Behaviorism vs. Cognitivism Theories of Learning

1. Behaviorism vs. CognitivismTheories of Learning By: Elva V. Gonzalez

2. The foundations of Behaviorism were built on the work of Watson and B.F.Skinner, and Cognitivism were built on the work of Vygotsky, Dewey, Piaget and Bruner.

3. Behaviorism a theory that it’sperspective may be defined as a change of behavior as a result of experience-that can be measured.

4. Cognitivism a theory that it’s perspective is a change in mental representations and associations brought about by experiences.

5. Behavior theories Determine which cues elicit the desired responses. Arrange practice situations so they will prompt elicit responses in a “natural” setting. Arrange environmental conditions to enhance stimuli. Focus on the design of the environment to optimize learning. Use feedback (reinforcement) to modify behavior in the desired direction. Cognitive theories Focus on the mental activities of the learner. Acknowledge the processes of the mental planning, goal-setting, and organizational strategies. Stress over efficient processing strategies. Make use of feedback (knowledge of feedback) to guide and support accurate mental connections. How Does Learning Occur?

6. Behaviorism and Cognitivism are both a good way of teaching and learning processes, however, there are some differences between them which is very significant.

7. Control Behaviorist: presentation of “scientifically” graded language items. Cognitivist: grading, but not so “scientifically” controlled. Cognitive grading is also important, in terms of what the learner brings to the activity of learning.

8. Error Behaviorist: should not be made at all. Cognitivist: can be made, since through errors one can learn.

9. Exposure Behaviorist: necessary, but in a linguistically controlled way. Cognitivist: plenty, and it’s necessary.

10. Practice Behaviorist: drills and drills, constant repetition is definitely necessary. Cognitivist: is important, but rote learning and meaningless repetition is out.

11. Role of the Learner Behaviorist: a passive recipient of planned instruction. Cognitivist: an active processor of learning. One whose internal data processing mechanism operate.

12. Role of the Teacher Behaviorist: one who teaches, plans, presents language items and exercises, makes students repeat drills and gives correct language forms. Cognitivist: one who creates opportunities for learning to occur with the help of the learner’s data processing mechanism.

13. The Language Syllabus Behaviorist: based on the structures and vocabulary of language presented systematically. Cognitivist: could be less systematically presented structures and vocabulary, functions, notions, situations, and cognitive functions.

14. Grading of Items Behaviorist: Strict, clear, step by step (lock-step method) Cognitivist: no so definite, since the individual language learner is involved.

15. Behaviorism Cognitivism Behaviorism and Cognitivism are two learning theories that even though they have their differences, both theories emphasize the role that environmental conditions play in facilitating learning, as well as emphasis on the role of practice with corrective feedback.

16. References Abbie Brown & Timothy D. Green (2006), The Essentials of Instructional Design., Pearson Education , Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey http://www.forerunner.com/forerunner/X0497_DeMar_Behaviorism.html What is Behaviorism? By Kendra Van Wagner http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/f/behaviorism/htm http://geocities.com/learningenviornments/learningenvironments.html Linguistics Valleys: theory of Teaching: Behaviorism and Cognitivism http://linguisticsearch.blogspot.com/2006/12/theory-of-teachingbehaviorism.htm Cognitive Theories of Learning http://www.personal/psu/edu/users/w/x/wxh139/cognitive_1.htm Learning-Theories (2008) http://www.learning-theories.com/cognitive.html 1998-2008 Funderstanding http://funderstanding.com/content/behavirism