Foundation of Education and Instruction

AN INTRODUCTION TO
EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
by:
Anis Soviana
Ayu Liskinasih
 An Introduction to
Educational Psychology:
Behaviorism and
Cognitive Psychology
 What is education?

Carried out by one person

Standing in front of the class

Transmitting information
What is psychology?

Studies the behavior,

activities, and mental
processes of human
beings.
What is Educational Psychology?

The application of psychology to

education by focusing on the
development, evaluation, and
application of theories and
principle learning and instruction
that can enhance lifelong
learning.
Approaches to Educational
psychology

Positivist
School

Cognitive
psychology
 Positivist School
Knowledge and facts exist within
the real world.

It can be discovered by setting up

experiments in which conditions
are carefully controlled.
 Behaviorism
The founder of modern behaviorism is B. F. Skinner.

This approach attempted to explain all learning in term of

conditioning. Human behavior could be explained in terms
of Stimulus-Response.

Learning was the result of environmental rather than genetic

factors.

A powerful influence to the development of audiolingual

approach
Audiolingual Approach
The Characteristics
of audiolingual:
• pattern drill
• memorization
• choral repetition
 The weaknesses of
audiolingual:
• the role of the learners is a
fairly passive one.
• little concern for what goes
on inside the learners’ head.
• it can be carried out with little
attention to the meaning.
 Cognitive Psychology
It is concerned with the way in
which the human mind thinks
and learns.

Learner is seen as an active

participant in the learning
process.
Information Processing
Mainly concerns with the way in which
people take information, process it, and
act upon it.

It focuses on:

• attention
• perception
• memory
 Memory
O Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)
The successful application of
memory research to foreign
language:
• Linkword (Gruneberg 1987)
• Linking words in both the first language and
second language to construct a picture in the
mind.
• Advance organizer (David Ausubel 1968)
• Give a topical introduction to a lesson that
orientates learners to the subject matter and
relate new learning to what the learners
already know.
Advance organizer
 Intelligence and
Intelligence Testing
Intelligence  some form of inborn, general
ability which enables some of us to learn better
or faster than others.

Howard Gardner (1983) proposed seven kinds

of intelligence: Linguistic, Logical-
Mathematic, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Spatial,
Musical, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal.
 Philip Vernon (1964) suggested
that intelligence can be in terms
of:

• Intelligence A  Intelligence with

which we are born.
• Intelligence B  Intelligence in all
aspects of our everyday lives.
• Intelligence C  Intelligence which is
measured by IQ tests.
 • Metacomponents 
Sternberg Cognitive skill
(1985) • Performance 
proposed a Solving problem
• Knowledge
triarchic
Acquisition 
theory of processing in
intelligence: acquiring new
knowledge
 Intelligence Test
Modern Language Aptitude Test
(MLAT)
• People possess a fixed amount of ability at
language learning.
• Predict someone’s success at learning foreign
language.

IQ Test

• Predict academic success, including success at

learning languages.
 Constructivism

Piaget Jerome George

Brunner Kelly
 Piaget
Constructivism  individuals are actively
involved right from birth in constructing
personal meaning, that is their own
understanding from their experiences.

Theory of ‘Action-based’  concerned

with the process of learning than what is
learned.
Stages of cognitive development
Piaget saw cognitive development as
essentially a process of maturation. It is
accomplished by the process of
assimilation and accommodation.
 Jerome Bruner
The development of conceptual
understanding and of cognitive skills and
strategies is a central aim of education,
rather than the acquisition of factual
information.

Learning in schools must have a purpose.

In Bruner’s term, we need to
seek a balancing of:
• Teaching aspects of the target
language and language skills.
• Developing learners ability to
analyze the language and to guess
how the rules operate.
• Taking a risk in trying out a
language and to learn from the
errors.
Children different modes of thinking
according to Bruner:

• Enactive  through their

actions
• Iconic  by means of visual
imagery
• Symbolic  by using language
 George Kelly

Learning involves learners making their

own sense of information or events.

Language is not learned by memorizing items

of grammar, discourse, or other aspects of
language but by active process of making
sense, of creating their own understanding of
the language surround them.
Further School of Thought in
Psychology:
HUMANISM AND SOCIAL
INTERACTIONISM
 HUMANISM
Humanistic approaches in
educational psychology emphasize:

The importance of the inner world

of the learner and place the
individuals’ thought, feelings, and
emotions at the forefront of all
human development.
 Epigenetic Principle:
• Predetermined maturational
stages
• Challenges that are set by
society

ERIK HOMBURGER ERIKSON

 Every individual proceeds through eight stages from
birth to old age, each of which poses a particular crisis.
CRISIS / CHALLENGE
If it is handled well (with the help of
other significant people):

• Individuals will move smoothly to the next stage.

• Individuals will be in stronger position to meet future
challenges.

