LEARI{II{G AND DEVELOPMENT

Introducdon
This first chapteris devotedto questionsof how children developand learn at home and at school.It will discuss how they learn new conceptsand developnew ideasabout the world, and how adults (parents,carers,arrd teachers)can help them make tle processof learning as successfulas The aim is to make a link betweenwhat we know about childrerit possible. development and learning in generaland language learning in particular.It ':'irimportant for language teachers to exploretheselinks and t*e children's learningand their development in other areas into account.Many of the principlesdiscussed in this chapter will be referredto and built on in chapters subsequent

Active learning:'constructivism'
Learningis an activeprocess. AII parentsand teachers who haveobserved childrenin learningsituationscan testifyjust how activelythey areinvolved For example, they can be completelyabsorbed yhen they ggeinterested. in the story that they are listening to or in the pretend g.me that they are playrng.-whenthey aremotivated,children h"ppy rolty new thingr "rd to experimentwith ideas and thoughts in "r. conversations with adults and teachers. Children through their explorationsand play, and through _learn opportunities to talk things through with others,usually adults. Exploring can refer_ to things in concreteterms (for example,playing with r"nd "nJ water or buildingwith toy bricks) or in abstractterms in conversations with others. Often the rwo happen simultaneously, for example,children and. adults can play togetherwith water and sandand talk about what they are doing. JeanPiaget(1896-1980),who beganto develop his ideasin the first half of the rwentieth century,wasone of the rlrosrfr-ous child psychologists of all times.He referredto activelearningr,; 'constructivisrn . H. rrrgg.ra.dthat children construct knowledge for themselves by activ.ly -"ki"g senseof

L earn ing and deu elopment their environment.For example, a young child might know that babybirds suchaschicksand duckiingsarehatchedfrom eggs. \XZhen this child comes across other animalsduring a visit to a farm, he or sheassumes rhar the pigs are hatched from eggs,roo. According to piaget, this is the pro..ri -f 'assimilation'. The child is assimiladng infor-"tio., to fit his oi her own interpretationof the world and existing waysof thinking (i.e.all animalsare hatchedfr9T eggs)At a laterstage, maybe,in a conversation aboutanimals, a.parent.migtt explainthat pigletsarenor hatchedfrom eggs. At this point the child will haveto adapt or changehis or her way of thltikitrg ro accom."..orri-odation,. modate this new idea. Piagetrefersto this pro..r, \ilZithoutthis adapt2lien-5smething ", that the child has to do for himselflearning would not take place. Asiimilation and accommodationthus describerwo sides of the same process,i.e. learning. such interaction berween the environmentand children's existingknowl"edge is ongoingan4 throughout the years further and furth., ,.fi".r.-enrs are added to the growingknowledgebase. In this way,childrenareactiveconsrructors of their knowledge of the world.

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Piaget'sstages of development
Teachers and parentscan often judge very well what their children can or cannotyet do or understand. Eventhough childrenareall unique learners, -.o*-o, they also show some characteristics in with thei, p..rr. \rhen parentsof similar-aged children talk togetherthey often ,edte''that their children act similarl.rin a_ rangeof situalions.For .*".npl., parenrsof fiveyear-olds find that their childrenusesimilar arguments in conversations or enjoyvery similargames, activities, andjokes. such -Eimilarities within age bandswere observedby piaget too, and he developed his famousframeworkwhich suggesrs th"t th.r. fo,rr universal "i. stages of development that all children go th1o.tgh.Piagetand his colleagues constructedtasksand conductedexpirimenr, b"r.Jon this theory"and produceda detaileddescription of the four stages. In L923piagetpubiished a book called TheLanguage and the Thougbtoitht Chitdinwhi"ch i,. "rgr.d that development *: process of acquiiirg ,h. principlesof formal llgic. " He referredto basiclogical abilities 'oplr"riorr', h..r.. the na-mirg"of ", the stages. Each child follows these,,"g.i in exactlythe sameorder, and developmentunfolds as a result of the Siologicalprocesses of growth, and the developmentof the child's brain. Thbr"e1.i summarizes the main ,piagetian characteristics of childrent development within each ,,"g. It is useful for teachers to be familiar with the Piagetianframework because teaching a-'8]rsh to children can *.T *orkit i with very different age groupswith different interests and needs. Gachi'ng a class of r2-year-olJ,

