1 A brief history of language teaching
Pages A-C
1- What have changes in language teaching methods reflected?
Changes in language teaching methods have reflected
(1) recognition of changes in the kind of proficiency learners need, such as a move
toward oral proficiency rather than reading comprehension as the goal of language study
(2) changes in theories of the nature of language and of language learning.
2- Why was Latin the world’s most widely studied foreign language 500 years ago?
Latin was the world’s most widely studied foreign language 500 years ago because it was
the dominant language of education, commerce, religion, and government in the Western
world.
3- What was the model of foreign language study from the seventeenth to the
nineteenth centuries?
The study of classical Latin and an analysis of its grammar and rhetoric became the
model for foreign language study from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries.
4- What were the consequences of the decline of Latin as a language of spoken and
written communication in the sixteenth century?
(1) The study of classical Latin and an analysis of its grammar and rhetoric became the
model for foreign language study from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries.
(2) The decline of Latin also brought with it a new justification for teaching Latin. Latin
was said to develop intellectual abilities, and the study of Latin grammar became an end
in itself.
5- How was Latin taught in British “grammar school” from the sixteenth to the
eighteenth centuries?
Children entering “grammar school” in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth
centuries in England were initially given a rigorous introduction to Latin grammar, which
was taught through (a) rote learning of grammar rules, (b) study of declensions and
conjugations, (c) translation, and (d) practice in writing sample sentences, (e) sometimes
with the use of parallel bilingual texts and dialogue
6- Name four reforms who attempted to promote alternative approach to
education?
(1) Roger Ascham and (2) Montaigne in the sixteenth century and (3) Comenius and
(4) John Locke in the seventeenth century.
7- Why were specific proposals for curriculum reform unsuccessful in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries?
They were unsuccessful because Latin (and, to a lesser extent, Greek) had for so long
been regarded as the classical and therefore most ideal form of language, it was not
surprising that ideas about the role of language study in the curriculum reflected the long-
established status of Latin.
8- How were modern languages taught in European schools in the eighteenth
century?
They were taught using the same basic procedures that were used for teaching Latin.
9- What did textbooks of modern languages consist of in the eighteenth century?
Textbooks consisted of (1) statements of abstract grammar rules, (2) lists of vocabulary,
and (3) sentences for translation. (4) Speaking the foreign language was not the goal, and
(5) oral practice was limited to students reading aloud the sentences they had translated.
(6) These sentences were constructed to illustrate the grammatical system of the language
and consequently bore no relation to the language of real communication.
10- What did a typical textbook in the mid-nineteenth century consist of?
A typical textbook in the mid-nineteenth century consisted of (1) chapters or lessons
organized around grammar points. (a) Each grammar point was listed, (b) rules on its use
were explained, and (c) it was illustrated by sample sentences. (2) Textbook compilers
were mainly determined to codify the foreign language into frozen rules of morphology
and syntax to be explained and eventually memorized. (3) Oral work was reduced to an
absolute minimum, (4) and a handful of written exercises, constructed at random, came as
a sort of appendix to the rules.
11- Describe the textbooks of Seidenstücker and Plötz.
Seidenstiicker reduced the material to disconnected sentences to illustrate specific rules.
He divided his text carefully into two parts, (1) one giving the rules and necessary
paradigms, (2) the other giving French sentences for translation into German and German
sentences for translation into French. (3) The immediate aim was for the student to apply
the given rules by means of appropriate exe rcises. In Plotz's textbooks, the textbooks
were divided into the two parts described above; the sole form of instruction was
mechanical translation.
The Gramm ar-Translation Method (Pages C-1)
12- Name four leading exponents of the Grammar-Translation Method.
(1) Johann Seidenstiicker, (2) Karl Plotz, (3) H. S. Ollendorf, and (4) Johann Meidinger
13- What are the goals of foreign language study in the Grammar-Translation
Method?
The goals of foreign language study in the Grammar-T ranslation Method are (1) to learn
a language in order to read its literature and/or (2) in order to benefit from the mental
discipline and intellectual development that result from foreign language study.
14- How does the Grammar-Translation Method approach the study of a foreign
language?
Grammar Translation approaches the study of a foreign language (1) first through
detailed analysis of its grammar rules, (2) followed by application of this knowledge to
the task of translating sentences and texts into and out of the target language.
15- How does the Grammar-Translation Method view language learning?
The Grammar-Translation Method views language learning as consisting of little more
than memorizing rules and facts in order to understand and manipulate the morphology
and syntax of the foreign language.
16- How are words taught in the Grammar-Translation Method?
In the Grammar-Translation Method, words are taught through (1) bilingual word lists,
(2) dictionary study, and (3) memorization.
17- Describe a typical Grammar-Translation text.
In a typical Grammar-Translation text, (1) the grammar rules are presented and
illustrated, (2) a list of vocabulary items is presented with their translation equivalents,
and (3) translation exercises are prescribed.
18- What is the basic unit of teaching and language practice in the Grammar-
Translation Method? Why?
The sentence is the basic unit of teaching and language practice. Earlier approaches to
foreign language study used grammar as an aid to the study of texts in a foreign language.
But this was thought to be too difficult for students in secondary schools, and the focus
on the sentence was an attempt to make language learning easier.
Language teachi ng innovations in the nineteenth century (Pages 1-3)
19- Discuss the factors that contributed to the rejection of the Grammar-
Translation Method in the mid-nineteenth century.
(1) Increased opportunities for communication among Europeans created a demand for
oral proficiency in foreign languages. Initially this created a market for conversation
books and phrase books intended for private study.
(2) Language teaching specialists also turned their attention to the way modern languages
were being taught in secondary schools. Increasingly, the public education system was
seen to be failing in its responsibilities.
20- What were the major contributions of the Frenchman C. Marcel (1793-1896) to
the reform of the teaching of modern languages in the mid-nineteenth century?
(1) He referred to child language learning as a model for language teaching.
(2) He emphasized the importance of meaning in learning.
(3) He proposed that reading be taught before other skills.
(4) He tried to locate language teaching within a broader educational framework.
21- What were the major contributions of the Englishman T. Prendergast (1806-
1886) to the reform of the teaching of modern languages in the mid-nineteenth
century?
(1) He was one of the first to record the observation that children use contextual and
situational cues to interpret utterances and that they use memorized phrases and
“routines” in speaking.
(2) He proposed the first “ structural syllabus,” advocating that learners be taught the
most basic structural patterns occurring in the language. In this way he was anticipating
an issue that was to be taken up in the 1920s and 1930s,
22- What were the major contributions of the Frenchman F. Gouin (1831-1896) to
the reform of the teaching of modern languages in the mid-nineteenth century?
(1) Gouin developed an approach to teaching a foreign language based on his
observations of children's use of language.
(2) He believed that language learning was facilitated through using language to
accomplish events consisting of a sequence of related actions.
(3) His method used situations and themes as ways of organizing and presenting oral
language - the famous Gouin “series,” which includes sequences of sentences related to
such activities as chopping wood and opening the door.
(4) He established schools to teach according to his method.
(5) Gouin's emphasis on the need to present new teaching items in a context that makes
their meaning clear,
(6) and the use of gestures and actions to convey the meanings of utterances, are
practices that later became part of such approaches and methods as Situational Language
Teaching and Total Physical Response.
23- What were the main characteristics of modern language teaching profession in
the mid-nineteenth century?
(1) Educators recognized the need for speaking proficiency rather than reading
comprehension, grammar, or literary appreciation as the goal for foreign language
programs.
(2) There was an interest in how children learn languages, which prompted attempts to
develop teaching principles from observation of child language learning.
24- Why were the reform attempts made in the mid-nineteenth century
unsuccessful?
The reform attempts made in the mid-nineteenth century were unsuccessful because (1)
the ideas and methods of reformers were developed outside the context of established
circles of education. (2) They lacked the means for wider dissemination, acceptance, and
implementation. (3) They were writing at a time when there was not sufficient
organizational structure in the language teaching profession (i.e., in the form of
professional associations, journals, and conferences) to enable new ideas to develop into
an educational movement.
25- Define the Reform Movement in language teaching that arose toward the end of
the nineteenth century.
It is the efforts of teachers and linguists who began to write about the need for new
approaches to language teaching, and through their pamphlets, books, speeches, and
articles, the foundation for more widespread pedagogical reforms was laid.
The Reform Movement (Pages 3-5)
26- Why were the reformist ideas proposed in the late nineteenth century more
accepted than those proposed in the early and mid-nineteenth century?
They were more accepted because practical-minded linguists such as Henry Sweet in En-
gland, Wilhelm Vietor in Germany, and Paul Passy in France began to provide the
intellectual leadership needed to give reformist ideas greater credibility and acceptance.
27- How did the International Phonetic Association seek to improve the teaching of
modern languages in the late nineteenth century?
It advocated the following:
1. the study of the spoken language
2. phonetic training in order to establish good pronunciation habits
3. the use of conversation texts and dialogues to introduce conversational phrases and
idioms
4. an inductive approach to the teaching of grammar
5. teaching new meanings through establishing associations within the target language
rather than by establishing associations with the native language
28- What were the principles suggested by Henry Sweet (1845-1912) for the
development of modern language teaching?
(1) He argued that sound methodological principles should be based on a scientific
analysis of language and a study of psychology.
(2) He set forth principles for the development of teaching method which included the
following: (a) careful selection of what is to be taught, (b) imposing limits on what is to
be taught, (c) arranging what is to be taught in terms of the four skills of listening,
speaking, reading, and writing, and (d) grading materials from simple to complex.
29- What were the major contributions of Viëtor (1850-1918) to reform the teaching
of modern languages?
(1) He used linguistic theory to justify his views on language teaching.
(2) He argued that training in phonetics would enable teachers to pronounce the
language accurately.
(3) He believed that speech patterns, rather than grammar, were the fundamental
elements of language.
30- What were the major beliefs shared by the late nineteenth-century reformers
about the principles on which a new approach to teaching foreign languages should
be based?
The late nineteenth-century reformers shared the following beliefs:
1. the spoken language is primary and that this should be reflected in an oral-based
methodology
2. the findings of phonetics should be applied to teaching and to teacher training
3. learners should hear the language first, before seeing it in written form
4. words should be presented in sentences, and sentences should be practiced in
meaningful contexts and not be taught as isolated, disconnected elements
5. the rules of grammar should be taught only after the students have practiced the
grammar points in context - that is, grammar should be taught inductively
6. translation should be avoided, although the native language could be used in order to
explain new words or to check comprehension
31- Define applied linguistics.
Applied linguistics is a branch of language study concerned with the scientific study of
second and foreign language teaching and learning.
32- What was the interest of the late nineteenth-century reformers?
It was in developing principles for language teaching out of naturalistic principles of
language learning, such as are seen in first language acquisition.
The Direct Method (Pages 5-8)
33- Describe Sauveur’s (1826-1907) approach to teaching a foreign language.
(1) He tried to apply natural principles to language classes.
(2) He used intensive oral interaction in the target language.
(3) He employed questions as a way of presenting and eliciting language.
34- Why was Sauveur’s method called the Natural Method?
It was called so because it depended on naturalistic principles of language learning.
35- What was the main argument of believers in the Natural Method in the late
nineteenth century?
They argued that a foreign language could be taught without translation or the use of the
learner's native language if meaning was conveyed directly through demonstration and
action.
36- Describe the approach of the German scholar F. Franke (1884) to foreign
language teaching.
(1) Franke wrote on the psychological principles of direct association between forms and
meanings in the target language.
(2) He provided a theoretical justification for a monolingual approach to teaching.
(3) He believed that a language could best be taught by using it actively in the
classroom.
(4) Rather than using analytical procedures that focus on explanation of grammar rules
in classroom teaching, teachers must encourage direct and spontaneous use of the foreign
language in the classroom.
(5) Learners would then be able to induce rules of grammar.
(6) The teacher replaced the textbook in the early stages of learning.
(7) Speaking began with systematic attention to pronunciation.
(8) Known words could be used to teach new vocabulary, using mime, demonstration,
and pictures.
37- State the main guidelines for teaching oral language in Berlitz schools.
The following are guidelines for teaching oral language in contemporary Berlitz schools:
Never translate: demonstrate
Never explain: act
Never make a speech: ask questions
Never imitate mistakes: correct
Never speak with single words: use sentences
Never speak too much: make students speak much
Never use the book: use your lesson plan
Never jump around: follow your plan
Never go too fast: keep the pace of the student
Never speak too slowly: speak normally
Never speak too quickly: speak naturally
Never speak too loudly: speak naturally
Never be impatient: take it easy
38- Why was the Direct Method successful in private language schools, such as
those of the Berlitz chain?
The Direct Method was quite successful in private language schools, such as those of the
Berlitz chain, (1) where paying clients had high motivation and (2) the use of native-
speaking teachers was the norm.
39- State the main drawbacks of the Direct Method.
(1) It was difficult to implement in public secondary school education.
(2) It overemphasized and distorted the similarities between naturalistic first language
learning and classroom foreign language learning and
(3) failed to consider the practical realities of the classroom.
(4) In addition, it lacked a rigorous basis in applied linguistic theory.
(5) It required teachers who were native speakers or who had nativelike fluency in the
foreign language.
(6) It was largely dependent on the teacher's skill, rather than on a textbook,
(7) and not all teachers were proficient enough in the foreign language to adhere to the
principles of the method.
(8) Critics pointed out that strict adherence to Direct Method principles was often
counterproductive, since teachers were required to go to great lengths to avoid using the
native language, when sometimes a simple, brief explanation in the student's native
language would have been a more efficient route to comprehension.
40- How was the Direct Method modified in noncommercial schools in Europe?
The Direct Method in noncommercial European schools was gradually modified into
versions that combined (1) some Direct Method techniques with (2) more controlled
grammar-based activities.
41- Why did foreign language specialists in the United States attempt to implement
the Direct Method?
The European popularity of the Direct Method in the early part of the twentieth century
caused foreign language specialists in the United States to attempt to have it implemented
in American schools and colleges.
42- What were the main conclusions of Coleman Report published in 1929?
Coleman Report concluded that
(1) no single method could guarantee successful results.
(2) The goal of trying to teach conversation skills was considered impractical in view of
(a) the restricted time available for foreign language teaching in schools, (b) the
limited skills of teachers, and (c) the perceived irrelevance of conversation skills in a
foreign language for the average American college student.
(3) It argued that a more reasonable goal for a foreign language course would be a
reading knowledge of a foreign language, achieved through the gradual introduction
of words and grammatical structures in simple reading texts.
43- Why did Coleman Report of the 1929 believe that teaching conversation skills
was impractical?
Teach conversation skills was considered impractical in view of (a) the restricted time
available for foreign language teaching in schools, (b) the limited skills of teachers, and
(c) the perceived irrelevance of conversation skills in a foreign language for the average
American college student.
44- What was the main result of the recommendations of Coleman Report?
The main result was that reading became the goal of most foreign language programs in
the United States. The emphasis on reading continued to characterize foreign language
teaching in the United States until World War II.
45- What were the objections of Henry Sweet to the Direct Method?
Sweet recognized that (1) it offered innovations at the level of teaching procedures but
lacked a thorough methodological basis. (2) Its main focus was on the exclusive use of
the target language in the classroom, but it failed to address many issues that Sweet
thought more basic.
46- What were the limitations of the Direct Method according to Henry Sweet?
Sweet recognized that (1) it offered innovations at the level of teaching procedures but
lacked a thorough methodological basis. (2) Its main focus was on the exclusive use of
the target language in the classroom, but it failed to address many issues that Sweet
thought more basic.
The Methods Era (Pages 8-10)
47- What are the assumptions common to most teaching methods of the twentieth
century?
Common to most of them are the following assumptions:
- An approach or method refers to a theoretically consistent set of teaching procedures
that define best practice in language teaching.
- Particular approaches and methods, if followed precisely, will lead to more effective
levels of language learning than alternative ways of teaching.
- The quality of language teaching will improve if teachers use the best available
approaches and methods.
48- Name five language teaching methods that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s.
Audiolingual Method, the Situational Method, the Communicative Approach, the Silent
Way, the Natural Approach, and Total Physical Response.
49- Name six language teaching methods that emerged in the 1990s.
Content-Based Instruction, Task-Based Language Teaching, Competency-Based
Instruction, Cooperative Learning, Whole Language Approach, and Multiple
Intelligences.
Approaches and methods in teacher preparation programs (page 10)
50- Why has the study of past and present teaching methods continued to form a
significant component of teacher preparation programs?
The reasons for this are the following:
- The study of approaches and methods provides teachers with a view of how the field of
language teaching has evolved.
- Approaches and methods can be studied not as prescriptions for how to teach but as a
source of well-used practices which teachers can adapt or imple ment based on their own
needs.
- Experience in using different teaching approaches and methods can provide teachers
with basic teaching skills that they can later add to or supplement as they develop
teaching experience.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Research Methodology
Research Methodology
The difference between action research and experimental research:
Action research examines events. It is qualitative in nature; it is also teacher-generated. Action research projects are often longitudinal i.e. carried out over a period of time.
