Interactionists argue that language development is both biological and social. Interactionists argue that language learning is influenced by the desire of children to communicate with others. The Interactionists argue that "children are born with a powerful brain that matures slowly and predisposes them to acquire new understandings that they are motivated to share with others" ( Bates,1993;Tomasello,1995, as cited in shaffer,et al.,2002,p.362). The main theorist associated with interactionist theory is Lev Vygotsky.Interactionists focus on Vygotsky 's model of collaborative learning ( Shaffer,et al.,2002). Collaborative learning is the idea that conversations with older people can help children both cognitively and linguistically (
This is then followed by the connections between the key concepts and the cognitive development of children which will an educator’s developing pedagogy. Finally, an outline of the strengths and outlines of Piaget 's theory. The significant Piaget’s key concepts to understand children’s learning and development: Jean Piaget formulated a model which determined a way of how a human’s mind gathers and organises information. Bormanaki and Khoshhal (2017 pg997) state "according to Piaget 's research; human beings have two basic tendencies of thinking." The first tendency is an organisation which is “ongoing process of arranging information and experience into mental systems or categories” (Woolfolk, Margetts 2016 pg81).
Some researcher state that the process of identification is to determine the development of many different types of response includes sex-role behavior, pro-social aggression, adult-like attitude and conduct, resistance to deviation, and guilt following reaction transgression. This point of view refers to the preservation of children 's background that determines the hypothetical process of identification to their behavioral manifestations. Therefore, the identification of the modeling theory governing the relationships between child-rearing practice and the quality of behavior is difficult to assess when set variable that refers to the attitudes, values and actual social behavior shown by model of parents. In other words, the identification of the theory of modeling is difficult to identify the influence of family with social behavior. The involvement of parents is not very suitable to identify the actual behavior of a child.
Pavlov based his work on the reflexes that are already present within an organism meaning that people “can learn by associating different events with one another” (Swartz et al. 2011). Skinner enforces the notion that reinforcement of behaviour can be achieved through either punishing or rewarding the child. “Essentially, the way a child develops in the Behaviourist Theory is determined by the external conditions that influence particular elements of their development.” (Farr, 2014). A relevant example in education would be providing the children with stickers on the work they excelled in.
Piaget 's theory of cognitive development. According to Mallon(1967) Piaget was concerned in the question " how do we know what we know?" . Piaget theorized that if one could study the evolution of thought from childhood through adolescence , the question might be answered . According to him general intelligence is an example of adaptive behavior .He believed that at any given stages in the gradual process of intellectual growth, the child is capable of understanding certain concepts and that more complex understandings and intelligence develop as information is recognized and new capabilities develop.
Piaget developed the theory of cognitive development to examine how children develop their thinking and reasoning when facing problems with the world around them at different ages. This essay critically analyses Piaget’s cognitive development theory. The aim of discussion is to investigate how Piaget’s theory is applied to young children in primary school learning areas and to discuss the strengths and implications of the theory that have an effect on developing an educational pedagogy. Firstly, the key processes of Piaget’s theory are explained and the connections it has with the development and learning of children. The discussion continues with how the concepts advise your developing educational pedagogy.
“Individuals are born with reflexes that allow them to interact with the environment. These reflexes are quickly replaced by constructed mental schemes or structures that allow them to interact with, and adapt to, the environment” (Lutz, S., & Huitt, W,2004). Piaget believes that each person is born with the ability to think and they use ideas gained from their environment to advance their thinking process in each stage of development. Fleming, PhD(2005), states that Piaget did his study on moral development of a child by carrying out experiments in two different ways. The first way was by getting the children to play a game but they are not made aware of the rules of the game.
Another type of learning is cognitive learning, which is learning through active and constructive thought process, such as practice using our memory. Cognitive learning theories are based on how people think. Cognitive theory defines learning as a “semi-permanent change in mental processes or associations”. Cognitive process to choose, focus, ignore, reflect and make decision on changes in environment. Cognitive psychology believe that learning is a targeted internal process and focus on thinking using brain with active mental process to receive, store, understanding, feeling, organizing and learning takes place when new knowledge is gained or modified through experience.
For biological factor, Noam Chomsky proposed a nativist theory of language development which regards the biological existence of Language Acquisition Device (LAD). Language acquisition device allowed the children to consistently combine words and understand the information they hear after they acquired sufficient vocabulary (Berk, 2012). The idea of language acquisition device the ability of language learning that already implanted in children mind (as cited in Department of Education and Training, 2006). Scientifically, left hemisphere of the cerebral cortex plays a vital role in language development. For example, grammatical processing and language production are supported by Broca’s area which located in the left-frontal lobe; and word meaning comprehension is supported by Wernicke’s area that located in the left temporal lobe.
These methods provide learning processes in various educational situations. The field of educational psychology involves conceptualizing new strategies for learning processes in humans. The theories of memory, information processing, and individual differences are some studies that this field is built upon. It is truly and really concerned with the study of human behavior or human personality, its growth, development, guidance under the social process of education. This behavioral science deals with the discipline concerned with teaching and learning processes.