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lopment Learningand deue experimentersplaced a doll at the opposite side of the display facing the .hildr.., from the other end. At dris point they askeddre children to choose Typically, children under the a photo which showed the doll's PersPective. of sevenin dris experiment were unable to choosethe correct photo. "g. to their own persPective. Instead,they chosethe photo which was identica-l This was consideredasproof of thesechildren'segocentrism.

Figure1.1: The threemountain experiment

Many taskssimilar to the one abovewere given to children of sevenyearsof 'conservatiori, i.e. the age and younger. Some of these tasks tested u-nderstandingihat moving two sticks of the same length away from each other doesnot changetheir length, or that pouringwater from one container into apother does not add or take awayanything from dre original amount 'class inclusion', i.e. the relationship of of *"t.t. Other tasls tested subcategoriesand main categoriesand principles of hierarchy, for example, how the concepts of animals, ryPesof animals like dogs, and rypes 9f dogs like terrier. ,.1"t. to each other. Typically, the great majority of children under the age of seven gave incorrect answersto all the questions. Piaget concluded that their development had not reached the stage where they could haveapplied the rules oflogic.

Criticism of Piagetbstages
Thepre-operational stage
of Both parenrs and teachersworldwide may feel that Piagett assessment children under the age of sevenwas a bit harsh. One of Piaget'smain critics

Learning and deuelopment

that Shesuggested, wasMargaretDonaldson,the Scottishchild,ps,vchologist. Piaget underestimatedyoung children. First of ali, the languageused by in the taskswas confusingfor them. In particular, Piagetand his colleagues askedwere unnaturai and ambiguthe questionsPiagetand his colleagues 'Are in this picture?' there more yellow flowersor fl.owers ous.For example, rvas a qypical question that was put to the children in one of the class like this were uncommon arguedthat questions inclusion tasks.Dona-ldson in everydaylanguageuse and that the children could not make senseof rhem. Another sourceof criticism was the context of t}re Piagetianexperithey misunderstoodthe context. For ments. M*y children failed because example,in thg conservationtaskswhen the adult experimenterrearranged the sticks, the children expected a change as a result of *re adultt manipulation of the objects.Many children thought that something must to ask the samequestion havechanged,otherwiseit would not make sense in a again.Donaldson decidedto redesignsomeof fie original experiments more child-friendly format. In a book pubiished in 7978 entitled Children's in Minds,MargaretDonaldson reportedthat oncethesetaskswerepresented a familiar context, the majority of the results for children under the age of sevenimproved. In fact, it has repeatedlybeen demonstrated that when young children are presentedwith familiar tasks,in familiar circumstances, introduced by familiar adults using languagethat makessenseto them, they show signsof logical thinking much earlierthan Piagetclaimed.Thesefindings and criticisms have important implications for teachers,in particular in young learners'classrooms. with regardto issues of testingand assessment Unfamiliar tasks, unfamiliar contexts, and unfamiliar adults can cause children anxiety and as a result they may perform well below their true abiliry or not respondat all to the questionsor tasks.

The operalional stages

Even though the most important criticisms concerned Piagett preoperational stage,the description of operational stagesturned out to be problematic, too. Children berween the agesof sevenand 11 all develop formal thinking to some extent but this is usually due to their schooling which promotes such thinkirg. However, their contexts and cultural practices vary gteatly and this leads to a great deal of variety acrossthis age group worldwide. \fith regard to the final stage,Piagett'descriptions were simply overconfident. The ultimate intellectual challenge of being able to think according to the rules of formal logic is not actually fuIl;' and automaticallyachieved or evenadults.Indeed, peopledo not by all teenagers need to think in a logical fashion in most everyday contexts. Analyrical developmentleading to formal logic is also the result of formal schooling rather than natural maturation and different educationalsystemscontribute to maintaining differencesbetween same-aged children or teenagersin