The strength of this research is that it allows teachers to diagnose, investigate and resolve classroom problems. This type of research has the specific aim of addressing specific situations / problems in the classroom.. it is based on participant observations, open-ended.
Experimental research examines outcomes, it is quantitative. It attempts to quantify outcomes resulting from treatments. It examines the behaviour of a representative cross-section of a population at one or more instances in time.
Both approaches are complementary.
Action research is a practical tool for short term problem solving.
Experimental research is useful for achieving long term abstract aims, it is process-oriented and reliable
Ethnographic method Action research. Inductive ‘bottom up’ method.
Non- statistical analysis. Observational data are used.
Qualitative data. Ungeneralizable.
Psychometric method Experimental research. Deductive “top-down”
Statistical analysis.
Quantitative data. generalizable
In experimental approach, a number of important aspects have to be taken into consideration:
- Internal validity: the results obtained must be the result of the treatment applied and not nay other extraneous variables.
- External validity: refers to our ability to generalize the results of our study to other groups and other setting. Would these results hold true for the same population? And for other population?
- Internal reliability: refers to consistency in data collection, analysis and interpretation of results.
- External reliability: it must be possible to reproduce the research under identical conditions.
- Quasi Experiments: there are both experimental and control groups, but subjects are not randomly assigned to these groups
- Construct Validity: it is appropriate when your test is measuring an abstract concept.
Classroom interaction research:
In this type of research Chaudron suggests 4 traditions:
- The psychometric tradition: the measurement of outcomes on proficiency tests
- Interaction analysis: observation and analysis of social interaction
- Discourse analysis: observation and analysis of linguistic interaction.
- Ethnographic tradition: interpretation of behaviour from participant’s point of view.
Research Question:
A good research question should be evocative, relevant, clear and researchable. The RQ can be descriptive: describe what is going on or what exists; relational: designed to look at the relationships between 2 or more variables; causal: designed to determine whether 1 or more variables cause or effect 1 or more outcome variables.
The RQ should begin with a general topic that is narrowed down to a specific Q. it has to be short, sharp, specific and free from value judgments and bias.
Variables:
It is a participant’s characteristic that varies for group members.
A construct: a characteristic that represents human beings.
- Quantitative variables: are ones that exist along a continuum that runs from low to high (e.g. scores of tests).
- Qualitative variables: they do express differences in amount, they are called categorical variables e.g. gender, religion…
A variable is an observable or quantified representation of a construct.
- Dependent Variable: the variable that is influenced by another variable. The dependent variable is the major variable that will be measured in the research.
- Independent variable: it stands alone, affects the dependent variable, and cannot be affected by other variables.
- Moderator variable: modifies the relation ship between variables.
- Control variables: are variables that the researcher choose to keep constant
- Intervening variables: make the relationship between the dependent and the independent variable happen.
- Extraneous variables: an independent variable that the researcher did not control it, it may or may not influence the result.
Formulating the hypothesis:
There are 3 phases in constructing the hypothesis: hunch (guess), test and investigate, verification (confirmed or rejected). A hypothesis can be right – wrong – partially right, it should be operationalizable, unidimensional, verifiable, rooted in the body of knowledge, conceptually clear. A hypothesis comes from the researcher’s expectations generating from his knowledge (the review of literature). A hypothesis expresses the relationship between 2 or more variables; it is a tentative statement about the outcome and results of the research.
After collecting data and testing the hypothesis, the hypothesis is either supported, rejected or partially supported.
Methods of data collection:
How the researcher obtains the empirical data to be used to answer his or her research questions. There are 6 major methods of data collection:
Tests: standardized test that includes information on reliability, validity and nouns as well as test constructed by researchers for specific purposes. They are used to measure aptitude, performance, specific knowledge and skills.
Strengths weaknesses
- Can provide measures for many characteristic - Can be expensive
of people. - Often standardized. - Reactive effects such as social
- Strong psychometric properties desirability can occur.
- Allows comparability between research - open ended questions and probing are
population. not available
- Can provide quantitative data - some tests lacks psychometric data
Questionnaires: (can be called survey) is a self report data collection instrument that is filled out by research participants. There are some principles of questionnaire construction: Q items should match with the research objectives / understand the participants (cultural background..)
Use familiar and not technical or highly specialized language / items should be clear, not long, precise, not leading or loaded / avoid combining 2 or more issues in a single Q, avoid double negation.
Piloting questionnaires: we need what is called “guinea pigs” i.e. people similar to our sample so that we try out the questionnaire on them, check the format, content, ambiguity, time…
Types of questions:
a- Open- ended: provide qualitative data in the participant’s own words for e.g. WH questions, sentence completion…
b- Closed-ended: provide exact information needed by the researcher, they provide quantitative data; dichotomous questions: yes /no. MCQ: choices and categories re provided- have to be discrete, not overlapping. Rank ordering: we rank categories in terms of preference, intensity…Rating scale: 5 categories is the best number.
A structured question is based on closed –ended items.
Strengths weaknesses
- Good for measuring attitudes and eliciting - usually must be kept short
other content from participants - reactive effects may occur
- Inexpensive mainly mail Q - non response to selective items
- Quick turnaround - data analysis can be time consuming
- Ease of data analysis especially closed ended Q
Interviews: it is a way of collecting data orally; it can be quantitative (closed-ended Q) or qualitative (open-ended Q). A structured interview is planned, including interview protocol and listing the Qs to be asked mainly open-ended ones; whereas unstructured interview is less formal using unplanned questions.
Strengths weaknesses
- Allows probing and follow up questions. - usually in-person interviews are
- Provide in depth information expensive.
- High measurement validity for well constructed - reactive effects may occur
interviews - can be time consuming
- Useful for exploration and confirmation. - measures need validation
Focus groups: it is a situation where a focus group moderator keeps a small and homogenous group focused on the discussion of a research topic or issue.
Strengths weaknesses
- Allows probing - reactive effects may occur if
- allows quick turnaround. participants notice that they are being - Provide in depth information watched and it is difficult to
generalize results
- may be dominated by 1or 2
participants
Observation: the researcher observes participants in natural environment. There are 2 types of observation: - laboratory (done in lab set up by the researcher) or - naturalistic (done in real world settings).
There are 2 forms of observation: - quantitative (sampling procedures are often used in quantitative observation) - qualitative (is exploratory and open-ended). The qualitative observer may be: Complete participant (a member of the group but without telling the participants that they’re being observed). Participant as observer (informing the participants that they’re being observed). Observer as participant (spending a limited time inside the group and informing them). Complete observer (observing from outside).
Strengths weaknesses
- Allows the researcher to see directly what pple do - reactive effects may occur if
- Provide firsthand experience respondents know that they are being - Objective measurement of behaviour watched and it is difficult to
- Can be used with subjects with weak verbal skills - data analysis can be time
consuming
- sampling of observed people may be
limited
Secondary / Existing data: data originally used for a different purpose as opposed to primary data (collected for a new research). Secondary data can be: - document (letters, diaries, newspapers, reports…) - physical data (a data that was created or left by humans that might help the researcher) – archived data (old data collected by another researcher for other purpose, often save in CDs or tapes…)
Strengths weaknesses
- Reactive effects are very unlikely to occur - may be incomplete
- Provide insight into what pple think and do - may be representative of only 1
- Useful for exploration perspective
- Ease of data analysis for archived data - may not apply to general population
- archived data may nit be available
for the population of interest to the
researcher
Sampling
It is the process of selecting units (population, organization) from a population of interest so that by studying the sample we can generalize our results.
Sampling: drawing a sample from a population
Sample: a set of elements taken from a larger population
A statistic: is a numerical characteristic of a sample
A response rate: the % of people in the sample selected for the study.
Sampling frame: a list of all the people that are in the population
Population mean: general characteristic.
Sampling methods: - simple random sampling (equal chance for each member) / - systematic sampling (selecting every 10th member) / - stratified sampling / - cluster sampling
Principles of sampling: P1- there is a difference between the sample statistic (ss) and the population mean. P2- the larger the sample is the smaller the difference between the ss and population mean would be. P3- the larger the difference in the variables the less accurate and representative the sample would be.
Ethics: is a code of conduct in which we can find different principles.
Ethical principles:
Informed consent: what, when, here, how, why
Coercion (obliging someone)
Deception: the researcher is ethically obliged not to use more deception than is needed (deception is when the researcher provides misleading information about the purpose of the study)
Freedom to withdraw: participants must be informed that they’re free to withdraw at any time they want.
Confidentiality and anonymity the researcher agree not to reveal the identity of the participants. Anonymity means that the identity of the participant is not known by anyone including the researcher.
Deduction vs. Induction:
Deductive reasoning works from the more general to the more specific, sometimes this is called a top-down approach, we light begin with a theory about our topic of interest; we then narrow down into more specific hypothesis that we can test, we narrow down even further when we collect observations. This ultimately leads us to be able to test the hypothesis with specific data (a confirmation of our original theories).
Deductive is quantitative: start from the theory, research, confirm the initial theory.
Inductive research works the other way moving from specific observation to broad generalization and theory. We sometimes call this a bottom-up approach. In inductive reasoning we begin with specific observations and measures, detect patterns and regularities, formulate sensitive hypothesis that we can explore and finally end up developing some general conclusions and theories.
Inductive reasoning is more open-ended and exploratory, deductive reasoning is narrower and is concerned with testing or confirming hypothesis.
- Qualitative research tends to use the inductive form of the scientific method; it is especially strong in describing and exploring phenomena and generating explanations, furthermore, qualitative research is very helpful in adding new dimensions of understanding.
Nevertheless, we take a mix research view and believe that both qualitative and quantitative research help each other in understanding the world; the yare complementary approaches to research.
- Triangulating data: compare qualitative with quantitative data and then confirm the
hypothesis.
Key Features of Mixed Research: mixed research tries to mix the best of qualitative and quantitative into research studies. Mixed research takes an eclectic and pragmatic approach, suggesting that the researcher mix quantitative and qualitative data that works best for the given research question being studied. Mixed research uses both inductive and deductive methods.
Operationalize a research question: once we know what the question is, we have to identify ways to test it through careful manipulation. This manipulation requires the definition of at least one independent and one dependent variable.
Population Vs Sample: a sample is a set of elements taken from a population that is a small group of persons or elements selected from the population which is the full set of elements or people.
Experimental Vs control group: experimental receives the experimental treatment, a control group gives a point comparison, e.g. if one group receives a pill we also need to know what would have happened in the absence of receiving a pill.
Components of a research plan:
1-Introduction: it includes a statement of the topic, problem, prior literature, statement of the research purpose, the research questions and any hypotheses.
2-Method: it includes information about the research participants, data collection instrument, the procedures followed in carrying out the study.
3-Data analysis: includes information on how you intend on organizing and analysing the data you collected.
4- Conclusion.
Primary sources vs secondary sources:
Primary sources are designed by the researcher whereas secondary sources are left behind by others.
All primary sources of data shall match the research objectives.
The difference between action research and experimental research:
Action research examines events. It is qualitative in nature; it is also teacher-generated. Action research projects are often longitudinal i.e. carried out over a period of time.
The strength of this research is that it allows teachers to diagnose, investigate and resolve classroom problems. This type of research has the specific aim of addressing specific situations / problems in the classroom.. it is based on participant observations, open-ended.
Experimental research examines outcomes, it is quantitative. It attempts to quantify outcomes resulting from treatments. It examines the behaviour of a representative cross-section of a population at one or more instances in time.
Both approaches are complementary.
Action research is a practical tool for short term problem solving.
Experimental research is useful for achieving long term abstract aims, it is process-oriented and reliable
Ethnographic method Action research. Inductive ‘bottom up’ method.
Non- statistical analysis. Observational data are used.
Qualitative data. Ungeneralizable.
Psychometric method Experimental research. Deductive “top-down”
Statistical analysis.
Quantitative data. generalizable
In experimental approach, a number of important aspects have to be taken into consideration:
- Internal validity: the results obtained must be the result of the treatment applied and not nay other extraneous variables.
- External validity: refers to our ability to generalize the results of our study to other groups and other setting. Would these results hold true for the same population? And for other population?
- Internal reliability: refers to consistency in data collection, analysis and interpretation of results.
- External reliability: it must be possible to reproduce the research under identical conditions.
- Quasi Experiments: there are both experimental and control groups, but subjects are not randomly assigned to these groups
- Construct Validity: it is appropriate when your test is measuring an abstract concept.
Classroom interaction research:
In this type of research Chaudron suggests 4 traditions:
- The psychometric tradition: the measurement of outcomes on proficiency tests
- Interaction analysis: observation and analysis of social interaction
- Discourse analysis: observation and analysis of linguistic interaction.
- Ethnographic tradition: interpretation of behaviour from participant’s point of view.
Research Question:
A good research question should be evocative, relevant, clear and researchable. The RQ can be descriptive: describe what is going on or what exists; relational: designed to look at the relationships between 2 or more variables; causal: designed to determine whether 1 or more variables cause or effect 1 or more outcome variables.
The RQ should begin with a general topic that is narrowed down to a specific Q. it has to be short, sharp, specific and free from value judgments and bias.
Variables:
It is a participant’s characteristic that varies for group members.
A construct: a characteristic that represents human beings.
- Quantitative variables: are ones that exist along a continuum that runs from low to high (e.g. scores of tests).
- Qualitative variables: they do express differences in amount, they are called categorical variables e.g. gender, religion…
A variable is an observable or quantified representation of a construct.
- Dependent Variable: the variable that is influenced by another variable. The dependent variable is the major variable that will be measured in the research.
- Independent variable: it stands alone, affects the dependent variable, and cannot be affected by other variables.
- Moderator variable: modifies the relation ship between variables.
- Control variables: are variables that the researcher choose to keep constant
- Intervening variables: make the relationship between the dependent and the independent variable happen.
- Extraneous variables: an independent variable that the researcher did not control it, it may or may not influence the result.
Formulating the hypothesis:
There are 3 phases in constructing the hypothesis: hunch (guess), test and investigate, verification (confirmed or rejected). A hypothesis can be right – wrong – partially right, it should be operationalizable, unidimensional, verifiable, rooted in the body of knowledge, conceptually clear. A hypothesis comes from the researcher’s expectations generating from his knowledge (the review of literature). A hypothesis expresses the relationship between 2 or more variables; it is a tentative statement about the outcome and results of the research.
After collecting data and testing the hypothesis, the hypothesis is either supported, rejected or partially supported.
Methods of data collection:
How the researcher obtains the empirical data to be used to answer his or her research questions. There are 6 major methods of data collection:
Tests: standardized test that includes information on reliability, validity and nouns as well as test constructed by researchers for specific purposes. They are used to measure aptitude, performance, specific knowledge and skills.
Strengths weaknesses
- Can provide measures for many characteristic - Can be expensive
of people. - Often standardized. - Reactive effects such as social
- Strong psychometric properties desirability can occur.
- Allows comparability between research - open ended questions and probing are
population. not available
- Can provide quantitative data - some tests lacks psychometric data
Questionnaires: (can be called survey) is a self report data collection instrument that is filled out by research participants. There are some principles of questionnaire construction: Q items should match with the research objectives / understand the participants (cultural background..)
Use familiar and not technical or highly specialized language / items should be clear, not long, precise, not leading or loaded / avoid combining 2 or more issues in a single Q, avoid double negation.
Piloting questionnaires: we need what is called “guinea pigs” i.e. people similar to our sample so that we try out the questionnaire on them, check the format, content, ambiguity, time…
Types of questions:
a- Open- ended: provide qualitative data in the participant’s own words for e.g. WH questions, sentence completion…
b- Closed-ended: provide exact information needed by the researcher, they provide quantitative data; dichotomous questions: yes /no. MCQ: choices and categories re provided- have to be discrete, not overlapping. Rank ordering: we rank categories in terms of preference, intensity…Rating scale: 5 categories is the best number.
A structured question is based on closed –ended items.
Strengths weaknesses
- Good for measuring attitudes and eliciting - usually must be kept short
other content from participants - reactive effects may occur
- Inexpensive mainly mail Q - non response to selective items
- Quick turnaround - data analysis can be time consuming
- Ease of data analysis especially closed ended Q
Interviews: it is a way of collecting data orally; it can be quantitative (closed-ended Q) or qualitative (open-ended Q). A structured interview is planned, including interview protocol and listing the Qs to be asked mainly open-ended ones; whereas unstructured interview is less formal using unplanned questions.
Strengths weaknesses
- Allows probing and follow up questions. - usually in-person interviews are
- Provide in depth information expensive.
- High measurement validity for well constructed - reactive effects may occur
interviews - can be time consuming
- Useful for exploration and confirmation. - measures need validation
Focus groups: it is a situation where a focus group moderator keeps a small and homogenous group focused on the discussion of a research topic or issue.
Strengths weaknesses
- Allows probing - reactive effects may occur if
- allows quick turnaround. participants notice that they are being - Provide in depth information watched and it is difficult to
generalize results
- may be dominated by 1or 2
participants
Observation: the researcher observes participants in natural environment. There are 2 types of observation: - laboratory (done in lab set up by the researcher) or - naturalistic (done in real world settings).
