LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

REFLECTION

What I learnt was that our philosophy of the educational process must be
able to accommodate different aspects of learning. About that there are
some theories that educational psychology develops and applies. We
mentioned about these theories that help teachers shape their teaching. For
example, theories of human development describe changes in mental
abilities (cognition), social roles, and beliefs about the nature of knowledge.
We came to a conclusion that each person has an individual profile of
characteristics, abilities and challenges and these manifests as individual
differences in intelligence, creativity, cognitive style and motivation. As a
teacher our job is to help the students to realize their potential. Also we
mentioned that whatever we teach our students, it must be able to be a
resource of curiosity, wonder and excitement. Moreover teachers should
motivate the students to real thing. Learning is never-ending, even though it
often focuses on short-term. A teacher have a responsibility not only to teach
valuable knowledge and skills, but to point students beyond what they will
be able to learn him or her. Educational psychology is about activating what
the students already know. So teachers need to know how to explain ideas
clearly,to present new materials in a sensible sequence and at an
appropriate pace, to point out connections between their new learning and
their prior experiences. Learnings should be meaningful in student’s life. We
had a discussion about the difference between is education and learning.
Education compasses learning. Learning activities taking place in schools are
not necessarily educative within the field of language teaching. The other
thing we focused on is personal reflection. Teachers should maintain a
continuous process of personal reflection. This makes students aware of their
own learning, also makes them provide their own theories of effective
learning. We also talked about behaviourism and its relation with ‘the
positivist school’. ‘The positivist school’ is the broader term of behaviourism.
Behaviorism is a perspective on learning that focuses on changes in
individuals’ observable behaviors, changes in what people say or do.
But it is not always useful. This perspective fails to explain the functions at
the language. It is like helping students reveal their potential and it is subject
bound. On the other hand cognitive psychology studies mental processes
including how people think, perceive, remember and learn. It is all about
questioning, analysis of informations and making an analogy. According to
this perspective people take information, process it and act upon it. Teachers
must deal with their student’s attention.

I suppose I need to focus more on how I can benefit from these theories
when providing my teaching strategy. How I can apply them and it will be
more useful?

I believe I may use this information ‘If I don’t update myself, I bound to be
lost.’ in my teaching. Nothing stays the same. Everything evolves
continually. As long as we keep teaching, we will have a job with novelty. We
must be flexible. The world is changing. As the time passes, learner needs
are becoming more. So as a teacher, we need to update ourselves.