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Learningand deuelopment to proposethat difrerent parts of tie.world. In addition, it is alsoreasonable development does not actually stop at the age of eleven or trveh'e but last stage. well beyond this age,well beyond Piaget's condnLles Vhile it is true drat Piagett original ideas have been challenged,most of somestagewould still suppoft the existence psychologists developmentai are believedto be less like dwelopment in children even though the stages by Piaget. rigid and perhaps less deterministic than originally suggested to learn from Piagetbtheory?It is important \(hat is important for teachers and open to the needsand interestsofvarious age to be sensitive for teachers and continually monitor their changing needs.Careful monitoring groups -regular feedback from children will help teachers select suitable and materials that are developmentally appropriate for the given age group in a given conrexr. As stated in the Introduction of this book, particular attention will be paid to differentiating berweenthe needsof younger and older children. In the following chapters, where appropriate, principles underlying the useoftasks, activities,and other materialswith both younger and older children will be offered.

The role of interaction:

'social

constructivism'

theoryof learning Vygoxby's

Vith the stage theory Piaget emphasized the biological basis of in everychild. from stageto stage developmentand the universalprogression However, there is an important social side to children's development too. The socialenvironment, the cuitural context, and in particular the influence in interactionswith children are also and parentsengaged of peers,teachers, of learning and development. major sources Social conStructivism is associatedwith the ideas of the Russian psychologist,Lev Vygotsky ( 1895-1934) . Vygotskywas a contemporaryof Piaget sharedsome of his basic beliefs about child development. He agreed "nd with Piaget that children construct knowledge for themselvesand that they However,he pointed out that the activelyparticipatein the learningprocess. social environment too has an important role to play. In his book entitled (translatedinto of Higher Mentgl Processes the Deuelopment Mind and Society, English in 1978), he explored the role of culture and social context. He tur.red reachers'and parents' attention to the powerful effect of the social 'socialt is added to constructivism. Quite aPart from which context: hence was interestedin the learning Piagetianstagea child belongedto, Vygotslqy potential of the individual, recognizing the fact that all children were unique 1."r.r.rr. He was interested to explorewhat individuai children were capable of achievingwith the help and support of a more knowledgeablePartner.

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L earning anddeu elopment 'Zone Accordingly, fre most famous Vygotskian conceprwas born, the of 'ZPD'). Proximal Development' (oq as it is often referred ro, the This 'zone' the differenceor the concePtdescribes benveen dre currentknowledge of the child and the potential knowledge achievablewith somehelp from a peeror adult. Vygotslcy more knowledgeable argues that working within the ZPD is a fertile ground for learning because it starts with what the child ilready knows and carefully builds on it according to the childt immediate to go forward. Figure 1.2 givesavisual represenration needs ofthe ZPD.

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Learner'spotentiai level with help Zone of Proximal Development wherelearningoccurs.

Learner'scurrent level

Figure 1.2: TheZone of of Proximal Deuelopment For example,think of a four-year-oldboy who is sitting down to sharea story book with a parent when he noticesthat the coverpageof the srory book is fulI of colourful stars.He is eagerto start counting the starsand he is able to count up to Tbo.., 15 or 161ut beyond th"t li. gets confusedwith the counting. He will saydrings like 'rwenry ten' insteadof thirty, leaveour some numbers altogether,or just stop, nor knowing how to catry on. Left to his orvn devices,he wili probably abandon the task of counting. However, a parent or teacher, or even an older brofier or sister, can help him to continue.They can prompt him by inserting the next correctnumber or by giving a visual clue (for example, showing the number of fingers) or by pronouncing the first sound of the word (twenty-ffi that iollows.

systematic support

Helping children to learnbyffiring

Giventhiskind of help,the child maybeableto counrup ro 50 or even100. \Whensuchhelp is providedin a systematic manner,it is often referredto as