There are 2 forms of observation: - quantitative (sampling procedures are often used in quantitative observation) - qualitative (is exploratory and open-ended). The qualitative observer may be: Complete participant (a member of the group but without telling the participants that they’re being observed). Participant as observer (informing the participants that they’re being observed). Observer as participant (spending a limited time inside the group and informing them). Complete observer (observing from outside).
Strengths weaknesses
- Allows the researcher to see directly what pple do - reactive effects may occur if
- Provide firsthand experience respondents know that they are being - Objective measurement of behaviour watched and it is difficult to
- Can be used with subjects with weak verbal skills - data analysis can be time
consuming
- sampling of observed people may be
limited
Secondary / Existing data: data originally used for a different purpose as opposed to primary data (collected for a new research). Secondary data can be: - document (letters, diaries, newspapers, reports…) - physical data (a data that was created or left by humans that might help the researcher) – archived data (old data collected by another researcher for other purpose, often save in CDs or tapes…)
Strengths weaknesses
- Reactive effects are very unlikely to occur - may be incomplete
- Provide insight into what pple think and do - may be representative of only 1
- Useful for exploration perspective
- Ease of data analysis for archived data - may not apply to general population
- archived data may nit be available
for the population of interest to the
researcher
Sampling
It is the process of selecting units (population, organization) from a population of interest so that by studying the sample we can generalize our results.
Sampling: drawing a sample from a population
Sample: a set of elements taken from a larger population
A statistic: is a numerical characteristic of a sample
A response rate: the % of people in the sample selected for the study.
Sampling frame: a list of all the people that are in the population
Population mean: general characteristic.
Sampling methods: - simple random sampling (equal chance for each member) / - systematic sampling (selecting every 10th member) / - stratified sampling / - cluster sampling
Principles of sampling: P1- there is a difference between the sample statistic (ss) and the population mean. P2- the larger the sample is the smaller the difference between the ss and population mean would be. P3- the larger the difference in the variables the less accurate and representative the sample would be.
Ethics: is a code of conduct in which we can find different principles.
Ethical principles:
Informed consent: what, when, here, how, why
Coercion (obliging someone)
Deception: the researcher is ethically obliged not to use more deception than is needed (deception is when the researcher provides misleading information about the purpose of the study)
Freedom to withdraw: participants must be informed that they’re free to withdraw at any time they want.
Confidentiality and anonymity the researcher agree not to reveal the identity of the participants. Anonymity means that the identity of the participant is not known by anyone including the researcher.
Deduction vs. Induction:
Deductive reasoning works from the more general to the more specific, sometimes this is called a top-down approach, we light begin with a theory about our topic of interest; we then narrow down into more specific hypothesis that we can test, we narrow down even further when we collect observations. This ultimately leads us to be able to test the hypothesis with specific data (a confirmation of our original theories).
Deductive is quantitative: start from the theory, research, confirm the initial theory.
Inductive research works the other way moving from specific observation to broad generalization and theory. We sometimes call this a bottom-up approach. In inductive reasoning we begin with specific observations and measures, detect patterns and regularities, formulate sensitive hypothesis that we can explore and finally end up developing some general conclusions and theories.
Inductive reasoning is more open-ended and exploratory, deductive reasoning is narrower and is concerned with testing or confirming hypothesis.
- Qualitative research tends to use the inductive form of the scientific method; it is especially strong in describing and exploring phenomena and generating explanations, furthermore, qualitative research is very helpful in adding new dimensions of understanding.
Nevertheless, we take a mix research view and believe that both qualitative and quantitative research help each other in understanding the world; the yare complementary approaches to research.
- Triangulating data: compare qualitative with quantitative data and then confirm the
hypothesis.
Key Features of Mixed Research: mixed research tries to mix the best of qualitative and quantitative into research studies. Mixed research takes an eclectic and pragmatic approach, suggesting that the researcher mix quantitative and qualitative data that works best for the given research question being studied. Mixed research uses both inductive and deductive methods.
Operationalize a research question: once we know what the question is, we have to identify ways to test it through careful manipulation. This manipulation requires the definition of at least one independent and one dependent variable.
Population Vs Sample: a sample is a set of elements taken from a population that is a small group of persons or elements selected from the population which is the full set of elements or people.
Experimental Vs control group: experimental receives the experimental treatment, a control group gives a point comparison, e.g. if one group receives a pill we also need to know what would have happened in the absence of receiving a pill.
Components of a research plan:
1-Introduction: it includes a statement of the topic, problem, prior literature, statement of the research purpose, the research questions and any hypotheses.
2-Method: it includes information about the research participants, data collection instrument, the procedures followed in carrying out the study.
3-Data analysis: includes information on how you intend on organizing and analysing the data you collected.
4- Conclusion.
Primary sources vs secondary sources:
Primary sources are designed by the researcher whereas secondary sources are left behind by others.
All primary sources of data shall match the research objectives.
Educational Psychology TD
Educational Psychology TD
Motherese
There have been a number of observation studies of the language addressed to small children by mothers, other adults or older children. These studies have shown that this so called caretaker speech has a number of characteristics which distinguish it from typical speech between adults. These characteristics are:
1- It is generally spoken more slowly and distinctly
2- It contains shorter utterances
3- It is more grammatical with fewer broken sentences or false starts
4- It contains fewer complex sentences (two clauses for example)
5- There is less variety of tenses
6- The range of vocabulary is more limited
7- There is more repetition
8- The speech is more closely related to the here and now
Performance does not reflect competence
1st interpretation:
They do not support Chomsky’s claim, children are guided and assisted.
1- What makes the adult speaker speak more slowly and distinctly?
The law of shapeness is at work (concerning n°1 & 2 & 4 & 5 ).
3 against Chomsky’s idea speaker listener.
6 corresponds to the restricted environment of the child
7 confirms the stimulus response theory
8 motor activity & perceived reality connection
Compare the characteristic with Chomsky’s claim: the child can process concrete utterances, performance phenomena… The child is offered a kind of a simplified language to extract the rules from. He is not left with that crude material.
2nd interpretation
It may be the case that motherese rather than being the result of some unconscious effort on the part of the mother to teach language is just a response by the mother to the child’s linguistic system. That is the change in the mother’s speech is caused by the child rather than the mother actively affecting the child’s development.
The objective of the mother is not to facilitate or to make the child understand, her purpose is to communicate with him. She adjusts her speech to the child’s developing grammar. This code switching makes part of our linguistic intuition. The 2nd version does not undermine Chomsky’s claim given that the mother is simply adjusting her speech. (language growth hypothesis, the child goes thru developmental stages till he reaches a the steady state)
1- The psychologist can get many interesting insights from electro-encephalography. Can you specify them and illustrate their actual relevance to psychology?
2- When do the phenomena of synchronization and desynchronization occur? What kind of activity does each engender? How many rhythms can we identify?
3- Is awareness measurable?
4- The delta rhythm is vital for the survival of the young baby. Explain
5- What conclusions can we draw from Fuller’s experiment with dogs?
6- What is the difference between the Cortex and the sub-cortical parts of the brain?
7- Which learning theory do these arguments support: empiricism or rationalism?
8- Try to write your own definition of learning
9- Are the terms mind and brain interchangeable?
10- Is psychology the science of mental life or the science of behavior?
11- Can you visualize any similarity between behaviorist psychology and computing science?
The substance of the cortical cells is similar between animals and humans. The difference is in the number of the cortical cells and the interconnections between them.
Notes and argument concerning Behaviorism
Behaviorism resolved the mind/body problem is a most direct way. Behaviorists self-consciously did their best to eliminate mind and consciousness from the vocabulary of psychology. Using mind as an explanatory concept was not scientifically justified for them, the behaviorists were extremely successful in their endeavor because for them, the definition of psychology changed from the science of the mind to the science of behavior. In general, behaviorists tended to focus on environmental influences (we should make the distinction between the environmental influences as viewed by constructivists and behaviorists) rather than genetic ones; the major issue for them was learning. What are the conditions by which organisms change their behavior? This included everything from learning to reach for a mother’s nipple, to carry on a conversation, to solve calculus problems, social behavior, cognitive behavior, personality and eating disorders were all a functions of conditions of learning. The problems facing all behaviorists were to articulate the learning processes and with them the particular conditions that lead to different behaviors. Theoretical psychologists (academic and experimental) studied the general principles of learning. Social psychologists studied the conditions under which social behaviors were learnt. Clinical psychologists studied how to teach the mentally ill to unlearn their negative behaviors and to learn to replace them with more appropriate behaviors. Educational psychologists wanted to establish methods to apply learning principles to children so that they could learn academically appropriate behaviors easier. According to the behaviorist doctrine, psychology is essentially the study of understanding the varied conditions of learning, varied human behaviors so that behavior could be predicted, modified and controlled.
The major figures of behaviorism
Pavlov 1839 1936
- Pavlov was an excellent experimenter; he studied the sequence of secretions from the insertion of food into the mouth through its breakdown and absorption by the body.
- Pavlov discovered conditional reflexes by investigating irregularities of reflex action. At times, certain secretions were emitted by the organism without an identifiable cause, the so called psychic secretions
- He attempted to find the source of the irregularities and showed that they were explainable on the basis of past experiences of a particular kind
- Pavlov argued that what is mental should be reduced to measurable (cortical interconnection, acids conveyed by the cortical circuits) physiological quantities. His concept of conditional response was extremely influential and Pavlov believed that they were due to nervous system processes and many of his explanations depended on his concepts of excitation and inhibition of nervous activity.
John Wattson 1838 1958
First founded behaviorism a strong environmentalist extremely influential in setting the pattern for American psychology for more than a generation. For him, conditioned and unconditioned reflexes can account for all of our behavior. For him, consciousness plays no greater role in psychology than in physics. That’s why Watson psychology was viewed as mechanistic.
Clark Hull 1884 1952
His basic ideas derived from Pavlov. He proposed a hypothetico-deductive system (guided by prior hypotheses) with independent dependent and intervening variables who hoped to write the laws of behavior of organisms similar to Newton’s laws of motion in physics arguing that if one knew the initial conditions, s/he could predict the behavior by applying a formula. He argued that behavior was a consequence of innate reflexes as they were modified by previous learning the current situation and the motivational state of the organism. The different components of behavior could be independently assessed and entered into the equation of behavior. Behavior was under the control of the stimulus situation and the state of the organism. The state of the organism was represented by intervening variables which entered in the equation to derive the observed behavior.
Miller
Coleman
Skinner
Based on illustrations:
Proximity causes us to group the dots or to perceive the dots into three pairs of vertical columns. Proximity is given and not acquired and it determines our perception of the stimulation Similarity causes us to see vertical rather than horizontal lines of dots.
Proximity and similarity are opposed and the resultant grouping is unstable.
The G admit the source of knowledge is the external world. We are left with a sort of common denominator between the empiricist behaviorist who claims that the true source of knowledge is the external environment and the G psychologists.
Questions
1- The basic differences between empiricist behaviorism and the G theory, difference between the G theory and the modular view or the rationalistic claim.
Specific features for modular view and general ones for the G theory (genetically determined features which are behind by any environmental stimulation perceived by the organism)
Modular view G theory Empiricist behaviorism
Active Less passive Passive subject
Theoretical framework of x bar theory
The sub-theory of UG which is related to the structure of phrases is known as x-bar theory. The structure of phrases used to make sentences in all languages is of unique basic type. It consists of a main or head category which is the core of the phrase and two different types of modifiers: a specifier and a complement. They are called so because they are not obligatory. Complements are modifiers closely linked to the head and form with it a constituent. Specifiers modify this head + complement constituent and form another constituent. [specifier[head + cpl]].
(A)
X
Specifier Y
Head cpl
(N)
Head categories include major syntactic categories as N, V, A…. as the head is the core of the phrase, it plays a crucial role in selecting the appropriate specifiers and complements and that’s why we must reflect the importance of the head in the structural labels given to the phrase.
Ns head: noun phrases (NPs)
Vs head: verb phrases (VPs)
Ps head: preposition phrase (PPs)
In between the heads which are called sometimes 0 level categories, N°, V 0… and the maximal projections NP, VP, AP… occurs the constituent composed of the head and its complement. We label this constituent as the head + diacritic bar , this the structure of the NP in English:
(B)
NP
Specifier
N Cpl
The author’s book on linguistics
The structural configurations illustrated in (A) and (B) are thought to be common to all phrases whatever the head, accordingly, we can say that in all languages any X° projects into another constituent of type consisting of the head and its complement and this constituent projects into the maximal projection XP (V or N or A…) consisting of the and its specifier VPs, NPs, APs, PPs in English will then have the same structure as NP. It follows that the structure of phrases is determined by an invariant universal principle which requires that X° projects into and that projects into XP consisting of + its specifier which is a complement. At the same time individual languages vary as to whether the head appears to the left or right of its complement and whether the specifier appears to the left or to the right of . For example in English, French and Italian specifiers typically precede the head and complements follow it. Whereas in Japanese and Turkish for example, both specifiers and complements precede the head. Thus:
XP
Specifier
Cpl X°
The linear ordering of specifier with respect to constituents and X° with respect to complements is a parameter of variation allowed within the invariant principle of UG determining phrase structure. Particular languages have selected different values of the parameter.
A certain empiricist and constructivist at the same time (Putnam) questions the scientific validity of Chomsky’s arguments: those that lead Chomsky’s argument about the precursors of language. If these arguments are put into question it is the whole theory which is questioned. Putnam has countered Chomsky’s argument by comparing the number of hours spent by a child in learning a language with that of an adult learning a 2nd language. He claims that a child of 4 or 5 years (the age by which Chomsky claims that the essentials of language are there) who has learnt the essentials of language spent much more time in the process than would an adult and that this time which is devoted by the child to processing the language is not a short period at all. To better understand Putnam’s argument let’s create our concrete example: first he says let’s compute the number of hours of exposure to the language that an ordinary four year old child gets. We could assume that the number of hours per day that the child devote to be exposed to language is about 10. He adds that when the child was younger, he would have slept more, but let us take 10 hours as a round figure. Since there are 365 days a year, that gives 10*365=3650 hours per year. Over a period of 4 years we have 14400 hours: is it a large number of hours or not? Let’s compare this number with the number of hours that, say a student, is exposed to in one language course at school over the period of a semester. If the student has 5 class hours per week, and studies for two hours after each class hour that makes 15 hours per week, if one semester lasts 18 weeks that would be a total of 15*18= 270 hours for the semester. Let’s say the student studies all the year round by taking 3 semesters of the language; that would make 270*3= 810 hours. If the student had as many exposure hours as the child, then the student would have to study a language at school for the equivalent of 17.8 years. Is 17 years long enough for an adult to learn the essential grammar of a language? Putnam thinks so, and so would most people. If the adult come trim some years from that 17 in order to accomplish the task , a not unlikely possibility, the adult, contrary to Chomsky’s presupposition would then be an even faster learner than the child. The number of hours that the child spends in learning its native language is not small contrary to Chomsky’s claim, this implies not so easy when compared to that of that an adult learning a 2nd language. That being the case there is no need to create something special to assist the child in language learning. Language acquisition, he concludes, can be accounted for by step by step learning a long empiricist life. There is no scientific need to posit the existence of innate language ideas maintains Putnam. Another problem concerns an implied premise for Chomsky’s argument. Because Chomsky states that Children learn faster than adults and that this higher or superior speed is the result of the child having UG to help out. The implication is that adults do not have the benefit of innate language ideas. Why should this be so? If adults are denied the benefit of UG, then, UG either weakens or dries out altogether with age. Yet, this could not be so because adults are able to learn languages. If Chomsky wishes to argue here that adults would with the weakening or loss of UG have to learn language in some step by step empiricist way then he would have to argue that such learning is not possible. Otherwise, he would be contradicting one of his other major arguments, for the existence of UG: the argument that every language has certain essential principles or functions that could no possibly be acquired thru experience (and whose counterparts in the G theory are not specific ‘general features responsible for the reorganization of the whole situation’). Yet, it is a fact that, given enough time and proper language and environmental input, adult language learners can learn a foreign grammar rather way. Everything considered, it would seem to Chomsky’s advantage to drop this argument in favor of Universal Grammar in its entirety. The argument suffers from both empirical and internal theoretical flaws.
Between nativism and empiricist behaviorism Piaget’s constructivism summarized in his famous maxim “there is no genesis without structures, there are no structures without genesis” seems to offer a new explanatory solutions.
Genesis: formation of knowledge (learning)
Structure: biological counterpart
Piaget’s Schemata (knowledge is constructed) and Chomsky’s precursors of language (language growth, does not depend on the environment)
- Number of schemata and their properties
- fuller’s experiments depriving animals
a certain Papert suggests “if you make a list of structures and notions and rules or whatever you call them found in adult intelligence and if you ask which of them is innate the answer will be none. When we transpose the observation to the problems raised by Chomsky, the observation turns into the suggestion that the hard work here will be discovering the precursors out of which linguistic structures emerge. And then, we will have to understand the precursors of those precursors and by a longer or shorter chain of genesis eventually arrive at the properties of the initial state. This is what developmental studies are about.”
