1. Cognitive domain of human behaviour is key in acquiring first and second languages through processes like perceiving, attending, storing, and recalling. 2. Learning theories from Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, and Ausubel contributed to understanding language learning as forming associations between stimuli and responses through conditioning, and relating new learning to prior knowledge. 3. Second language learning can occur through different types of learning including signal, stimulus-response, chaining, verbal association, multiple discrimination, concept, and problem solving learning.

1. HUMAN LEARNING
Cognitive domain of human behaviour is of key importance in
the acquisition of both a first and second language.

2. PROCESS OF LEARNING
Perceiving
attending
stroring
recall
Central tasks
of
internalization
of language

3. History of learning theory
• Ivan Pavlov
• Classical conditioning
• John B. Watson – Behaviourism
• Classical conditioning as the explanation for all learning: by the process of
conditioning , a building of stimulus-response connections, and more
complex behaviuors are learned by building up series of of responses.
Learnign
process
Formation of
associations
Between stimuli
and refelxive
responses

4. History of learning theory
• B. F. Skinner
• Respondent conditioning concern with respondent behaviour
• Operant conditioning = behaviour in which one “operates” on the
environment; with this model the importance of stimuli is de-emphazised.
• The stimuli reinforces the response and that tend to strengthen behaviour.
Behaviour Elicited
By a preceding
stimulus

5. History of learning theory
• AUSUBEL´S MEANINGFUL LEARNING THEORY
• Learning takes place in the human organism through a meaningful process
of relatining new events or ítems to already existing cognitive concepts.
• Knowledge= the acquisition of new meanings
• Retention= the phychological organization of knowledge as a hierarchical
structure, and the eventual ocurrence of forgetting.
Any learning situation can be meaningful
If learners have a meaningful learning set, a
disposition to relate to new learning task to
what they already know
If the learning task itself is potentially
meaningful to the learners, relatable to the
leaerner´s structure of knowledge

6. History of learning theory
• ROGERS´S HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY
• Affective focus on learning than cognitive approach.
• Rogers studied the whole person as a physical and cognitive, but primarily emotional
being.
• According to Rogers “Fully Functional persons” live at peace with all their feelings
and rections; they are able to reach their full potential.
• The focus in on learning rather than teaching
• Teachers need to become facilitators of learning through the establishment of
interpersonal relations with learners.

7. Theories of learning

8. Types of learning
• Signal learning: learners make a general diffuse response to a signal.
• Stimulus: response learning. Learner acquires a precise response to a stimuli.
• Chaining: what is acquire is a chain of two or more stimulus-response connections.
• Verbal association:learning of chains that is verbal. This is a special type of chaining because
internal links may be selected from previous learning repertoire of language.
• Multiple discrimination: learns a number of different responses to diffferent stimuli.
• Concept learning: learner acquires the the ability to make common response to a class of stimuli.
• Principle learning: chain of two or more concepts. It functions to organize behaviour and
experience.
• Problem solving: learning that requires internal events called “thinking”. Previous principles and
concepts are combined in a conscious set of events.

9. Second language learning process BY MEANS
OF THE EIGHT TYPES OF LEARNING
Signal learning: emotional,
cognitive, verbal response to
language
Stimulus-response learning
to sound system of a
foreign language by trial and
error in pronunciation
Chaining in phonological
sequences and syntatic
patterns
Verbal and no verbal chain
Multiple discrimination to
distinguish several meanings
of words or rules from the
native language to the new
language

10. Second language learning process BY MEANS
OF THE EIGHT TYPES OF LEARNING
Concept learnign: the
notion that language and
cognition are interrelated.
Linguistic rules need to be
learned.
Principle learning: rules
and memory are part of a
total system for language
learning
Problem solving: learner
face sets of events that
need to be solve:
Determining the correct
meaning of a word,
interpretation of
utterance, conversational
approach

11. L2 Learning and Teaching
• RELATIONSHIP OF L1 AND L2
• All languages are learnable
• Knowledge of L1 is an important component of all L2 competence in its
initial state, but the genetic, typological, and historical relationships of L1
and L2 will yield differential possibilities for positive transfer of parameter
settings and surface-level features, including vocabulary and writing system.

12. APTITUDE & age
• Aptitude is an important predictor of differential success in L2 learning, but
it is not completely deterministic.
• Learners differ in capacity to discriminate and process auditory input.
Brain plasticity
Not analytical
Fewer inhibitions
Weaker group identity
Simplified input more
likey
Learning capacity
Analytic ability
Pragmatic skills
Greater knowledge of
L1
Real-world knowledge
Youngeradvantage
Olderadvantage

13. COGNITIVE STYLE
• The way individuals prefers to process.
• Related to and interacts with personality factors and learning strategies.
• FIeld-dependent/field-independent (FD/FI) dimension
• Deductive or inductive processing.
• Matter of cognitive style is sensory preference for processing input: visual,
auditory, kinesthetic (movement-oriented), or tactile (touch-oriented).

14. PERSONALITY
• Little study has been carried out on other personality factors in relation to
differences in L2 outcomes, but there is some evidence that being
imaginative or creative, empathetic, and tolerant of ambiguity is
advantageous.
• Factors like anxiety, self-confident, risk-avoiding, risk-taking, shyness,
adventuresome, introverted, extroverted, inner-directed, other-directed,
reflective, impulsive, imaginative, uninquisitive, creative, uncreative,
empathetic, insensitive, tolerant of ambiguity, closure-oriented.

15. LEARNING STRATEGIES
• Selection from among possible strategies is often a conscious choice on the
part of learners, but it is strongly influenced by the nature of their
motivation, cognitive style, and personality, as well as by specific contexts of
use and opportunities for learning. The other variables we considered earlier
in this section – age, sex, and aptitude – also play a role in strategy selection.
• Learning strategies are culturally based: individuals learn how to learn as part
of their socialization experiences, and strategies they acquire in relation to
other domains are commonly transferred to language learning.