T2

Learning and deue lopment

scafrolding'. Building on both piagett and vygotskys theory and work,Jerome Bruner, anAmerican psychologist, i* .oll."g.r.r, introduced -Br,rrr.r, ""j this term in 1976 (see also-wood, and Rossi scaffoiding is essentiallyan instructional sffategy which ensuresthat the child can gain confidenceand take control of the task (for example,counting th. ri*r) o, Pafis of the task assoon ashe or sheis willing to. At.[. r*rrr. rime, "rrdibl. he or sheis offeredimmediate, meaningfi:l ,ippor. wheneverstuck. During the interaction.that takespilce in the ZPD, ih. encourages the child "d,rlt with.plaise, points out possibledifficulties, and makes sure distractionsare avoided' The adult also ensures tlat the learner srays on track and is motivated to finish the task.The support is carefullyadjusted to the need.s of the individual child.

The importance of languagefor learning

The language used in interactionsyrth paients and teachers is important because it is the vehicle thrgugh which understandingand learniig take place. k is languagedrat allows us ro make -.rr"go accessible . o.r, listeners' It is language that allowsus to askquestions and clarlfywhat is not clear, andit is language that allows,r, ,o.*pr.is our ideas with greatprecision. According to Vygotslv, learning happensin social interactionswith "ll others.Learn^ing occursin converr"rionr, L a ,esult of underrt*di.rg inter:preting "rrd for ourselves what othersare saying.At the beginning,-i"t.r, children arc very young, parenrssupport ,h.; by explain"ing '; ideas -ln carefi.'lly,. by repeating information differerr, .o.rr."t, .rrriil they are satisfied that the messages havegot through.In otherwords,.*ly take responsibiliry for, or 'regulare', childrenslearning.orr. of ";;;dults the most important toolsparelt: useto iegulate their childre.r's l.arning is l"rrg,r"g.,i, particular,, djai,ogues. using language, theyremind children*f,", thJy^lir^dy explain how to go aboutsolvingprobrems, andin general supporttheir 9o*, learning.Lateron, childrenlearn,o ri"g.rd whensom.thlrg is not.l.", o, questions to clarify a point. As childrenmature,they leari to regulate "rk *or. and mote asPects of their learning.Chapter2 wrlldir.rrs the crucialrole of .1f:1t' languageto children in more ietaii and chapter g will explore children's development in takingmoreresponsibiliry for ih.ir l."rrirrg.-' The-significance of language hasimportant implications for teacher talk in all classrooms, includingoflourse th. foreigno.^r..o.rdlanguage .l"rrroo-. For example, EYL teachers needto b. that their r""g"""g; useis often "*# the main sourceof language input. children learn ,.* lirglage forms in meaningfulcontextsso listeningto the teacheris essential blth"fo, mod.elling pronunciation pto,ridi.rg oppo*unitiesfor understanding new "l.d !t input from context. Children n.-.doppor.r-rrrities to join in andinleract "lso with the teacher and with each other.fb:rchers will needto think abouthow

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Learning and deuelopmerzt rhey can best scaffold childrent early language production in their English what questioning rechniq".r *.! *11 ,tr. to elicit language#oclasses, learnets, and how they can encourage children to ur. llg,r"g. their with each other. meaningfi-rllv

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Children areall unique learners