Relate Papert’s view to the first:
- Papert stipulates that structures, notions and rules are not innate; Piaget: genesis and structures are interdependent: knowledge is constructed
- Piaget stipulates that knowledge is not passively acquired and the human mind is not an empty slate in which we pour knowledge. Papert confirms this and says that we have to understand the precursors of the precursors of the linguistic structures There is a mental and cognitive counterpart for the biological counterpart of language
- Try to account for the environment in terms of the nativists theory and of the environmentalist theory. What is the difference? The environment is given a specific function in the nativists theory (ignition key, it doesn’t determine the components and their relatedness of the system) Environment is given another function in the constructivism/ it determine the complexity and Systematicity of the engine itself.
The case of deaf children doesn’t refute Chomsky’s nativists claim,
A new explanatory solution is needed:
- Implications of Piaget’s constructivism on language learning;: when we transpose the observations,
- Piaget considers all cognitive acquisition, language included, as the product of a progressive construction (regulated by accommodation and assimilation). What is innate for Piaget is a general ability to recombine the successive levels of a more and more intensive cognitive organization which explains the snowball effect envisaged by Piaget. (it reorganizes the structures, it is not added to the older layers) (Phenocopy: some exogenous factors can modify the genetically determined potential. This modification can be transmitted through generations to the individual. It concerns the individual (vs. group with Natural selection) and it is not about developing a new function)
- Can we explain the learner’s conversion of the input into actual knowledge by the two way process (assimilation and accommodation)?
• The book that I bought yesterday accommodation: student noticed the difference between the two pronouns tried to modify the relative construction of Arabic so that it fits the relative construction of English. It is not thru a simple addition, that his happens, the learner reorganizes the relative construction. Or he creates a new file to receive the specificities the new construction in English. That’s why many researchers claim that we learn only the difference between the native language and the target language.
• * The book that I bought it yesterday assimilation: the relative construction is conceived of thru the Arabic schema
• * Quand je prendrai, he ferai attention
• * he goed to school => he adds to his previous schemata (past= v+ed). He imposed his internal pattern that he constructed on the new verbal stimulus to go. This is an instance of assimilation.
• * are you interested with music
In terms of Piaget’s schemata, the learner can modify the simple past schema in such a way that it fits the new verb. Seeing the subcategorization given the considerable number of irregular verbs he feels the need to create a new file for the irregular verbs.
Those invariable principles (similarities) described by Chomsky are there and they account for what is correct and what is not and the parameters of variation (resetting). Roussou and Simpli’s suggest that the learners do not have to reset the parameters, rather he misanalysis the material of the TL to make it fit the material of the NT. The learner is misanalyzing the relative construction of English.
Motherese
There have been a number of observation studies of the language addressed to small children by mothers, other adults or older children. These studies have shown that this so called caretaker speech has a number of characteristics which distinguish it from typical speech between adults. These characteristics are:
1- It is generally spoken more slowly and distinctly
2- It contains shorter utterances
3- It is more grammatical with fewer broken sentences or false starts
4- It contains fewer complex sentences (two clauses for example)
5- There is less variety of tenses
6- The range of vocabulary is more limited
7- There is more repetition
8- The speech is more closely related to the here and now
Performance does not reflect competence
1st interpretation:
They do not support Chomsky’s claim, children are guided and assisted.
1- What makes the adult speaker speak more slowly and distinctly?
The law of shapeness is at work (concerning n°1 & 2 & 4 & 5 ).
3 against Chomsky’s idea speaker listener.
6 corresponds to the restricted environment of the child
7 confirms the stimulus response theory
8 motor activity & perceived reality connection
Compare the characteristic with Chomsky’s claim: the child can process concrete utterances, performance phenomena… The child is offered a kind of a simplified language to extract the rules from. He is not left with that crude material.
2nd interpretation
It may be the case that motherese rather than being the result of some unconscious effort on the part of the mother to teach language is just a response by the mother to the child’s linguistic system. That is the change in the mother’s speech is caused by the child rather than the mother actively affecting the child’s development.
The objective of the mother is not to facilitate or to make the child understand, her purpose is to communicate with him. She adjusts her speech to the child’s developing grammar. This code switching makes part of our linguistic intuition. The 2nd version does not undermine Chomsky’s claim given that the mother is simply adjusting her speech. (language growth hypothesis, the child goes thru developmental stages till he reaches a the steady state)
1- The psychologist can get many interesting insights from electro-encephalography. Can you specify them and illustrate their actual relevance to psychology?
2- When do the phenomena of synchronization and desynchronization occur? What kind of activity does each engender? How many rhythms can we identify?
3- Is awareness measurable?
4- The delta rhythm is vital for the survival of the young baby. Explain
5- What conclusions can we draw from Fuller’s experiment with dogs?
6- What is the difference between the Cortex and the sub-cortical parts of the brain?
7- Which learning theory do these arguments support: empiricism or rationalism?
8- Try to write your own definition of learning
9- Are the terms mind and brain interchangeable?
10- Is psychology the science of mental life or the science of behavior?
11- Can you visualize any similarity between behaviorist psychology and computing science?
The substance of the cortical cells is similar between animals and humans. The difference is in the number of the cortical cells and the interconnections between them.
Notes and argument concerning Behaviorism
Behaviorism resolved the mind/body problem is a most direct way. Behaviorists self-consciously did their best to eliminate mind and consciousness from the vocabulary of psychology. Using mind as an explanatory concept was not scientifically justified for them, the behaviorists were extremely successful in their endeavor because for them, the definition of psychology changed from the science of the mind to the science of behavior. In general, behaviorists tended to focus on environmental influences (we should make the distinction between the environmental influences as viewed by constructivists and behaviorists) rather than genetic ones; the major issue for them was learning. What are the conditions by which organisms change their behavior? This included everything from learning to reach for a mother’s nipple, to carry on a conversation, to solve calculus problems, social behavior, cognitive behavior, personality and eating disorders were all a functions of conditions of learning. The problems facing all behaviorists were to articulate the learning processes and with them the particular conditions that lead to different behaviors. Theoretical psychologists (academic and experimental) studied the general principles of learning. Social psychologists studied the conditions under which social behaviors were learnt. Clinical psychologists studied how to teach the mentally ill to unlearn their negative behaviors and to learn to replace them with more appropriate behaviors. Educational psychologists wanted to establish methods to apply learning principles to children so that they could learn academically appropriate behaviors easier. According to the behaviorist doctrine, psychology is essentially the study of understanding the varied conditions of learning, varied human behaviors so that behavior could be predicted, modified and controlled.
The major figures of behaviorism
Pavlov 1839 1936
- Pavlov was an excellent experimenter; he studied the sequence of secretions from the insertion of food into the mouth through its breakdown and absorption by the body.
- Pavlov discovered conditional reflexes by investigating irregularities of reflex action. At times, certain secretions were emitted by the organism without an identifiable cause, the so called psychic secretions
- He attempted to find the source of the irregularities and showed that they were explainable on the basis of past experiences of a particular kind
- Pavlov argued that what is mental should be reduced to measurable (cortical interconnection, acids conveyed by the cortical circuits) physiological quantities. His concept of conditional response was extremely influential and Pavlov believed that they were due to nervous system processes and many of his explanations depended on his concepts of excitation and inhibition of nervous activity.
John Wattson 1838 1958
First founded behaviorism a strong environmentalist extremely influential in setting the pattern for American psychology for more than a generation. For him, conditioned and unconditioned reflexes can account for all of our behavior. For him, consciousness plays no greater role in psychology than in physics. That’s why Watson psychology was viewed as mechanistic.
Clark Hull 1884 1952
His basic ideas derived from Pavlov. He proposed a hypothetico-deductive system (guided by prior hypotheses) with independent dependent and intervening variables who hoped to write the laws of behavior of organisms similar to Newton’s laws of motion in physics arguing that if one knew the initial conditions, s/he could predict the behavior by applying a formula. He argued that behavior was a consequence of innate reflexes as they were modified by previous learning the current situation and the motivational state of the organism. The different components of behavior could be independently assessed and entered into the equation of behavior. Behavior was under the control of the stimulus situation and the state of the organism. The state of the organism was represented by intervening variables which entered in the equation to derive the observed behavior.
Miller
Coleman
Skinner
Based on illustrations:
Proximity causes us to group the dots or to perceive the dots into three pairs of vertical columns. Proximity is given and not acquired and it determines our perception of the stimulation Similarity causes us to see vertical rather than horizontal lines of dots.
Proximity and similarity are opposed and the resultant grouping is unstable.
The G admit the source of knowledge is the external world. We are left with a sort of common denominator between the empiricist behaviorist who claims that the true source of knowledge is the external environment and the G psychologists.
Questions
1- The basic differences between empiricist behaviorism and the G theory, difference between the G theory and the modular view or the rationalistic claim.
Specific features for modular view and general ones for the G theory (genetically determined features which are behind by any environmental stimulation perceived by the organism)
Modular view G theory Empiricist behaviorism
Active Less passive Passive subject
Theoretical framework of x bar theory
The sub-theory of UG which is related to the structure of phrases is known as x-bar theory. The structure of phrases used to make sentences in all languages is of unique basic type. It consists of a main or head category which is the core of the phrase and two different types of modifiers: a specifier and a complement. They are called so because they are not obligatory. Complements are modifiers closely linked to the head and form with it a constituent. Specifiers modify this head + complement constituent and form another constituent. [specifier[head + cpl]].
(A)
X
Specifier Y
Head cpl
(N)
Head categories include major syntactic categories as N, V, A…. as the head is the core of the phrase, it plays a crucial role in selecting the appropriate specifiers and complements and that’s why we must reflect the importance of the head in the structural labels given to the phrase.
Ns head: noun phrases (NPs)
Vs head: verb phrases (VPs)
Ps head: preposition phrase (PPs)
In between the heads which are called sometimes 0 level categories, N°, V 0… and the maximal projections NP, VP, AP… occurs the constituent composed of the head and its complement. We label this constituent as the head + diacritic bar , this the structure of the NP in English:
(B)
NP
Specifier
N Cpl
The author’s book on linguistics
The structural configurations illustrated in (A) and (B) are thought to be common to all phrases whatever the head, accordingly, we can say that in all languages any X° projects into another constituent of type consisting of the head and its complement and this constituent projects into the maximal projection XP (V or N or A…) consisting of the and its specifier VPs, NPs, APs, PPs in English will then have the same structure as NP. It follows that the structure of phrases is determined by an invariant universal principle which requires that X° projects into and that projects into XP consisting of + its specifier which is a complement. At the same time individual languages vary as to whether the head appears to the left or right of its complement and whether the specifier appears to the left or to the right of . For example in English, French and Italian specifiers typically precede the head and complements follow it. Whereas in Japanese and Turkish for example, both specifiers and complements precede the head. Thus:
XP
Specifier
Cpl X°
The linear ordering of specifier with respect to constituents and X° with respect to complements is a parameter of variation allowed within the invariant principle of UG determining phrase structure. Particular languages have selected different values of the parameter.
A certain empiricist and constructivist at the same time (Putnam) questions the scientific validity of Chomsky’s arguments: those that lead Chomsky’s argument about the precursors of language. If these arguments are put into question it is the whole theory which is questioned. Putnam has countered Chomsky’s argument by comparing the number of hours spent by a child in learning a language with that of an adult learning a 2nd language. He claims that a child of 4 or 5 years (the age by which Chomsky claims that the essentials of language are there) who has learnt the essentials of language spent much more time in the process than would an adult and that this time which is devoted by the child to processing the language is not a short period at all. To better understand Putnam’s argument let’s create our concrete example: first he says let’s compute the number of hours of exposure to the language that an ordinary four year old child gets. We could assume that the number of hours per day that the child devote to be exposed to language is about 10. He adds that when the child was younger, he would have slept more, but let us take 10 hours as a round figure. Since there are 365 days a year, that gives 10*365=3650 hours per year. Over a period of 4 years we have 14400 hours: is it a large number of hours or not? Let’s compare this number with the number of hours that, say a student, is exposed to in one language course at school over the period of a semester. If the student has 5 class hours per week, and studies for two hours after each class hour that makes 15 hours per week, if one semester lasts 18 weeks that would be a total of 15*18= 270 hours for the semester. Let’s say the student studies all the year round by taking 3 semesters of the language; that would make 270*3= 810 hours. If the student had as many exposure hours as the child, then the student would have to study a language at school for the equivalent of 17.8 years. Is 17 years long enough for an adult to learn the essential grammar of a language? Putnam thinks so, and so would most people. If the adult come trim some years from that 17 in order to accomplish the task , a not unlikely possibility, the adult, contrary to Chomsky’s presupposition would then be an even faster learner than the child. The number of hours that the child spends in learning its native language is not small contrary to Chomsky’s claim, this implies not so easy when compared to that of that an adult learning a 2nd language. That being the case there is no need to create something special to assist the child in language learning. Language acquisition, he concludes, can be accounted for by step by step learning a long empiricist life. There is no scientific need to posit the existence of innate language ideas maintains Putnam. Another problem concerns an implied premise for Chomsky’s argument. Because Chomsky states that Children learn faster than adults and that this higher or superior speed is the result of the child having UG to help out. The implication is that adults do not have the benefit of innate language ideas. Why should this be so? If adults are denied the benefit of UG, then, UG either weakens or dries out altogether with age. Yet, this could not be so because adults are able to learn languages. If Chomsky wishes to argue here that adults would with the weakening or loss of UG have to learn language in some step by step empiricist way then he would have to argue that such learning is not possible. Otherwise, he would be contradicting one of his other major arguments, for the existence of UG: the argument that every language has certain essential principles or functions that could no possibly be acquired thru experience (and whose counterparts in the G theory are not specific ‘general features responsible for the reorganization of the whole situation’). Yet, it is a fact that, given enough time and proper language and environmental input, adult language learners can learn a foreign grammar rather way. Everything considered, it would seem to Chomsky’s advantage to drop this argument in favor of Universal Grammar in its entirety. The argument suffers from both empirical and internal theoretical flaws.
Between nativism and empiricist behaviorism Piaget’s constructivism summarized in his famous maxim “there is no genesis without structures, there are no structures without genesis” seems to offer a new explanatory solutions.
Genesis: formation of knowledge (learning)
Structure: biological counterpart
Piaget’s Schemata (knowledge is constructed) and Chomsky’s precursors of language (language growth, does not depend on the environment)
- Number of schemata and their properties
- fuller’s experiments depriving animals
a certain Papert suggests “if you make a list of structures and notions and rules or whatever you call them found in adult intelligence and if you ask which of them is innate the answer will be none. When we transpose the observation to the problems raised by Chomsky, the observation turns into the suggestion that the hard work here will be discovering the precursors out of which linguistic structures emerge. And then, we will have to understand the precursors of those precursors and by a longer or shorter chain of genesis eventually arrive at the properties of the initial state. This is what developmental studies are about.”
Relate Papert’s view to the first:
- Papert stipulates that structures, notions and rules are not innate; Piaget: genesis and structures are interdependent: knowledge is constructed
- Piaget stipulates that knowledge is not passively acquired and the human mind is not an empty slate in which we pour knowledge. Papert confirms this and says that we have to understand the precursors of the precursors of the linguistic structures There is a mental and cognitive counterpart for the biological counterpart of language
- Try to account for the environment in terms of the nativists theory and of the environmentalist theory. What is the difference? The environment is given a specific function in the nativists theory (ignition key, it doesn’t determine the components and their relatedness of the system) Environment is given another function in the constructivism/ it determine the complexity and Systematicity of the engine itself.
The case of deaf children doesn’t refute Chomsky’s nativists claim,
A new explanatory solution is needed:
- Implications of Piaget’s constructivism on language learning;: when we transpose the observations,
- Piaget considers all cognitive acquisition, language included, as the product of a progressive construction (regulated by accommodation and assimilation). What is innate for Piaget is a general ability to recombine the successive levels of a more and more intensive cognitive organization which explains the snowball effect envisaged by Piaget. (it reorganizes the structures, it is not added to the older layers) (Phenocopy: some exogenous factors can modify the genetically determined potential. This modification can be transmitted through generations to the individual. It concerns the individual (vs. group with Natural selection) and it is not about developing a new function)
- Can we explain the learner’s conversion of the input into actual knowledge by the two way process (assimilation and accommodation)?
• The book that I bought yesterday accommodation: student noticed the difference between the two pronouns tried to modify the relative construction of Arabic so that it fits the relative construction of English. It is not thru a simple addition, that his happens, the learner reorganizes the relative construction. Or he creates a new file to receive the specificities the new construction in English. That’s why many researchers claim that we learn only the difference between the native language and the target language.
• * The book that I bought it yesterday assimilation: the relative construction is conceived of thru the Arabic schema
• * Quand je prendrai, he ferai attention
• * he goed to school => he adds to his previous schemata (past= v+ed). He imposed his internal pattern that he constructed on the new verbal stimulus to go. This is an instance of assimilation.