If it is inadequately dealt with:

• Individuals will find it more difficult to deal with the

subsequent stages.
 Erikson’s Psychosocial Development
Chart Psychosocial Significant Psychosocial Psychosocial Maladaptations
Stage (age)
crisis relations modalities virtues & malignancies

to get, to give in sensory distortion

I (0-1) -- infant trust vs mistrust mother hope, faith
return – withdrawal

autonomy vs to hold on, to let will, impulsivity –

II (2-3) -- toddler parents
shame and doubt go determination compulsion
III (3-6) -- to go after, purpose, ruthlessness –
initiative vs guilt family
preschooler to play courage inhibition
to complete, to
IV (7-12 or so) -- industry vs neighborhood narrow virtuosity
make things competence
school-age child inferiority and school – inertia
together
V (12-18 or so) --
ego-identity vs peer groups, role to be oneself, to fanaticism –
fidelity, loyalty
role-confusion models share oneself repudiation
adolescence
to lose and find
VI (the 20’s) -- intimacy vs promiscuity –
partners, friends oneself in a love
young adult isolation exclusivity
another
VII (late 20’s to
generativity vs household, to make be, to overextension –
50’s) -- middle care
self-absorption workmates take care of rejectivity
adult
VIII (50’s and to be, through
integrity vs mankind or “my presumption –
beyond) -- old having been, to wisdom
despair kind” despair
adult face not being
 Erikson’s theory is important for
educators to recognize that:

Learning and education is a lifelong

process.
Real life learning require help from
others.
Learning is a cumulative process.
Education involves the whole person.
Abraham Harold Maslow

Individuals are
driven to meet
basic needs.

Maslow’s
Hierarchy of
Needs
Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs help
educators to recognize that:

Children may be having difficulties with learning because their

basic needs are not being met.

It is important to establish a secure environment where learners

can build up self respect by receiving respect from others.

Learners must be encouraged to think (cognitive needs) and not

be penalized for being creative (aesthetic needs).

Classroom tasks should be challenging and encouraging; helping

learners recognize their full potential.
Carl Ransom Rogers

Humanist
principles
of learning
 Rogers abstracted a number of principles about
learning:

 Natural potential
 Personal relevance

 Perception change and adaptation

 Minimum external threats

 Active learning

 Responsibility

 Self-initiated learning

 Self-criticism and self-evaluation

 Learning of the process of learning

Unconditional Positive Regard

Classroom atmosphere which emphasis

respect.

Students are clients which specific needs to

be met.

Positive regard is unconditional, it does not

depends on client’s behavior.

The clients are regarded as person, not as a

collection of behavior.

Teacher essentially conveys warmth & empathy

to build a relationship of trust.
From Rogers’s Perspective:

Learning experiences are

seen to be of limited
educational value unless
they have impact upon
human condition.
IMPLICATIONS OF THE HUMANIST
APPROACH TO EDUCATION
Differentiation

• Educators have to help learners to develop personal

identity and relate it to realistic future goals.

Self-actualization

• Educators have to help & encourage learners to make

choices for themselves in what & how they learn.

Empathy

• Educators have to grow empathy with learners by getting

to know them as individuals & understand their
perspectives.
HUMANISM IN ELT
Language Teaching Methodologies:
Silent way, suggestopaedia, community
language learning.
• Humanist response of alienation.
• Based firmly on psychology than in linguistics.
• Consider affective aspects of learning and
language as important.
• Concern with treating learner as a whole person.
• See the importance of a learning environment
which minimizes anxiety and enhances personal
identity.
SOCIAL INTERACTIONISM

 Emphasize the importance of culture and context

in understanding the society and constructing
knowledge based on this understanding.
 Reality
 Reality is constructed trough human activity.
 Knowledge
 Knowledge is human product which is socially &
culturally constructed.
 Learning
 Learning is a social process.
SOCIAL INTERACTIONIST VIEW

• Children learn independently

Piagetian by exploring the environment

• Adults are responsible for

Behaviorist shaping children’s learning by the use of
punishments and rewards.

• Children are born into a social world,

Social learning occurs through
Interactionist interaction with other people.
 Lev Vygotsky’s
Approach:
Interaction
Click icon to add picture•
The importance of language is in
interacting with people.

Holistic
• What is to be learned cannot be
broken down into small
subcomponents

Meaning
• Meaning should be the central
aspect of any unit of study

Concept of Mediation
• MKO=More Knowledgeable Other .
Vygotzky’s Zone of Proximal
Development (ZPD)
 Structural cognitive
modifiability
• People cognitive structures
are modifiable

Dynamic Assessment
• A way of assessing the true
potential of children by
involving two-way interaction.
Reuven Mediator is a key factor
Feuerstein: in effective learning
Anyone can
become fully • Mediation involves interaction
between mediator and learner.
effective learner
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVIST
MODEL
Thank