Gardner'sfr ameworhfo r rnuhi? Ie in teIligences
Having consideredhow similarly-aged children sharecertain characteristics (Piaget) and how the socialenvironmenr,in particularsocialinteractionwith pa-relt: and teachers,can make a differenie in terms of offering unique, (Vygotsky), I shall now explorethe issueof uriiqueness. enriching experiences Gachers and parents often notice that individual children enjoy different activities. For example, if we take working witl stories, children who are musical enjoy singing and dancing .rpr.rsing themselvesthrough "t._" "nd drama and ballet. At the same dme, they may show very litde interest fn w.1lti3S, , Other children qight get embarrassqdif 4a..yl{tg,l1qq]ou1in& to join in with singing and dancing but enjoywiitin! or dr"*i"g b"r.d asked on the st_ory. \7hen assessing children'sintelligenc., -"rryf,.ychologis"ts have argued for the need to take such differencesin individrrj, into""ccounr. Howard Gardner, an American psychologist, in a pubiication entitled Frarytes of Mind: Theory of Muttiple Intelt;gences (r9BT suggested that intelligence had no^unitary characier, rather, it manifested itie"lf in many different ways in different children. He refersto thesemultiple intelligences 'frames as of mind'. _The rypes of intelligences are linguistic, 6gi.omathematical, musical, spatial, bodily/kinaesthetic, interfersonal, iitrapersonal,and natural. New ideas and new practical inteipretations with regardto.the ffis of basicintelligences areconsrantlydevelopingand Table r.2 merelysummarizesthe main featuresof eachrype of intelilg.i.e. According to Gardner's fra-mework, in the example about working with stories,.thefirst group of children would be describedasshowirrg p"rli.rrl", strengthsin the areasof musical and bodily/kinaesthetic intelligltr..r while the second exhibit linguistic and spatial intelligenc.r. d".h.rs who S**p are aware of this framework can ensuretlat their teacf,ing is meaningfirl to all children with anyone or any combination oftheseinte"llig.nces. :

Learning serles
Thle descriptionsofintelligencescan be relatedto anotherterm commonly used in the educationalliterature, i.e. 'learning sqyles'. Srylescan describe personaliry tFpes such as more careful and refleitive children as opposed to

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Learning and deu eloprnent

Linguistic:

sensitiviryto the sound, rhwhm, and meaning ofwords and the different funcrions oflanguage

Logico-mathematical: sensitivity to and capacityto detect logical and numerical pafterns,abiliry ro handle long chainsoflogical reasoning Musical: abiliry to produceor appreciate pitch, rhFrhm, or melody and aesthetic-sounding tones,understandingof fie forms of musical expressiveness ability to perceivethe visual/spatialworld accurarely,to perform transformationson thoseperceptions,and ro recreateaspects ofvisual experiencein the absence of relevantstimuli

Spatial:

Bodily-kinaesrhetic: abiliqy to usethe body skilfully for expressive aswell asgoal

orientedpurposes, abiliqyto handleobjects skilfuily

Interpersonal: Intrapersonal: abiliry to detect and respond appropriately ro the moods, temperaments, motivations, and intentions of others abiliry to discriminare complex inner feelingsand to use them to guide onet own behaviour, knowledge of one's own strengths,weaknesses, desires,and intelligences ability to recognizeand classifyvarietiesof animals, minerals, and plants

Nattrralist:

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Table1.2: Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. Adaptedfrom L. Berh:Child Development, Allyn and Bacon 2002.
impulsive and more interactive children. Other styles,related to personality features, describe cognitive categoriessuch as analydc or global learners. Analydc learnersare those with an attention to detail and global learnersare those who are more holistic in their approach.Finally, some stylesdescribe perceptual differences. Some children prefer listening to new input while others need lots ofvisual stimulus. Yet others are kinaesthetic,which means that they like to feel and touch things and move their body in expressive ways to aid their learning and communicarion. It is important for teachers to take into account rhar all children have stronger and weaker aspectsof their multiple intelligences and preferred, learning styles. Some of the early preferencesand srylesmight changewith time but there will always be a variecy of learners in every class.Therefore teachersneed to incorporate a variety of activities into second and foreign languageclassroomsto ensurethat everybody'spreferencesare cateredfor at least some of *re time. For example, when new rhymes or songs are introduced in an English class, it is a good idea to presenrthem using avariery of techniques. Children can listen to the teacher or the tape saying or singing the rhyme or the song. This wili'carer fur learners with an auditory preference.Children can alsolook at the text of the song or the rhyme in the

