Concept of Language Learning

Concept of Language Learning

            There are five main issues to discuss concerning about the concept of language learning. They are psychological approach to language and learning,

development of psychological perspective in language teaching: a selective review, methods of second language learning and the concept of proficiency, learner factors, and conditions of learning and the learning process.

14.       Psychological approaches to language and learning

            The approach of language learning is discussed much in psychology because it talks much the relationship between the language learner and the process of language learning. The process what happens in one’s mind and brain when he/she learns a language is the concern of psychology in language learning.

Language in psychology

            The discussion of language in psychology is elaborated in the followings:

·         Before World War I

·         The interwar period

·         After world War II

·         Skinner and Chomsky

·         The study of language comprehension and production

·         Language acquisition in childhood

In short, studying the language in psychology, psycholinguistics, later on dealing with two main questions: What does it mean to know a language ?

How does a child acquire a language?

The psychology of learning

            The psychological events to one who is doing learning are approached in two main ways:

1.      The theoretical and experimental study of learning

Theories are studied and applied in the forms of experimental study. A popular experiment was done by Skinner with pigeon. It was well known as Skinner operant conditioning and  the  teaching machine.

2.      The empirical study of learning in individual setting

It studied what happened with one who learned a language and what were the obstacle an difficulties faced by them.

Concept of learning in educational psychology

            The psychology of learning commonly refers to formal educational activities, mainly characteristics of  the learner and individual differences among learners (abilities, personality, attitudes, and motivation), different kinds of learning, the learning process, and outcomes of learning.

Ø  In terms of the learner characteristics, the frequent factors presented are the influence of age and maturity on mental development and learning, the effect of heredity and environment on abilities and achievement, specific aptitudes for particular learning task, and the influence of home and community on motivation and attitude.

Ø  The different kinds of learning have been usually expressed in to three major categories, they are:

·         Conceptual and verbal learning

·         Skill learning

·         Affective and social learning

All the three categories above are used in defining the educational objectives. They are more commonly known in term of the three categories: cognition, skill, and affect.

Ø  To understand the how the learning and the learning process, distinctions have been introduced. One of them is the time-scale of learning. It may be different the learning of infancy and adult. It may also be different the first learning the first language and the second learning the second language.

Ø  The needs of assessing the outcome of learning results in the development of tests of achievement and proficiency.

The main emphasized discussion on the language learning and psychology are the psychology of language and the psychology of learning. However, still there are many areas of psychology have very close relationship to study. Some of the are child psychology, social psychology, etc. It is obvious that in descriptive study of language, the making of pedagogical grammars, curriculum development, the expression of objectives, teaching procedures, and the organization of language teaching in educational systems all need psychological aspects.