Conditions of Learning
Francoise Herrmann (fherrmann who-is-at igc.apc.org)
Thu, 11 Apr 1996 10:06:32 -0700 (PDT)
Hi Robin, Hi everyone, I've been hesitant to take the plunge with
your question about the possiblitiy of setting conditions for the
emergence of learning for several reasons. One is my trouble with
remembering (!). Two is that I wonder how true your question may be.
And three is that it seems to me that this is what almost everyone
in learning and teaching attempts to do. But here are some thoughts
that popped up. For the field of foreign language learning and teaching
the dominant theory is that you need to supply something called
"comprehensible input". This input is called "i+1", that is language
that is just a little bit beyond the learner's current threshold of
understanding. To me that has always sounded much like the ZOPED. But
to pick up on Mike's ice cream analogy, it is a little like saying
that setting up favorable conditions of learning amounts to supplying
"eadible food". And while "eadible food" may be both necessary and
sufficient for survival (logically speaking), it is I believe in practive
not really good enough! Moliere (a sort of French Shakespeare) asked a
long time ago "Do you eat to live or live to eat?" So in my brief
experience, and in reading much about other people's experience, I
think that yes, one can endeavor to set up conditions favorable to
learning. Indeed every approach and method sets up differnt conditions
deemed favorable. Another question is what makes them work, perhaps. Or
which set of conditions works, has worked and why (for the researcher
interested in understanding).
Francoise
Francoise Herrmann
fherrmann who-is-at igc.org