LearninganddeueloPment

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learners. book or look at the illustrations.This activiry will cater for visual Finally, children can rvatch t}re teachermiming the actions andjoin in with Incorprhe rvordsand actions,too. This will caterfor kinaestheticlearners. 'senses' alsomakeslearningmemorableand fun. Onceaware oradngvarious teachers can maketheir lessons of having to caterfor different intelligences, to all children. more accessible

Exceptional childreruand rnixed ability classes

children: will have to deai with exceptional In'almost all contextsteachers children with very high abiliqF or slower learners with emotionai and/or learning difficulties of various types. Many teacherswork with large mixed and they facea similar sort of problem when they haveto cater ability classes for difrerent needswitlin the sameclass.It is essentialthat all children of all and abilities find learning a new languagea motivating and rewardingexercise to provide at their own pace.It is the teacher's challenge tlat they can progress and rewards according to their individual needs. them with suitable tasl<s Exceptionally gifted children will need to learn early on to work independendyso that they can carryon with motivating taskswhile the rest of ==aree-nga$edin SomethlngelSb. ifiLe-class Similarly, slowerlearners needsuitably challenging tasks and special support that will keep them motivated and small successes. Children of all abilitieswill enjoy working togetherin ensure learners can often help weakerones. pairs or small groupsand more capable might leadto'dividing children into abilitygroupssome Theseconsiderations of the time and helping them to learn to work independently at othertimes. It they is important for teachers to monitor childrent progresscarefullybecause can developnew strengthsand interestsover time and they go through spurts 'ups of developmentand other and downs'.For example,young children are often affectedby eventsat home such asthe birth of a brother or sister,a iost teddy, or a parent being awayfrom home, and their performance at school might declinetemporarily.It is a good ideafor teachers to keepin touch with parentsand work togetherto solveproblems.

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Children within the sameagegroups may show similar characteristics but at the sametime they are alsovery difrerent asindividuals with their strengths and preferencesas learners.\7hile teacherscan benefit from famttriaizing themselveswith the universal aspectsof childrent development, it is also important that this is balanced out with focus on the individual child. Teacherswill have to use their best judgement in deciding about the most suitable materials and techniques to fit their learners of different agesin different contexts. Learning about the children by talking to them, observ-

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Learningarcddeuelopment

ing them, and talking to their parents can help teachersto understand the chiidren they are working with. By incorporaring varieqy into everyda,r, full of stimulation for all Practice,teachersof children can make their lessons IearnertFpesand intelligences.

Recommended readirg
Background theory
Berk, L. 2000. Child Deuelopment. Boston:Allyn and Bacon. This is a comprehensivebook on child psychology which coverscognitive, emotional, and socialdevelopmentfrom birth to adolescence. It is ofinterest to those teacherswho want to refresh their knowledge about child developmenr in general cohen, D. 2002. Hout the child's Mind Dnelops. Hove: Routledge. This is a drought-provoking and entertaining account of child development for both interested parents and teachers. The main theories ru--arized -in "r. +ighb'aceessible manner. The book contains many interesting topics such asthe effect of television and compurers on children. Donaldson, M. 1978. childrenls Minds.London: Fontana press. This book explores the effect of school on childrent development. It describes the demandsof a new mode of thinking required by school and the nature of difficulties children facebut it alsooffers suggestionsro parenrsand teacherswith regard to how'they can help childt.n ,o cope with these difficulties. Grieve, R. and M. Hughes (eds.). 1990. [JnderstandingChildren. Oxford: Oxford lJniversiry Press. This book covers areasincluding language development, reading, writing, picture drawing, and perceptions in separateessays written by eitablished researchers in eachfield. 'Wood, D. 1998.How ChildrenThinkandLearn Oxford: BlackwellPublishers. This book coverslanguagedevelopmentand cognitive development.\7ood reviews theoretical debates in psycholory and offers a syntlesis of what is known abouf childrent thinking and learning.

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Ifyou would like to look at somepractical tasksto explore your own practice related to the contenr of this chapter, you can try TaiLs 1: 'Exploring difrerent age groups' and 2: 'observing teachers' language use' (Appendi" pages155 and 157).