Experiences in English

linked with Behaviourism, Cognitive,

Humanism and Social Constructivism
B RIAN RIC HARD
P D P PTSL0 6 2 0 R
TSB R2 0 6 3 R
Behaviourism
Experience:
Teacher asked everyone in class to stand up.
Students were told that they can sit down only if
they were able to answer questions correctly by
first raising their hand.
During the first few times, students were given
the instructions above.
After several lessons, students understood that
they will have to give the correct answers in
order to be able to sit down.
Reinforcement by Skinner’s S-R theory
Reinforcer: Verbal praise and reward after able to
answer correctly.
Negative reinforcer: Students were still asked to
stand up as punishment for answering incorrectly
Behaviouristic view of language acquisition
Knowledge is the product of interaction with the
environment through stimulus-response
conditioning.
◦ Students retain the knowledge they gained from
answering the questions correctly through
stimulus-response conditioning.
Cognitive
Experience:
Teacher prepared a set of flash cards for
students to learn new vocabularies.
First, teacher pointed at the pictures and read
the words. Teacher repeated a few times until
students were able to pronounce the words
correctly.
Teacher then said the word in random order
and had students repeat while pointing at the
correct picture.
Students were able to memorise better with
this method.
 Presenting information both visually and
verbally enhances recall and recognition
(Paivio).
• By using flashcards with pictures and
introducing the words via pronunciation,
teacher was able to get students to
memorise.
 During childhood, abstract knowledge the
world can be gained through seeing objects
around them and interact each other
(Piaget, 1959)
• Teacher uses everyday actions or norms as
examples to relate students with the pictures
in the flashcard.
Humanism
Experience: Humanism in language teaching
◦ Learner is the central person in the act of
After a mid-term school holiday ends, teacher learning
asked students to share what they did during
◦ Students felt good after describing recent
the period. Volunteers were encouraged. experiences and feelings.
After each students share their experiences,
Community language learning
teacher gave positive feedbacks to encourage
students. ◦ Students decide the curriculum, while the
teacher facilitates the environment.
Teacher will also ask other students on their
opinions after listening to their friends’
sharing.
Teacher will only facilitate during the sharing.
Social Constructivism
Experience:
Teacher used interactive materials in the
laptop for teaching. For example, using the
games provided in the CD from the Get Smart
Plus series.
Teacher divided students into groups and ask
two groups to compete with each other in the
game.
The games are in English and students must be
able to understand the instructions and
questions on their own in order to answer
correctly and then win the game.
School learning in a meaningful context
◦ Using technology for learning.
Strategies in social constructivism classroom
implementation:
◦ Reciprocal questioning: working together to ask
and answer questions.
◦ Students must discuss within their own group to find out
the answer for the questions given in the game.
Note:
Social constructivism theory is quite difficult to
be implemented in rural schools as they do
not have a good and stabled internet
connection.