARNING

(FROM COURSE MATERIAL)

What do these numbers mean for instruction? It means that we can draw on our students’ existing strengths as independent and collaborative learners. We can use what they already know as a launching pad for learning new skills, and we can allow learners certain freedoms and responsibilities in shaping their learning.
Looking back at your own list, is the balance similar to the figures mentioned above?
The importance of formal learning is not to be minimized however, and of course that is where most of us will be teaching. As capable as our learners are of learning independently, there are times when formal learning is the best or only answer. We wouldn’t want a doctor to learn by trial and error either!

The kinds of formal learning can be as varied as informal learning. Highly-structured institutional programs come to mind immediately, but formal learning also includes multi-media or distance education courses, technical training opportunities in workshops and laboratories, immersion programs, study tours, conferences and seminars, or online professional development events. Again, we can draw on this variety and incorporate elements into the classroom to make for a richer learning experience.

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3. What kinds of factors affected the development of language learning theories over time?

"While the history of language learning theory is not identical across countries around the globe, the last 100 years of language learning theory in Europe and North America can be divided into roughly five periods. Each period was marked by specific events that helped to shape the ideas about language learning and language use."

4. Describe five approaches that have been used to teach languages over the centuries. You do not need to name methods, just general approaches.

5. What is the current approach to language learning and teaching? What are some characteristics of the current approach?

6. Can you think of examples of languages being taught for “specific purposes”? 7. Which methods appeal most to you, and why? 8. Provide examples of the older approaches to language teaching that you
might use in your own classroom. Explain how they might be useful.

The Learning Perspective

The Learning perspective argues that children imitate what they see and hear,and that children learn from punishment and reinforcement.(Shaffer,Wood,& Willoughby,2002).

The main theorist associated with the learning perspective is B.F. Skinner. Skinner argued that adults shape the speech of children by reinforcing the babbling of infants that sound most like words. (Skinner,1957,as cited in Shaffer,et.al,2002).

The Nativist Perspective

The nativist perspective argues that humans are biologically programmed to gain knowledge.The main theorist associated with this perspective is Noam Chomsky.

Chomsky proposed that all humans have a language acqusition device (LAD). The LAD contains knowledge of grammatical rules common to all languages (Shaffer,et.al,2002).The LAD also allows children to understand the rules of whatever language they are listening to.Chomsky also developed the concepts of transformational grammar, surface structure,and deep structure.

Transformational grammar is grammar that transforms a sentence. Surface structures are words that are actually written. Deep structure is the underlying message or meaning of a sentence. (Matlin,2005).

Interactionist Theory

Interactionists argue that language development is both biological and social. Interactionists argue that language learning is influenced by the desire of children to communicate with others.

The Interactionists argue that "children are born with a powerful brain that matures slowly and predisposes them to acquire new understandings that they are motivated to share with others" ( Bates,1993;Tomasello,1995, as cited in shaffer,et al.,2002,p.362).

The main theorist associated with interactionist theory is Lev Vygotsky.Interactionists focus on Vygotsky's model of collaborative learning ( Shaffer,et al.,2002). Collaborative learning is the idea that conversations with older people can help children both cognitively and linguistically ( Shaffer,et.al,2002).