• * are you interested with music
In terms of Piaget’s schemata, the learner can modify the simple past schema in such a way that it fits the new verb. Seeing the subcategorization given the considerable number of irregular verbs he feels the need to create a new file for the irregular verbs.
Those invariable principles (similarities) described by Chomsky are there and they account for what is correct and what is not and the parameters of variation (resetting). Roussou and Simpli’s suggest that the learners do not have to reset the parameters, rather he misanalysis the material of the TL to make it fit the material of the NT. The learner is misanalyzing the relative construction of English.
educational psychology course
Syllabus:
- elements of educational psychology
- learning foundations and mechanisms
- The 1st learning theory: empiricism and behaviorism
- Gestalt theory
- Rationalism and mentalism
- Piaget constructivism
- Learning and language
- Examination and tests
- The teacher’s task
I) Elements of educational psychology
The application of psychology to education is not a recent enterprise, and it goes back to the age of primitive tribes. But it is only recently that this application has been given a scientific framework. It is important to show the relevance of educational psychology to the task of teaching or to instruction in general.
The human mind can process language whether first or second without assistance or formal instruction. The human mind draws on some universal strategies. If the human mind can do without instruction how can we identify the precise role of the teacher/materials…? The actual role of the teacher is not to determine learning but to facilitate it. Learning does not depend on teaching. Before worrying about the teaching activity we have to be informed about the complex process of learning. Educational psychology relates to those areas of psychology of most practical value to the instructor. It is concerned not only with issues relating to the classroom but with issues relating to the learner’s background, the learner as an individual outside the academic environment, issues relating to the learner’s own self-perceptions and self-concept. This kind of information is necessary for the teacher to make objective professional decisions and judgments to constantly review his expectations/ plans. Educational psychology relates the findings of psychological development to classroom practice without necessarily providing teachers with ready made classroom techniques; Hence, the difference between the teacher training (what actually happens in the classroom) and the teacher education (those theoretical insights about learning process that help the teacher revise his expectations). Educational psychology has no final answers to all the questions that face us in education. Learners and teachers are individuals so they should be considered as complex individuals and since there is a complexity of measurement and evaluation (this complexity doesn’t lend itself to direct observation); hence the challenging role of educational psychology. It provides the instructor with information about the factors that determine the learner’s behavior and helps him in envisaging strategies to handle his teaching activity. Educational psychology helps us understand the origins and the causers of individual differences (variability). Individuals are not equally intelligent; they do not have the same personality, creativity or motor skills, which shows that they do not have the same potential of learning. Educational psychologists seek to determine whether differences among individuals are genetically determined or the result of the environment. The teacher needs to be informed about the origins of these differences. One of the major objectives of educational psychology is to highlight the fundamental processes involved in psychological development. That’s why it gives primary importance to the way young children endowed their behavior to their environment and we can explain this interest in children in terms of two main reasons:
- 1st to determine how a helpless unconscious and totally dependent new born human manages to become a knowledgeable adult. How he can gain knowledge from different domains of knowledge. It is this process of development which is the chief concern of educational psychology. (genetic epistemology as referred to by a school of thought)
- 2nd to determine the relationship between the social context and childhood. Roughly speaking the study of psychological development involves the following points:
The major aspects of physical development and mainly the central nervous system (any activity is always under the control of the brain)
The way physical development and psychological development are determined by the experience of the individual.
The process of learning in man as a social being, the role of language
The way in which children form ideas about the world
The different categories of thinking used by children.
The child’s acquisition of complex habits of thought
The ultimate objective of educational psychology is to help the instructor apply his knowledge of these processes to the classroom activity; hence, the association between the two disciplines: psychology and education.
The difference between empiricism and behaviorism (tradition, claims and approach)
Empiricism can be viewed as an experimental method that relies solely on experience (the theory that sense-experience is the only source of knowledge)
Behaviorism is the doctrine that observes behavior provides the only valid data of psychology. (what is not observable does not exist) it rejects the concept of mind and consciousness.
Rationalism: the doctrine that knowledge comes from the intellect without assistance from the senses.
Mentalism: the doctrine that all objects exist only when perceived by some mind.
Empiricists believe that the only source of true knowledge about the universe is sensory experience (what can be seen heard, tasted... or what can be inferred about the relation between or invariance among such sensory facts) empiricism has played a dual role in the history of psychology for it provides both a method to increase knowledge and a theory about the growth of the mind. As a method, empiricism means that we learn by making observations, by having new experiences, by conducting experiments.
As a psychological theory, empiricism means that the child’s mind at birth is a blank slate upon which experience will write.
It is possible, of course, to apply the empirical method (conducting experiments to show the scientific validity of a scientific idea) without subscribing an empiricist theory of the mind.
Behaviorism as a learning theory: the idea was first formulated as follows: behaviorist psychologists discarded the mind, for them the mind is a simple system of connection and they claim that if we isolate the elementary connection processes then we can control the very material that minds are made of. The Russian physiologist Pavlov had shown one way to study the formation of connection in animals. (the connection between the cortical cells) he concluded that similar analysis should be possible for human behavior. If one thinks of learning as a process of establishing connections between stimuli and responses then the connection either exists (it becomes established as a habit) or it doesn’t exist. If it exists it exists at a strength that increases and decreases as a function of many different variables. To locate it doesn’t matter; whereas remembering which means making an appropriate response when a stimulus is repeated is something we do, not something we have, hence the difference between the structure and the function). This approach has the great advantage of being related directly to observable events (to observable stimuli and responses and their co-occurrences). The SR (stimulus response) theory had long been a popular approach in the US and in general, it is characterized by:
- 1st, their emphasis on peripheral muscular mechanisms, chained reflexes, movement produced stimuli, rather than on central brain processes as the source of behavioral integration.
- 2nd, their insistence that what we learn are not passive facts but active responses.
- 3rd, their faith that trial and error rather than is the basic mode of learning (which explains conditioning) and SR theorist has little use for quiet reflection (the organisms he studies are on the move struggling, responding and changing constantly).
The corner stone of SR theory was the following idea: whenever a response to some stimulus has the effect of reducing the biological drive (need); the strength of that stimulus-response link will be increased. The idea that we repeat actions hat were successful before is well established. In this behaviorist hypothesis, nothing is assumed about understanding the connection between the response and the satisfactions that follow it. If an organism is hungry in situation S and if some response “r” is followed immediately by Fe, then, the habit of responding “r” in situation S will be automatically reinforced. On closer reflection one recognizes that the situation in general is composed of many different stimuli for example on internal (physical) stimuli produced by hunger of current environmental sounds and of persisting traces of previous environmental stimuli and of stimuli resulting directly from the organisms or movements. An account of a particular instance of learning must specify all the connections fold (established) between each of these varieties of stimulation and the sequence of responses that leads to the goal; however, the weakness of this assumption is that all these SR links are established unconsciously and automatically that’s the whole theory is called “mechanistic theories” i.e. without intention or insight. The mechanistic theory is against the modular view of mind which claims that the human mind is divided into different modules, each being responsible for the acquisition and for the processing of distinct domains of knowledge. Behaviorist psychologists distinguish three general principles of learning:
1st, The Law of Exercise which claims that learning is promoted by active and repeated responses to stimuli
2nd, The Law of Effect stressing the importance of reinforcing the learner’s responses by rewarding or at least accepting correct responses and rejecting non-target-like ones.
3rd, The Law of Shaping (the Law of Readiness) according to this principle learning is promoted if complex behaviors are broken down into learnable components (units).
Behaviorist psychologists claim the learning takes place inductively thru analogy rather than analysis. They claim if transfer did not occur man would profit little from experience. As far as language learning is concerned they claim that the child imitates the sounds coming from his environment and people recognize the child’s attempts to reproduce these sounds as being similar to the adult models, so they reinforce them by approval and to get more rewards, this child repeats the sounds till they become verbal habits.
II) learning foundations and mechanisms
What is learning? How does it work? What does it require? Is it governed by specific rules? Is it controllable? Is it measurable? Is it specific to human beings? Can animals learn? Do we all learn the same way?
Let’s consider the following maxim “when an organism learns it adapts its behavior to cope with changes in its environment” we all know the organisms never seize interacting with their environments (via their senses) so they always adapt their behaviors to cope with what is new, with what is unfamiliar, unknown. Since every new situation requires a new and different form of behavior for adaptation, the mechanism of adaptation must be fluid. The complexity of an organism’s adaptation to its environment depends on the complexity of its nervous system which controls every movement and of course the nervous system would be of little use if it were isolated from its environment.
The way information coming from the environment is processed:
We can identify those organs that receive information. They are called “the receptors”. Information is then sent to the nervous system “thru nerve fibers” to be analyzed and then it is sent to the “effectors”, in other words to those organs which act on the environment. The principle is the same in animals and human beings but human beings are equipped with organs much more sophisticated and complex and namely “the human nervous system”. The receptors and effectors act under constant control of the brain which includes 4 principle systems or structures (organic counter part of the function fulfilled by the structure: eg; Eyes= structure, function= sight).
1st, Reticular formation; the structure which responsible for the state of alertness of the organism, it enables it to exert full control over the environment and maintains a sort of readiness to react immediately
2nd, the Hypothalamus is the structure that regulates many basic body functions as temperature for example and registers’ states of organic needs.
3rd, the Limbic system which is the structure that controls emotions, behavior, smell, etc… It is thought to play a certain role in recalling things and events. In other words, it is connected to memory.
4th, Cortex which is the structure that controls and regulates our mental activity
These organic structures act coherently to determine the organism’s adaptation to environmental stimulation in general. In this respect, behaviorism provides a model of learning that rests upon and depends on the phenomenon of conditioning (conditioning of the organism to environmental stimulation) whose scientific validity has been well attested in the domain of physiology and namely reflexology. This idea dates back to the works of the Russian physiologist Pavlov and his identification of the stimulus-response bond that served as a basis for later psychological models providing an explanation of learning. Pavlov’s experiments were conducted with 2 stimuli: the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus. An unconditioned stimulus (US) is an event that reflexively produces a response called an unconditioned response (UR) even in the absence of previous experience or training. A conditioned stimulus (CS) is a neutral cue that when paired/associated with the unconditioned stimulus comes to illicit a conditioned response (CR) similar to the original unconditioned response, hence the idea of conditioning.
This can be illustrated as follows:
Before conditioning During conditioning After conditioning
CS no response
Metronome
Provides the exact time by emitting a sound at regular intervals. (this device should be neutral) CS UR
Metronome: salivation
followed by the US (the same environmental stimulation: meat powder)
CS CR
Metronome salivation
US UR
Meat powder salivation CS x US UR
Classical conditioning was later studied in humans and it was the behaviorist Watson who conducted the same experiments to show the conditioning of fear reaction in a 9 month old infant Albert. The unconditioned stimulus in Watson’s experiment was allowed noise produced by striking a hammer on a four food long suspended steel bar and this produced an unconditioned response as well attested by sudden disturbances in breathing patterns, crying, etc… Two months after his experience with the US the same child Albert was given a harmless white rat as a potential playmate and when he reached for the rat, the steel bar was once again struck immediately behind Albert’s head. Here the horrible noise acting as an unconditioned stimulus and causing the same disturbances UR & when Albert was presented with the rat one week later, but with no loud sound he began to cry showing the same reaction of fear; hence, the argument was made that people express different emotional reactions to the environment because of their different experiences. A variety of training conditions are thought to influence the strength of classical conditioning. There is a positive relationship between the strength of the conditioned response and the intensity of either the conditioned stimulus or the unconditioned stimulus. In this case of Albert, the stimuli were so intense that a substantial amount of learning took place on a single trial. In the sequence of acquisition of the conditioned response to the conditioned stimulus the conditioned stimulus is always neuter; otherwise, it becomes an unconditioned stimulus eliciting an unconditioned response i.e. a response that is not controlled by the organism producing it. This is show by the phenomenon of deconditioning or unlearning the response. In the case of Pavlov’s experiment, it consists in repeatedly presenting the conditioning stimulus (sounding the metronome which acts as a CS) without presenting food (which acts as an US). After many trials, the conditioned response is lost, it fades out. This phenomenon is called ‘extinction’. Experimental extinction (unlearning) has then been used to unlearn undesirable conditioned responses in the cognitive domain (cognitive psychology e.g. Mental disorders) as well as in the social domain to unlearn bad behaviors and as such we are left with the phenomenon of acquisition: CR to CS and its opposite, the phenomenon of extinction.
Instrumental conditioning
There are two basic types of associative learning. We have classical conditioning or learning and instrumental learning (as the behavior is used as an instrument in producing some change in acting on the environment thru the subject’s constant interaction with it). In other words, the change will determine the efficiency of learning and it was Edward Thorandike who identified instrumental learning with his famous “cat in the puzzle-box” experiments. it consisted in depriving the animal of food and placing it in a small box. The experimentor puts food outside and he places a device inside the cage acting as a lever to open the gate of the cage from inside. He observed that the animal’s spontaneous behavior produced the intended result as it discovered the relation between responding and the positive consequences: the reward consisting in having the gate open. Thorandike assumed that it is the bond between a stimulus S and a response R that determines the organism’s behavior. The SR connection according to Thorandike is established automatically, in other words, without depending on the organism’s awareness which means that it does not include insights: The mechanism which is responsible for the transformation of a new connection into a habit being the law of effect; in other words, the effect of a response on the environment. It acts as a positive reinforcement when the response leads to satisfaction. The connection is consolidated and the resulting behavior will occur systematically under the conditions that activated it initially. The opposite effect will result if the response does not lead to satisfaction, to frustration or annoyance for example. This has the effect of punishment.
Instrumental vs. classical conditioning
The American psychologist skinner decided to explore the phenomenon of reinforcement and his major objective was to determine the effects of manipulation on this phenomenon in different organisms. Skinner made a clear distinction between classical conditioning and instrumental conditioning and the difference between the two can be illustrated by Skinner’s own diagram.
Classical Conditioning
a) S1 ------ R1 (attends the sound of the bell: not important)
(bell)
b) S2 ------ R2 (salivation: eating)
(food)
a) S1 ------ R1which is not important
naturally evokes
b) S2 ------ R2 but as S1 is presented almost at the same time (contiguity) as S2, S1become naturally evokes linked with R2 so that S1 eventually elicits R2
S1 eventually elicits R2
c) S1 (bell) ------- R2 (Salivation) ----------- S2 (food) -------- R2 (salivation)
Instrumental conditioning
(d) S1 (lever) ----- R1 (pressing) ------ S2 (food) -------- R2 (salivation)
SA-R2 (via R1 S2)
In Skinner’s instrumental conditioning, the activation of the lever results in the presentation of food. According to the diagram the lever acts as a stimulus and this stimulus is neuter initially (before the animal’s discovery of its actual efficiency) In its trial and error behavior the animal acts on the lever. In other words, it responds to that stimulus by pressing it without having any idea about the effect of that lever as intended by the conditioner. The animal then notices the effect its response had, so we can say that the pressing response is instrumental in producing a reinforcer (food) and this reinforcer will act as a stimulus S2 for response R2 which is salivation. It should be noted that the amount of food which is presented when the lever is activated does not satisfy the animal’s hunger. It is meant to attract his attention only and once the animal has noticed the relationship between the stimulus ‘lever’ and the response ‘our hungry animal’ continues to press the lever to get more food until its need is completely satisfied.
The second question: Consider the organism with all the complexity of highly developed central nervous system. The system manipulates and processes the input. It is the second question that was considered by another learning theory which is the Gestalt Theory (theory of the form). When we consider the condition approach, learning would be a simple process of connecting environmental stimulation to the different responses produced by the organism. This principle was questioned y the Gestalt theory which admits that environmental stimulation constitute the sources of knowledge which doesn’t necessarily entail a similarity between empiricism or associanist empiricism and the G theory. A common denominator between the two is environmental stimulation. G admits environmental stimulation constitute the sources of knowledge but rejects the associanist (identifying x with y) principle of behaviorist psychology which reduced learning to connecting. In this respect, Kohler, one of the leading G psychologists argued “explanation of our intellectual life in terms of conditioning would simply mean its reduction to the operations of an often most practical but intrinsically blind connection of mere facts” hence the mechanistic aspect of the conditioning theory. G psychologists and the terms Gestalt means configuration or pattern are chiefly concerned with the field of perception and the way (two types of organism ‘human and animal’ and there is a difference between the way information is perceived by the human brain and that of the animal. The most important difference is in the symbolic function of the human organism, this symbolic function is responsible for the conversion of the precepts into concepts) we perceive environmental inputs. G psychologists identified precise laws of perception, all showing that we cannot cut off the study of behavior (the resulting behavior) from its roots in the organism and more precisely its roots in the mental activity of the organism. Proximity, similarity, symmetry, opposition, asymmetry are examples of those laws that determine our perception of things and they combine together in such a way that the whole configuration appears more than the sum of its parts. The idea is that the significance of a situation or pattern of stimuli is in the total pattern and not in its single constituent. This view is the opposite of the conditioning theories in that it stresses the importance of the total situation or configuration whereas the principle of conditioning in those theories rests basically on the separate elements. In other words, an element of the situation acting as a stimulus that elicits (produces) a response. In this context, the G psycho argues that the significance of a dish of the specialty is not in the individual ingredients nor is the significance of a piece of music in the individual notes. Kohler conducted many experiments on Chimpanzees to understand how this animal learnt to solve problems. Among these experiments we can mention the following: a chimp is placed in a cage and a banana is put out of reach outside. At the other end of the cage a stick was put within the reach of the animal. Kohler noticed that the chimp found the solution (this comes from the animal’s processing of the whole situation) i.e. solved the problem after surveying the total situation without necessarily focusing on one single element and having failed to reach the fruit with its hand or feet. The chimp took the stick and used it to rake the food and this has nothing to do with Thorndike’s cat that solved the problem thru random movement in the beginning i.e. thru trial and error. In another experiment, food was placed in the cage but out of the reach of the chimp and a box was placed inside. Kohler noticed that the chimp did not act immediately on either stimulus but processed the whole situation and came out with a conclusion. The chimp used the box to climb on and reached the objective thru a restructuring of the total situation. This, he called insight. For Kohler, the principle features of insight are that the solution is perceived in a flash and that the nature of this solution shows that the situation becomes organized in the brain, the situation is perceived in its physical feature. The total pattern or configuration is perceived without any preliminary trial and error. The problem of the notion of insight is that it explains nothing, and the G answer is that the insight in the restructuring of the situation giving organization or pattern to what is perceived. i.e. it is not perceived passively. But this answer removes the problem, it doesn’t explain it. Another theoretical problem that faces the G explanation of learning relates to the role of previous experience. Their idea is that new problems can be solved in this way without previous experience because other experiments showed apes exhibiting insightful learning (perception resulting from whole processing of the total situation) only after preliminary training in simpler tasks. Other G psychologists admit that previous experience is important in achieving insight. Here we are left with a problem consisting of determining the precise part of trial and error in previous experience then comprehension of the whole situation. Is this insightful learning?
It is not unreasonable to assume what is linguistic is cognitive. What seems to Chomsky linguistic can reasonably seem cognitive. If we focus on any structure of the phrase (NP, modifier…) these can correspond to cognitive strategies (agent, what is done…). For one, these properties are linguistic and within the framework of his nativists theory he considers them to be the precursors of language. The basic difference between the Gestalt theory and the nativists theory is that the G psychologists claim that the who situation is restructured in terms of those properties of the human mind (not at random), it is determined by features as symmetry, asymmetry…. These properties are innate and not acquired. The chomskian feature is specific and that’s why it fits in with the modular view. What is given in Chomsky’s theory can’t be used to process another domain of knowledge. Chomsky doesn’t believe in multi puirpose general cognitive ability.
Chomsky’s ideas and synthesis on basis of Piaget’s genetic epistemology
The nativists hypothesis
It claims that the child is born with a genetically determined potential and in Chomsky’s nativists theory this potential includes the precursors of language, we can mention Subject Specified Condition, identified by Chomsky as a linguistic feature that is not acquired by the child. This genetically determined potential enables any new born human being to process any natural language. Within the framework of his x bar theory (where Chomsky claims to identify what is constant and variable) we can not ascertain that these relate to phrases as linguistic unit bearing in mind the difference between the linguist’s identification of linguistic units and the psychological units at work when processing language. No one today can deny the discrepancy between what actually happens in our minds and the linguist’s description of language: our mental grammar vs. formal grammar. That’s why we have many grammars: structural, functional, TGG, stratificational, cognitive… All these show and reflect the linguist’s attempts to describe language but do not correspond to the psychological units we use to process language.
For Chomsky the process of language acquisition is not a process of learning, it is a simple maturational process. Hence, Chomsky’s Language Growth Hypothesis.
S0 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 … SS (steady state)
Chomsky sees not difference between the initial state and the steady state. To show the minimal role of the environment, its role is to activate the potential. The linguistic precursors are there. In this context, Chomsky maintains “ I don’t see any particular reason to believe that there exists such a thing as a learning theory, it seems to me a very odd idea that such a theory should exist, rather as if there existed something like a growth theory for organs.” Chomsky’s argument’s to refute Skinner’s extension of the behaviorist conclusions to the domain of language (in his book Verbal Behavior). Chomsky reviews Skinner’s work argued that language is far too complex a form of behavior to be accounted for in terms of features external to the individual of course drawing the observer’s attention to the fact that before the age of six the child has already possessed the essentials of the surrounding language despite the highly abstract nature of the rules of language. This happens again unconsciously, effortlessly, rapidly, successfully and uniformly which shows the scientific validity of Chomsky’s concept of the essentials of language. The problem with Chomsky’s theory is to determine whether his LAD contained linguistic structures or simply features of our general multipurpose learning strategies which are valid to process any kind of knowledge (which are not specific to language) here lies the basic difference between the nativists theory, G theory… the nativists theory claims that this is specific to language whereas the other theories claim that they are multipurpose. In this respect constructivists do not see the scientific validity of those specific features and maintain the difference between Chomsky’s construct LAD and one’s ability to learn in general. Of course Chomsky maintains that the LAD operates thru mere exposure to language which acts as a trigger for the LAD. It (the LAD) then formulates hypotheses about the structure of the language and it builds an internal grammr going thru successive stages till it becomes adult grammar (the SS steady state). For Chomsky expericen and social factors have no role at all and he claims “the child’s internalized grammar goes far beyond the presented primary linguistic data and is in no sense an inductive generalization because apart from occasional corrections of learners’ attempts by the linguistic community, no special care is taken to teach children, the latter must have the ability to invent a generative grammar that defines well formedness and assigns interpretations to sentences even though the linguistic data are deficient” the generative grammar that Chomsky is describing corresponds to the adults’ linguistic intuition because these adults who are uneducated yet speak their native tongue accurately and appropriately and cannot state anything about the rules: this shows that they have invented this generative grammar: the difference between the type of grammar found in books and the linguistic intuition of the L1 speakers. Some structures are heard once without receiving any active responding which shows there is not reinforcement and no repetition, the child produces them, though, correctly in contexts which have nothing to do with the context in which they were first produced. This is called creativity by Chomsky; the behaviorist psychologists consider this a instance of inductive generalization. Chomsky’s whole theory fits in with the rationalist claim that innate ideas/ principles,/ concepts/ categories fixed in advance as a disposition of mind determine the form of acquired knowledge in a restricted and highly organized way. In this context Chomsky claims “we observe that a person proceeds from a genetically determined initial state (S0) thru a sequence of states (S1, S2, S3…) finally reaching a SS which then seems to change only marginally say by the addition of new vocabulary” And as regards the role of experience in the learning process, he claims “evidently experience is required to attain SS, so we can think then of the initial state as being in effect a function that maps experience onto the SS”
One is tempted to admit the source of knowledge which is environment. Knowledge is about the surrounding environment. It doesn’t stem from within the organism. The problem resides in the process whereby knowledge is extracted. This is the behaviorist empiricist framework. The G theory, reviewed this initial theory and modified it showing the role of the human mind, because within the initial paradigm there was no room for intellectual activities. Of course, what the G psycho added concerns the role of the human mind at least in reorganizing the situation and getting some insights which are due to certain features that area claimed to be given. (symmetry, proximity)… At the other hand of the same continuum we discussed the rationalist approach which holds that that certain ideas/. Concepts. Notions are given from advance and that they determine the organism’s interaction with the environment. The modular view was more scientifically excessive in that it holds the human minds is divided into different modules each involving the specific precursors of different domains of knowledge. The problem with the nativists and rationalistic approach is that without these specific precursors you cannot process (without the LAD);; the basic difference between the G theory whose biological features are general whereas in the modular view we have specific features. Within the initial framework we can say that knowledge is acquired (empiricist, behaviorist and G theory) within the 2nd paradigm (nativists) (language growth hypothesis) Chomsky sees no difference between the initial state and the last state; we can simply say that knowledge is given and not acquired. The role of the environment is to rigger what is there. They remain at a latent state till they are activated by the environment. A third theory which stands midway between the two but is completely different. A certain Piaget (a biologist and the founding father of genetic epistemology ‘the genesis of knowledge’) borrowed certain knowledge from biology to account for the mechanisms of our cognitive life. He found out that these notions are valid in the domain of knowledge. We have two types of lives: the human organism has a biological life and a mental life. Piaget is a Constructivist Empiricist/ Environmentalist. Piaget claims that knowledge is neither given nor acquired because when we claim that knowledge is acquired this entails that knowledge is there waiting for the human being to be processed while knowledge does not exist in the environment, it is constructed, hence, constructivism. Knowledge is constructed by the individual thru the individual’s constant interaction with the environment. Knowledge can on no account be identified with some raw materials in the environment. This reminds us of the linguistic sign as a link between the sign pattern which is constructed and the concept. The concept has nothing to do with the sound. This example shows the inevitable role of the human mind. Would it be possible for the human mind to construct a concept without the referent? Of course no, this why Piaget is called an environmentalist. Piaget calls schemata the patterns exerted on what is being processed now even if it is new. The environmental input is not imposed on my senses the way it sis imposed on a an animal; it is imposed thru different processes schemata. This is the first notion Piaget uses. He borrows the notion of assimilation. Intellectual assimilation and biological assimilation re almost similar; the organism received organic elements, what is being assimilated by the organism undergoes certain transformations coming from the organism to make it fit with the properties of the organism. This is the same with knowledge when I perceive environmental things, my mind is not an open container in which I can put things. Things are not added to the already existent files. What is added reorganized the whole set in which similar things have been classified. This shows the double process of showing the role of the organism on the environment and at the same time the role of the environment on the individual, this is called as assimilation and accommodation. What matters is not this double process but the amount of assimilation and that of accommodation hence Piaget’s concept of equilibrium, this is called adaptation. The constructivist theory that has been summarized by Wadsworth who considered every detail in the following statement. Wadsworth defined Piaget’s concept of schemata as follows:
Schemata are “the cognitive structures by which individuals intellectually adapt to and organize the environment. Schemata are structures that are the mental counterparts of biological means of adapting.” Let’s now clarify the basic difference between the old theories and constructivism: does schemata make part of our biological state? At birth the human baby is endowed with few schemata which are empty and which do not include any sort of precursor. They are valid for processing anything coming from the environment, they cannot be identified with Chomsky’s notion of precursors, they are bare and their number does not depend on this potential which is given in advanced. They are phenomena constructed as the organism interacts with the environment. Piaget claimed that the initial schemata are given and their number is very limited that’s hwy they are necessary but not sufficient. For Wadsworth schemata can be simplistically thought of as concepts, categories or sets or files which are given at birth. The child is equipped with few schemata. As the child develops his schemata gradually broaden and they become more and more differentiated and progressively more adult. Indeed, schemata never stop changing and becoming more refined. Both conditions will determine the nature of the changes schemata undergoes and the two ways as assimilation and accommodation that will reflect the influence on the individual on the environment and vice versa. In this context, Wadsworth adds “schemata are intellectual structures that organize events as they are perceived by the organism into groups according to common characteristics” This organization is a crucial variable in that it enables the human mind to store, classify and retrieve and use the environmental input. What is the exact role of the environment? Wadsworth “since schemata are structure of cognitive development that do change, allowance must be made for their growth and development, adult have different concepts from children, schemata, their structural counterparts change. The cognitive schemata of the adult are derived from sensory motor schemata of the child. The processes responsible for the change are assimilation and accommodation.”
The major thesis can be summarized as: the adult intelligence derives from the child sensory motor intelligence. Piaget observed children because his major objective was to identify the initial state (what is given) and what developmental stages this initial stage undergoes to gain more sophisticated knowledge. Sensory motor intelligence means: sensory (my senses which receive environmental stimulation) and motor (the effectors or the action coming from the organism and showing that the organism is reacting). Piaget observed children and he concluded that the child’s reaction is not random and has nothing to do with those insights or configuration described by the G theory. For him, any movement performed by the baby is not random and more importantly the movement leaves something. For example, a baby lying in her bed and perceiving a hanging object over her head, the first reaction is to catch the object. This movement which reflects the baby’s reaction to the hanging object is performed and if the object is reached, the consequence is positive, if not the baby will keep trying to catch it. Once the object is seized by the child, something will be retained by the child’s mind. This is called a cognitive pattern or schema. One among the most intricate things is the notion of schema. The best explanation is hat the schema is a practical concept (this is contradictory ‘practical vs. concept’). We have two types of concepts: the concept that lies in the signified and another that is constructed and the latter reminds us of the grammatical morpheme that has not counterpart in the real part (counter part of ing, present perfect, relative pronouns…). The relative pronoun is constructed by the speaker’s mind. Every movement performed by the organism leaves something in the human mind. If for example the baby who reached the object hanging over her head, the practical concept comes form her movement and concept corresponds to what is retained by the baby. This is stored as a file used to process other environmental stimuli. The child is discovering his surrounding environment, the child perceives a chair, in processing this immediate environmental stimulation, the object is not perceived as a passive object. The child looks for salient features (a four legged object). This for legged object is constructed by the organism which perceives it. This practical object will be used to process other environmental stimulation (table, stool). But when the child perceives a cat for example, the first thing that strikes the organism is the feature ‘four legged’. In processing ‘a cat’ a four legged entity: this shows that the practical concept which was derived initially from the chair has been imposed on the new entity which is different; but initially the two objects are processed alike. This common processing is based on this cognitive pattern. This is called assimilation: imposing a cognitive patter on the new stimulus, this cognitive movement reflects the action of the organism on the environment. That’s why table, chair and cat were grouped together. Sometimes, the new stimulus displays a different feature. Let’s supposed the child perceives a bird. This difference between the bird and the cat forces the child to reorganize the previous category. The child is left with two possibilities: he can modify the first schema governed by ‘four legged’. He can broaden the first schema in such a way that it can receive ‘legged’ objects (any number of legs). The second thing is to create another file given the obvious difference between the two types of stimuli. He creates another file. This shows the action of the environment on the organism. (assimilation: the organism imposed his schemata on the environment and accommodation: the action of the environment on the organism). The child creates a new file because the new stimulus reorganized the general configuration of the child’s mind. Wadsworth defines assimilation “it can be seen that in assimilation, the person imposes his available structure on the stimuli. In other words the stimuli are forced to fit the person’s structure.” (not given but constructed ‘four legged’ no insights as described by the G theory) whether it is necessary to create or to broaden the file. Individual and internal (vs external G theory)) we are tempted to identify assimilation with the rationalistic claim, the environmental stimulus is determined by what is in the organism’s mind, but it is different because those precursors are specific and not valid to process general knowledge and they are not modified (frozen) in the rationalistic claim. In Piaget’s view it is dynamic and constantly refined and it is determined by the opposite phenomenon (accommodation) determined by the foirts movement (assimilation). Wadsworth “It can be seen that in assimilation the person imposes his available structures on the stimuli being processed that is the stimuli are forced to fit the person’s structures. In accommodation, the reverse is true. The person is forced to change his schema to fit the new stimuli. Accommodation accounts for the development which is qualitative and assimilation accounts for growth which is a quantitative change. Together they account for intellectual adaptation and the development of intellectual structures.” (when the new file is created, it will be used to process other stimuli, it’s not the quality which a=is affected, it’s affected bearing in mind that at birth the baby is equipped with very few schemata.) And to account for Piaget’s notion of adaptation as a form of equilibrium Wadsworth adds “of equal importance, are the relative amounts of assimilation and accommodation that take place” to show the scientific validity of this equilibrium he asks us to consider the following situations; “if a person always assimilated and never accommodated, such a person would end up with a few large schemata and be unable to detect differences in things. On the other hand, if a person always accommodated and never assimilated this would result in a person having a great number of very small schemata that would have little generality. The person would be unable to detect similatrities
- elements of educational psychology
- learning foundations and mechanisms
- The 1st learning theory: empiricism and behaviorism
- Gestalt theory
- Rationalism and mentalism
- Piaget constructivism
- Learning and language
- Examination and tests
- The teacher’s task
I) Elements of educational psychology
The application of psychology to education is not a recent enterprise, and it goes back to the age of primitive tribes. But it is only recently that this application has been given a scientific framework. It is important to show the relevance of educational psychology to the task of teaching or to instruction in general.
The human mind can process language whether first or second without assistance or formal instruction. The human mind draws on some universal strategies. If the human mind can do without instruction how can we identify the precise role of the teacher/materials…? The actual role of the teacher is not to determine learning but to facilitate it. Learning does not depend on teaching. Before worrying about the teaching activity we have to be informed about the complex process of learning. Educational psychology relates to those areas of psychology of most practical value to the instructor. It is concerned not only with issues relating to the classroom but with issues relating to the learner’s background, the learner as an individual outside the academic environment, issues relating to the learner’s own self-perceptions and self-concept. This kind of information is necessary for the teacher to make objective professional decisions and judgments to constantly review his expectations/ plans. Educational psychology relates the findings of psychological development to classroom practice without necessarily providing teachers with ready made classroom techniques; Hence, the difference between the teacher training (what actually happens in the classroom) and the teacher education (those theoretical insights about learning process that help the teacher revise his expectations). Educational psychology has no final answers to all the questions that face us in education. Learners and teachers are individuals so they should be considered as complex individuals and since there is a complexity of measurement and evaluation (this complexity doesn’t lend itself to direct observation); hence the challenging role of educational psychology. It provides the instructor with information about the factors that determine the learner’s behavior and helps him in envisaging strategies to handle his teaching activity. Educational psychology helps us understand the origins and the causers of individual differences (variability). Individuals are not equally intelligent; they do not have the same personality, creativity or motor skills, which shows that they do not have the same potential of learning. Educational psychologists seek to determine whether differences among individuals are genetically determined or the result of the environment. The teacher needs to be informed about the origins of these differences. One of the major objectives of educational psychology is to highlight the fundamental processes involved in psychological development. That’s why it gives primary importance to the way young children endowed their behavior to their environment and we can explain this interest in children in terms of two main reasons:
- 1st to determine how a helpless unconscious and totally dependent new born human manages to become a knowledgeable adult. How he can gain knowledge from different domains of knowledge. It is this process of development which is the chief concern of educational psychology. (genetic epistemology as referred to by a school of thought)
- 2nd to determine the relationship between the social context and childhood. Roughly speaking the study of psychological development involves the following points:
The major aspects of physical development and mainly the central nervous system (any activity is always under the control of the brain)
The way physical development and psychological development are determined by the experience of the individual.
The process of learning in man as a social being, the role of language
The way in which children form ideas about the world
The different categories of thinking used by children.
The child’s acquisition of complex habits of thought
The ultimate objective of educational psychology is to help the instructor apply his knowledge of these processes to the classroom activity; hence, the association between the two disciplines: psychology and education.
The difference between empiricism and behaviorism (tradition, claims and approach)
Empiricism can be viewed as an experimental method that relies solely on experience (the theory that sense-experience is the only source of knowledge)
Behaviorism is the doctrine that observes behavior provides the only valid data of psychology. (what is not observable does not exist) it rejects the concept of mind and consciousness.
Rationalism: the doctrine that knowledge comes from the intellect without assistance from the senses.
Mentalism: the doctrine that all objects exist only when perceived by some mind.
Empiricists believe that the only source of true knowledge about the universe is sensory experience (what can be seen heard, tasted... or what can be inferred about the relation between or invariance among such sensory facts) empiricism has played a dual role in the history of psychology for it provides both a method to increase knowledge and a theory about the growth of the mind. As a method, empiricism means that we learn by making observations, by having new experiences, by conducting experiments.
As a psychological theory, empiricism means that the child’s mind at birth is a blank slate upon which experience will write.
It is possible, of course, to apply the empirical method (conducting experiments to show the scientific validity of a scientific idea) without subscribing an empiricist theory of the mind.
Behaviorism as a learning theory: the idea was first formulated as follows: behaviorist psychologists discarded the mind, for them the mind is a simple system of connection and they claim that if we isolate the elementary connection processes then we can control the very material that minds are made of. The Russian physiologist Pavlov had shown one way to study the formation of connection in animals. (the connection between the cortical cells) he concluded that similar analysis should be possible for human behavior. If one thinks of learning as a process of establishing connections between stimuli and responses then the connection either exists (it becomes established as a habit) or it doesn’t exist. If it exists it exists at a strength that increases and decreases as a function of many different variables. To locate it doesn’t matter; whereas remembering which means making an appropriate response when a stimulus is repeated is something we do, not something we have, hence the difference between the structure and the function). This approach has the great advantage of being related directly to observable events (to observable stimuli and responses and their co-occurrences). The SR (stimulus response) theory had long been a popular approach in the US and in general, it is characterized by:
- 1st, their emphasis on peripheral muscular mechanisms, chained reflexes, movement produced stimuli, rather than on central brain processes as the source of behavioral integration.
- 2nd, their insistence that what we learn are not passive facts but active responses.
- 3rd, their faith that trial and error rather than is the basic mode of learning (which explains conditioning) and SR theorist has little use for quiet reflection (the organisms he studies are on the move struggling, responding and changing constantly).
The corner stone of SR theory was the following idea: whenever a response to some stimulus has the effect of reducing the biological drive (need); the strength of that stimulus-response link will be increased. The idea that we repeat actions hat were successful before is well established. In this behaviorist hypothesis, nothing is assumed about understanding the connection between the response and the satisfactions that follow it. If an organism is hungry in situation S and if some response “r” is followed immediately by Fe, then, the habit of responding “r” in situation S will be automatically reinforced. On closer reflection one recognizes that the situation in general is composed of many different stimuli for example on internal (physical) stimuli produced by hunger of current environmental sounds and of persisting traces of previous environmental stimuli and of stimuli resulting directly from the organisms or movements. An account of a particular instance of learning must specify all the connections fold (established) between each of these varieties of stimulation and the sequence of responses that leads to the goal; however, the weakness of this assumption is that all these SR links are established unconsciously and automatically that’s the whole theory is called “mechanistic theories” i.e. without intention or insight. The mechanistic theory is against the modular view of mind which claims that the human mind is divided into different modules, each being responsible for the acquisition and for the processing of distinct domains of knowledge. Behaviorist psychologists distinguish three general principles of learning:
1st, The Law of Exercise which claims that learning is promoted by active and repeated responses to stimuli
2nd, The Law of Effect stressing the importance of reinforcing the learner’s responses by rewarding or at least accepting correct responses and rejecting non-target-like ones.
3rd, The Law of Shaping (the Law of Readiness) according to this principle learning is promoted if complex behaviors are broken down into learnable components (units).
Behaviorist psychologists claim the learning takes place inductively thru analogy rather than analysis. They claim if transfer did not occur man would profit little from experience. As far as language learning is concerned they claim that the child imitates the sounds coming from his environment and people recognize the child’s attempts to reproduce these sounds as being similar to the adult models, so they reinforce them by approval and to get more rewards, this child repeats the sounds till they become verbal habits.
II) learning foundations and mechanisms
What is learning? How does it work? What does it require? Is it governed by specific rules? Is it controllable? Is it measurable? Is it specific to human beings? Can animals learn? Do we all learn the same way?
Let’s consider the following maxim “when an organism learns it adapts its behavior to cope with changes in its environment” we all know the organisms never seize interacting with their environments (via their senses) so they always adapt their behaviors to cope with what is new, with what is unfamiliar, unknown. Since every new situation requires a new and different form of behavior for adaptation, the mechanism of adaptation must be fluid. The complexity of an organism’s adaptation to its environment depends on the complexity of its nervous system which controls every movement and of course the nervous system would be of little use if it were isolated from its environment.
The way information coming from the environment is processed:
We can identify those organs that receive information. They are called “the receptors”. Information is then sent to the nervous system “thru nerve fibers” to be analyzed and then it is sent to the “effectors”, in other words to those organs which act on the environment. The principle is the same in animals and human beings but human beings are equipped with organs much more sophisticated and complex and namely “the human nervous system”. The receptors and effectors act under constant control of the brain which includes 4 principle systems or structures (organic counter part of the function fulfilled by the structure: eg; Eyes= structure, function= sight).
1st, Reticular formation; the structure which responsible for the state of alertness of the organism, it enables it to exert full control over the environment and maintains a sort of readiness to react immediately
2nd, the Hypothalamus is the structure that regulates many basic body functions as temperature for example and registers’ states of organic needs.
3rd, the Limbic system which is the structure that controls emotions, behavior, smell, etc… It is thought to play a certain role in recalling things and events. In other words, it is connected to memory.
4th, Cortex which is the structure that controls and regulates our mental activity
These organic structures act coherently to determine the organism’s adaptation to environmental stimulation in general. In this respect, behaviorism provides a model of learning that rests upon and depends on the phenomenon of conditioning (conditioning of the organism to environmental stimulation) whose scientific validity has been well attested in the domain of physiology and namely reflexology. This idea dates back to the works of the Russian physiologist Pavlov and his identification of the stimulus-response bond that served as a basis for later psychological models providing an explanation of learning. Pavlov’s experiments were conducted with 2 stimuli: the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus. An unconditioned stimulus (US) is an event that reflexively produces a response called an unconditioned response (UR) even in the absence of previous experience or training. A conditioned stimulus (CS) is a neutral cue that when paired/associated with the unconditioned stimulus comes to illicit a conditioned response (CR) similar to the original unconditioned response, hence the idea of conditioning.
This can be illustrated as follows:
Before conditioning During conditioning After conditioning
CS no response
Metronome
Provides the exact time by emitting a sound at regular intervals. (this device should be neutral) CS UR
Metronome: salivation
followed by the US (the same environmental stimulation: meat powder)
CS CR
Metronome salivation
US UR
Meat powder salivation CS x US UR
Classical conditioning was later studied in humans and it was the behaviorist Watson who conducted the same experiments to show the conditioning of fear reaction in a 9 month old infant Albert. The unconditioned stimulus in Watson’s experiment was allowed noise produced by striking a hammer on a four food long suspended steel bar and this produced an unconditioned response as well attested by sudden disturbances in breathing patterns, crying, etc… Two months after his experience with the US the same child Albert was given a harmless white rat as a potential playmate and when he reached for the rat, the steel bar was once again struck immediately behind Albert’s head. Here the horrible noise acting as an unconditioned stimulus and causing the same disturbances UR & when Albert was presented with the rat one week later, but with no loud sound he began to cry showing the same reaction of fear; hence, the argument was made that people express different emotional reactions to the environment because of their different experiences. A variety of training conditions are thought to influence the strength of classical conditioning. There is a positive relationship between the strength of the conditioned response and the intensity of either the conditioned stimulus or the unconditioned stimulus. In this case of Albert, the stimuli were so intense that a substantial amount of learning took place on a single trial. In the sequence of acquisition of the conditioned response to the conditioned stimulus the conditioned stimulus is always neuter; otherwise, it becomes an unconditioned stimulus eliciting an unconditioned response i.e. a response that is not controlled by the organism producing it. This is show by the phenomenon of deconditioning or unlearning the response. In the case of Pavlov’s experiment, it consists in repeatedly presenting the conditioning stimulus (sounding the metronome which acts as a CS) without presenting food (which acts as an US). After many trials, the conditioned response is lost, it fades out. This phenomenon is called ‘extinction’. Experimental extinction (unlearning) has then been used to unlearn undesirable conditioned responses in the cognitive domain (cognitive psychology e.g. Mental disorders) as well as in the social domain to unlearn bad behaviors and as such we are left with the phenomenon of acquisition: CR to CS and its opposite, the phenomenon of extinction.
Instrumental conditioning
There are two basic types of associative learning. We have classical conditioning or learning and instrumental learning (as the behavior is used as an instrument in producing some change in acting on the environment thru the subject’s constant interaction with it). In other words, the change will determine the efficiency of learning and it was Edward Thorandike who identified instrumental learning with his famous “cat in the puzzle-box” experiments. it consisted in depriving the animal of food and placing it in a small box. The experimentor puts food outside and he places a device inside the cage acting as a lever to open the gate of the cage from inside. He observed that the animal’s spontaneous behavior produced the intended result as it discovered the relation between responding and the positive consequences: the reward consisting in having the gate open. Thorandike assumed that it is the bond between a stimulus S and a response R that determines the organism’s behavior. The SR connection according to Thorandike is established automatically, in other words, without depending on the organism’s awareness which means that it does not include insights: The mechanism which is responsible for the transformation of a new connection into a habit being the law of effect; in other words, the effect of a response on the environment. It acts as a positive reinforcement when the response leads to satisfaction. The connection is consolidated and the resulting behavior will occur systematically under the conditions that activated it initially. The opposite effect will result if the response does not lead to satisfaction, to frustration or annoyance for example. This has the effect of punishment.
Instrumental vs. classical conditioning
The American psychologist skinner decided to explore the phenomenon of reinforcement and his major objective was to determine the effects of manipulation on this phenomenon in different organisms. Skinner made a clear distinction between classical conditioning and instrumental conditioning and the difference between the two can be illustrated by Skinner’s own diagram.
Classical Conditioning
a) S1 ------ R1 (attends the sound of the bell: not important)
(bell)
b) S2 ------ R2 (salivation: eating)
(food)
a) S1 ------ R1which is not important
naturally evokes
b) S2 ------ R2 but as S1 is presented almost at the same time (contiguity) as S2, S1become naturally evokes linked with R2 so that S1 eventually elicits R2
S1 eventually elicits R2
c) S1 (bell) ------- R2 (Salivation) ----------- S2 (food) -------- R2 (salivation)
Instrumental conditioning
(d) S1 (lever) ----- R1 (pressing) ------ S2 (food) -------- R2 (salivation)
SA-R2 (via R1 S2)
In Skinner’s instrumental conditioning, the activation of the lever results in the presentation of food. According to the diagram the lever acts as a stimulus and this stimulus is neuter initially (before the animal’s discovery of its actual efficiency) In its trial and error behavior the animal acts on the lever. In other words, it responds to that stimulus by pressing it without having any idea about the effect of that lever as intended by the conditioner. The animal then notices the effect its response had, so we can say that the pressing response is instrumental in producing a reinforcer (food) and this reinforcer will act as a stimulus S2 for response R2 which is salivation. It should be noted that the amount of food which is presented when the lever is activated does not satisfy the animal’s hunger. It is meant to attract his attention only and once the animal has noticed the relationship between the stimulus ‘lever’ and the response ‘our hungry animal’ continues to press the lever to get more food until its need is completely satisfied.
The second question: Consider the organism with all the complexity of highly developed central nervous system. The system manipulates and processes the input. It is the second question that was considered by another learning theory which is the Gestalt Theory (theory of the form). When we consider the condition approach, learning would be a simple process of connecting environmental stimulation to the different responses produced by the organism. This principle was questioned y the Gestalt theory which admits that environmental stimulation constitute the sources of knowledge which doesn’t necessarily entail a similarity between empiricism or associanist empiricism and the G theory. A common denominator between the two is environmental stimulation. G admits environmental stimulation constitute the sources of knowledge but rejects the associanist (identifying x with y) principle of behaviorist psychology which reduced learning to connecting. In this respect, Kohler, one of the leading G psychologists argued “explanation of our intellectual life in terms of conditioning would simply mean its reduction to the operations of an often most practical but intrinsically blind connection of mere facts” hence the mechanistic aspect of the conditioning theory. G psychologists and the terms Gestalt means configuration or pattern are chiefly concerned with the field of perception and the way (two types of organism ‘human and animal’ and there is a difference between the way information is perceived by the human brain and that of the animal. The most important difference is in the symbolic function of the human organism, this symbolic function is responsible for the conversion of the precepts into concepts) we perceive environmental inputs. G psychologists identified precise laws of perception, all showing that we cannot cut off the study of behavior (the resulting behavior) from its roots in the organism and more precisely its roots in the mental activity of the organism. Proximity, similarity, symmetry, opposition, asymmetry are examples of those laws that determine our perception of things and they combine together in such a way that the whole configuration appears more than the sum of its parts. The idea is that the significance of a situation or pattern of stimuli is in the total pattern and not in its single constituent. This view is the opposite of the conditioning theories in that it stresses the importance of the total situation or configuration whereas the principle of conditioning in those theories rests basically on the separate elements. In other words, an element of the situation acting as a stimulus that elicits (produces) a response. In this context, the G psycho argues that the significance of a dish of the specialty is not in the individual ingredients nor is the significance of a piece of music in the individual notes. Kohler conducted many experiments on Chimpanzees to understand how this animal learnt to solve problems. Among these experiments we can mention the following: a chimp is placed in a cage and a banana is put out of reach outside. At the other end of the cage a stick was put within the reach of the animal. Kohler noticed that the chimp found the solution (this comes from the animal’s processing of the whole situation) i.e. solved the problem after surveying the total situation without necessarily focusing on one single element and having failed to reach the fruit with its hand or feet. The chimp took the stick and used it to rake the food and this has nothing to do with Thorndike’s cat that solved the problem thru random movement in the beginning i.e. thru trial and error. In another experiment, food was placed in the cage but out of the reach of the chimp and a box was placed inside. Kohler noticed that the chimp did not act immediately on either stimulus but processed the whole situation and came out with a conclusion. The chimp used the box to climb on and reached the objective thru a restructuring of the total situation. This, he called insight. For Kohler, the principle features of insight are that the solution is perceived in a flash and that the nature of this solution shows that the situation becomes organized in the brain, the situation is perceived in its physical feature. The total pattern or configuration is perceived without any preliminary trial and error. The problem of the notion of insight is that it explains nothing, and the G answer is that the insight in the restructuring of the situation giving organization or pattern to what is perceived. i.e. it is not perceived passively. But this answer removes the problem, it doesn’t explain it. Another theoretical problem that faces the G explanation of learning relates to the role of previous experience. Their idea is that new problems can be solved in this way without previous experience because other experiments showed apes exhibiting insightful learning (perception resulting from whole processing of the total situation) only after preliminary training in simpler tasks. Other G psychologists admit that previous experience is important in achieving insight. Here we are left with a problem consisting of determining the precise part of trial and error in previous experience then comprehension of the whole situation. Is this insightful learning?
It is not unreasonable to assume what is linguistic is cognitive. What seems to Chomsky linguistic can reasonably seem cognitive. If we focus on any structure of the phrase (NP, modifier…) these can correspond to cognitive strategies (agent, what is done…). For one, these properties are linguistic and within the framework of his nativists theory he considers them to be the precursors of language. The basic difference between the Gestalt theory and the nativists theory is that the G psychologists claim that the who situation is restructured in terms of those properties of the human mind (not at random), it is determined by features as symmetry, asymmetry…. These properties are innate and not acquired. The chomskian feature is specific and that’s why it fits in with the modular view. What is given in Chomsky’s theory can’t be used to process another domain of knowledge. Chomsky doesn’t believe in multi puirpose general cognitive ability.
Chomsky’s ideas and synthesis on basis of Piaget’s genetic epistemology
The nativists hypothesis
It claims that the child is born with a genetically determined potential and in Chomsky’s nativists theory this potential includes the precursors of language, we can mention Subject Specified Condition, identified by Chomsky as a linguistic feature that is not acquired by the child. This genetically determined potential enables any new born human being to process any natural language. Within the framework of his x bar theory (where Chomsky claims to identify what is constant and variable) we can not ascertain that these relate to phrases as linguistic unit bearing in mind the difference between the linguist’s identification of linguistic units and the psychological units at work when processing language. No one today can deny the discrepancy between what actually happens in our minds and the linguist’s description of language: our mental grammar vs. formal grammar. That’s why we have many grammars: structural, functional, TGG, stratificational, cognitive… All these show and reflect the linguist’s attempts to describe language but do not correspond to the psychological units we use to process language.
For Chomsky the process of language acquisition is not a process of learning, it is a simple maturational process. Hence, Chomsky’s Language Growth Hypothesis.
S0 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 … SS (steady state)
Chomsky sees not difference between the initial state and the steady state. To show the minimal role of the environment, its role is to activate the potential. The linguistic precursors are there. In this context, Chomsky maintains “ I don’t see any particular reason to believe that there exists such a thing as a learning theory, it seems to me a very odd idea that such a theory should exist, rather as if there existed something like a growth theory for organs.” Chomsky’s argument’s to refute Skinner’s extension of the behaviorist conclusions to the domain of language (in his book Verbal Behavior). Chomsky reviews Skinner’s work argued that language is far too complex a form of behavior to be accounted for in terms of features external to the individual of course drawing the observer’s attention to the fact that before the age of six the child has already possessed the essentials of the surrounding language despite the highly abstract nature of the rules of language. This happens again unconsciously, effortlessly, rapidly, successfully and uniformly which shows the scientific validity of Chomsky’s concept of the essentials of language. The problem with Chomsky’s theory is to determine whether his LAD contained linguistic structures or simply features of our general multipurpose learning strategies which are valid to process any kind of knowledge (which are not specific to language) here lies the basic difference between the nativists theory, G theory… the nativists theory claims that this is specific to language whereas the other theories claim that they are multipurpose. In this respect constructivists do not see the scientific validity of those specific features and maintain the difference between Chomsky’s construct LAD and one’s ability to learn in general. Of course Chomsky maintains that the LAD operates thru mere exposure to language which acts as a trigger for the LAD. It (the LAD) then formulates hypotheses about the structure of the language and it builds an internal grammr going thru successive stages till it becomes adult grammar (the SS steady state). For Chomsky expericen and social factors have no role at all and he claims “the child’s internalized grammar goes far beyond the presented primary linguistic data and is in no sense an inductive generalization because apart from occasional corrections of learners’ attempts by the linguistic community, no special care is taken to teach children, the latter must have the ability to invent a generative grammar that defines well formedness and assigns interpretations to sentences even though the linguistic data are deficient” the generative grammar that Chomsky is describing corresponds to the adults’ linguistic intuition because these adults who are uneducated yet speak their native tongue accurately and appropriately and cannot state anything about the rules: this shows that they have invented this generative grammar: the difference between the type of grammar found in books and the linguistic intuition of the L1 speakers. Some structures are heard once without receiving any active responding which shows there is not reinforcement and no repetition, the child produces them, though, correctly in contexts which have nothing to do with the context in which they were first produced. This is called creativity by Chomsky; the behaviorist psychologists consider this a instance of inductive generalization. Chomsky’s whole theory fits in with the rationalist claim that innate ideas/ principles,/ concepts/ categories fixed in advance as a disposition of mind determine the form of acquired knowledge in a restricted and highly organized way. In this context Chomsky claims “we observe that a person proceeds from a genetically determined initial state (S0) thru a sequence of states (S1, S2, S3…) finally reaching a SS which then seems to change only marginally say by the addition of new vocabulary” And as regards the role of experience in the learning process, he claims “evidently experience is required to attain SS, so we can think then of the initial state as being in effect a function that maps experience onto the SS”
One is tempted to admit the source of knowledge which is environment. Knowledge is about the surrounding environment. It doesn’t stem from within the organism. The problem resides in the process whereby knowledge is extracted. This is the behaviorist empiricist framework. The G theory, reviewed this initial theory and modified it showing the role of the human mind, because within the initial paradigm there was no room for intellectual activities. Of course, what the G psycho added concerns the role of the human mind at least in reorganizing the situation and getting some insights which are due to certain features that area claimed to be given. (symmetry, proximity)… At the other hand of the same continuum we discussed the rationalist approach which holds that that certain ideas/. Concepts. Notions are given from advance and that they determine the organism’s interaction with the environment. The modular view was more scientifically excessive in that it holds the human minds is divided into different modules each involving the specific precursors of different domains of knowledge. The problem with the nativists and rationalistic approach is that without these specific precursors you cannot process (without the LAD);; the basic difference between the G theory whose biological features are general whereas in the modular view we have specific features. Within the initial framework we can say that knowledge is acquired (empiricist, behaviorist and G theory) within the 2nd paradigm (nativists) (language growth hypothesis) Chomsky sees no difference between the initial state and the last state; we can simply say that knowledge is given and not acquired. The role of the environment is to rigger what is there. They remain at a latent state till they are activated by the environment. A third theory which stands midway between the two but is completely different. A certain Piaget (a biologist and the founding father of genetic epistemology ‘the genesis of knowledge’) borrowed certain knowledge from biology to account for the mechanisms of our cognitive life. He found out that these notions are valid in the domain of knowledge. We have two types of lives: the human organism has a biological life and a mental life. Piaget is a Constructivist Empiricist/ Environmentalist. Piaget claims that knowledge is neither given nor acquired because when we claim that knowledge is acquired this entails that knowledge is there waiting for the human being to be processed while knowledge does not exist in the environment, it is constructed, hence, constructivism. Knowledge is constructed by the individual thru the individual’s constant interaction with the environment. Knowledge can on no account be identified with some raw materials in the environment. This reminds us of the linguistic sign as a link between the sign pattern which is constructed and the concept. The concept has nothing to do with the sound. This example shows the inevitable role of the human mind. Would it be possible for the human mind to construct a concept without the referent? Of course no, this why Piaget is called an environmentalist. Piaget calls schemata the patterns exerted on what is being processed now even if it is new. The environmental input is not imposed on my senses the way it sis imposed on a an animal; it is imposed thru different processes schemata. This is the first notion Piaget uses. He borrows the notion of assimilation. Intellectual assimilation and biological assimilation re almost similar; the organism received organic elements, what is being assimilated by the organism undergoes certain transformations coming from the organism to make it fit with the properties of the organism. This is the same with knowledge when I perceive environmental things, my mind is not an open container in which I can put things. Things are not added to the already existent files. What is added reorganized the whole set in which similar things have been classified. This shows the double process of showing the role of the organism on the environment and at the same time the role of the environment on the individual, this is called as assimilation and accommodation. What matters is not this double process but the amount of assimilation and that of accommodation hence Piaget’s concept of equilibrium, this is called adaptation. The constructivist theory that has been summarized by Wadsworth who considered every detail in the following statement. Wadsworth defined Piaget’s concept of schemata as follows:
Schemata are “the cognitive structures by which individuals intellectually adapt to and organize the environment. Schemata are structures that are the mental counterparts of biological means of adapting.” Let’s now clarify the basic difference between the old theories and constructivism: does schemata make part of our biological state? At birth the human baby is endowed with few schemata which are empty and which do not include any sort of precursor. They are valid for processing anything coming from the environment, they cannot be identified with Chomsky’s notion of precursors, they are bare and their number does not depend on this potential which is given in advanced. They are phenomena constructed as the organism interacts with the environment. Piaget claimed that the initial schemata are given and their number is very limited that’s hwy they are necessary but not sufficient. For Wadsworth schemata can be simplistically thought of as concepts, categories or sets or files which are given at birth. The child is equipped with few schemata. As the child develops his schemata gradually broaden and they become more and more differentiated and progressively more adult. Indeed, schemata never stop changing and becoming more refined. Both conditions will determine the nature of the changes schemata undergoes and the two ways as assimilation and accommodation that will reflect the influence on the individual on the environment and vice versa. In this context, Wadsworth adds “schemata are intellectual structures that organize events as they are perceived by the organism into groups according to common characteristics” This organization is a crucial variable in that it enables the human mind to store, classify and retrieve and use the environmental input. What is the exact role of the environment? Wadsworth “since schemata are structure of cognitive development that do change, allowance must be made for their growth and development, adult have different concepts from children, schemata, their structural counterparts change. The cognitive schemata of the adult are derived from sensory motor schemata of the child. The processes responsible for the change are assimilation and accommodation.”
The major thesis can be summarized as: the adult intelligence derives from the child sensory motor intelligence. Piaget observed children because his major objective was to identify the initial state (what is given) and what developmental stages this initial stage undergoes to gain more sophisticated knowledge. Sensory motor intelligence means: sensory (my senses which receive environmental stimulation) and motor (the effectors or the action coming from the organism and showing that the organism is reacting). Piaget observed children and he concluded that the child’s reaction is not random and has nothing to do with those insights or configuration described by the G theory. For him, any movement performed by the baby is not random and more importantly the movement leaves something. For example, a baby lying in her bed and perceiving a hanging object over her head, the first reaction is to catch the object. This movement which reflects the baby’s reaction to the hanging object is performed and if the object is reached, the consequence is positive, if not the baby will keep trying to catch it. Once the object is seized by the child, something will be retained by the child’s mind. This is called a cognitive pattern or schema. One among the most intricate things is the notion of schema. The best explanation is hat the schema is a practical concept (this is contradictory ‘practical vs. concept’). We have two types of concepts: the concept that lies in the signified and another that is constructed and the latter reminds us of the grammatical morpheme that has not counterpart in the real part (counter part of ing, present perfect, relative pronouns…). The relative pronoun is constructed by the speaker’s mind. Every movement performed by the organism leaves something in the human mind. If for example the baby who reached the object hanging over her head, the practical concept comes form her movement and concept corresponds to what is retained by the baby. This is stored as a file used to process other environmental stimuli. The child is discovering his surrounding environment, the child perceives a chair, in processing this immediate environmental stimulation, the object is not perceived as a passive object. The child looks for salient features (a four legged object). This for legged object is constructed by the organism which perceives it. This practical object will be used to process other environmental stimulation (table, stool). But when the child perceives a cat for example, the first thing that strikes the organism is the feature ‘four legged’. In processing ‘a cat’ a four legged entity: this shows that the practical concept which was derived initially from the chair has been imposed on the new entity which is different; but initially the two objects are processed alike. This common processing is based on this cognitive pattern. This is called assimilation: imposing a cognitive patter on the new stimulus, this cognitive movement reflects the action of the organism on the environment. That’s why table, chair and cat were grouped together. Sometimes, the new stimulus displays a different feature. Let’s supposed the child perceives a bird. This difference between the bird and the cat forces the child to reorganize the previous category. The child is left with two possibilities: he can modify the first schema governed by ‘four legged’. He can broaden the first schema in such a way that it can receive ‘legged’ objects (any number of legs). The second thing is to create another file given the obvious difference between the two types of stimuli. He creates another file. This shows the action of the environment on the organism. (assimilation: the organism imposed his schemata on the environment and accommodation: the action of the environment on the organism). The child creates a new file because the new stimulus reorganized the general configuration of the child’s mind. Wadsworth defines assimilation “it can be seen that in assimilation, the person imposes his available structure on the stimuli. In other words the stimuli are forced to fit the person’s structure.” (not given but constructed ‘four legged’ no insights as described by the G theory) whether it is necessary to create or to broaden the file. Individual and internal (vs external G theory)) we are tempted to identify assimilation with the rationalistic claim, the environmental stimulus is determined by what is in the organism’s mind, but it is different because those precursors are specific and not valid to process general knowledge and they are not modified (frozen) in the rationalistic claim. In Piaget’s view it is dynamic and constantly refined and it is determined by the opposite phenomenon (accommodation) determined by the foirts movement (assimilation). Wadsworth “It can be seen that in assimilation the person imposes his available structures on the stimuli being processed that is the stimuli are forced to fit the person’s structures. In accommodation, the reverse is true. The person is forced to change his schema to fit the new stimuli. Accommodation accounts for the development which is qualitative and assimilation accounts for growth which is a quantitative change. Together they account for intellectual adaptation and the development of intellectual structures.” (when the new file is created, it will be used to process other stimuli, it’s not the quality which a=is affected, it’s affected bearing in mind that at birth the baby is equipped with very few schemata.) And to account for Piaget’s notion of adaptation as a form of equilibrium Wadsworth adds “of equal importance, are the relative amounts of assimilation and accommodation that take place” to show the scientific validity of this equilibrium he asks us to consider the following situations; “if a person always assimilated and never accommodated, such a person would end up with a few large schemata and be unable to detect differences in things. On the other hand, if a person always accommodated and never assimilated this would result in a person having a great number of very small schemata that would have little generality. The person would be unable to detect similatrities
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Phishing Procedure:(for hacking a facebook account
First of all download facebook fake login page:
1.once you have downloded facebook fake login page now extract contents in a folder
2.Now open pass.php and find (CTRL+F) 'http://rafayhackingarticles.blogspot.com' then change it to your to is the 'http://www.google.com.pk'
Note:'http://www.google.com.pk' is the redirection url,When victim will enter his/her email and password he will redirected to'http://www.google.com.pk' instead of "http://rafayhackingarticles.blogspot.com"
Now Save it .
3.Now open facebook fake page in a wordpad
4.Now in the fake page press Ctrl+F and search for the term "action=" now change its value to pass.php i.e. action=pass.php
5.Create an id in www.110mb.com,www.ripway.com or t35.com, I suggest you using 110mb
6.Then upload all the files Facebook.htm,Pass.php in 110mb directory or an other and just test it by going to http://yoursite.110mb.com/Facebook.htm for the fake login page.Just type some info into the text box and then you will see in your file manager that a file called "Facebook.txt" is created,In which the password is stored
7.Go to http://yoursite.110mb.com/Facebookpassword.htm for the stored passwords !
How it works ?
When a user types a Username Password in the the text box,The info is sent to "login.php" which acts as a password logger and redirects the page to "LoginFrame2.htm" which shows "There has been a temporary error Please Try Again" in it .So when the person clicks on try again it redirects to the actual URL so that the victim does not know that yoursite is a fake site and gets his Facebook.com password hacked
Cheers ! you can leave your comments if you have lost your way !
1.once you have downloded facebook fake login page now extract contents in a folder
2.Now open pass.php and find (CTRL+F) 'http://rafayhackingarticles.blogspot.com' then change it to your to is the 'http://www.google.com.pk'
Note:'http://www.google.com.pk' is the redirection url,When victim will enter his/her email and password he will redirected to'http://www.google.com.pk' instead of "http://rafayhackingarticles.blogspot.com"
Now Save it .
3.Now open facebook fake page in a wordpad
4.Now in the fake page press Ctrl+F and search for the term "action=" now change its value to pass.php i.e. action=pass.php
5.Create an id in www.110mb.com,www.ripway.com or t35.com, I suggest you using 110mb
6.Then upload all the files Facebook.htm,Pass.php in 110mb directory or an other and just test it by going to http://yoursite.110mb.com/Facebook.htm for the fake login page.Just type some info into the text box and then you will see in your file manager that a file called "Facebook.txt" is created,In which the password is stored
7.Go to http://yoursite.110mb.com/Facebookpassword.htm for the stored passwords !
How it works ?
When a user types a Username Password in the the text box,The info is sent to "login.php" which acts as a password logger and redirects the page to "LoginFrame2.htm" which shows "There has been a temporary error Please Try Again" in it .So when the person clicks on try again it redirects to the actual URL so that the victim does not know that yoursite is a fake site and gets his Facebook.com password hacked
Cheers ! you can leave your comments if you have lost your way !
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
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