高中英语Unit 4 Learning efficiently背景知识 (2)

号顿市安谧阳光实验学校Unit 4 Learning efficiently
Part Two: Teaching Resources
Section 2: Background information for Unit 4 Learning efficiently
1. What is learning?
learning,in psychology, the process by which a relatively lasting change in potential behavior occurs as a result of practice or experience. Learning is distinguished from behavioral changes arising from such processes as maturation and illness, but does apply to motor skills, such as driving a car, to intellectual skills, such as reading, and to attitudes and values, such as prejudice. There is evidence that neurotic symptoms and patterns of mental illness are also learned behavior. Learning occurs throughout life in animals, and learned behavior accounts for a large proportion of all behavior in the higher animals, especially in humans.
2. Models of Learning
Classical Conditioning
The first model, classical conditioning, was initially identified by Pavlov in the salivation reflex of dogs. Salivation is an innate reflex, or unconditioned response, to the presentation of food, an unconditioned stimulus. Pavlov showed that dogs could be conditioned to salivate merely to the sound of a buzzer (a conditioned stimulus), after it was sounded a number of times in conjunction with the presentation of food. Learning is said to occur because salivation has been conditioned to a new stimulus that did not elicit it initially. The pairing of food with the buzzer acts to reinforce the buzzer as the prominent stimulus.
Operant Conditioning
A second type of learning, known as operant conditioning, was developed around the same time as Pavlov's theory by Thorndike, and later expanded upon by B. F. Skinner. Here, learning takes place as the individual acts upon the environment. Whereas classical conditioning involves innate reflexes, operant conditioning requires voluntary behavior. Thorndike showed that an intermittent reward is essential to reinforce learning, while discontinuing the use of reinforcement tends to extinguish the learned behavior. The famous Skinner box demonstrated operant conditioning by placing a rat in a box in which the pressing of a small bar produces food. Skinner showed that the rat eventually learns to press the bar regularly to obtain food. Besides reinforcement, punishment produces avoidance behavior, which appears to weaken learning but not curtail it. In both types of conditioning, stimulus generalization
occurs; i.e., the conditioned response may be elicited by stimuli similar to the original conditioned stimulus but not used in the original training. Stimulus generalization has enormous practical importance, because it allows for the application of learned behaviors across different contexts. Behavior modification is a type of treatment resulting from these stimulus/response models of learning. It operates under the assumption that if behavior can be learned, it can also be unlearned.
Cognitive Learning
A third approach to learning is known as cognitive learning. Wolfgang Kohler showed that a protracted process of trial-and-error may be replaced by a sudden understanding that grasps the interrelationships of a problem. This process, called insight, is more akin to piecing together a puzzle than responding to a stimulus. Edwar Tolman (1930)found that unrewarded rats learned the layout of a maze, yet this was not apparent until they were later rewarded with food. Tolman called this latent learning, and it has been suggested that the rats developed cognitive maps of the maze that they were able to apply immediately when
a reward was offered.
3. Multiple Intelligences ■Verbal Linguistic intelligence(sensitive to the meaning and order of words as in a poet). Use activities that involve hearing, listening, impromptu or formal speaking, tongue twisters, humor, oral or silent reading, documentation, creative writing, spelling, journal, poetry. ■Logical-mathematical intelligence (able to handle chains of reasoning and recognize patterns and orders as in a scientist). Use activities that involve abstract symbols/formulas, outlining, graphic organizers, numeric sequences, calculation, deciphering codes, problem solving. ■Musical intelligence (sensitive to pitch, melody, rhythm, and tone as in a composer). Use activities that involve audio tape, music recitals, singing on key, whistling, humming, environmental sounds, percussion vibrations, rhythmic patterns, music composition, tonal patterns. Spatial intelligence (perceive the world accurately and try to re-create or transform aspects of that world as in a sculptor or airplane pilot). Use activities that involve art, pictures, sculpture, drawings, doodling, mind mapping, patterns/designs, color schemes, active imagination, imagery, block building.
■Bodily Kinesthetic inte lligence (able to use the body skillfully and handle objects adroitly, as in an athlete or dancer). Use activities that
involve role playing, physical gestures, drama, inventing, ball passing, sports games, physical exercise, body language, dancing.
■Inte rpersonal intelligence (understand people and relationship as in a salesman or teacher). learners think by bouncing ideas off of each other (socializers who are people smart). Use activities that involve group projects, division of labor, sensing others' motives, receiving/giving feedback, collaboration skills.
■Intrapersonal intelligence (possess access to one's emotional life as a means to understand oneself and others exhibited by individuals with accurate views of themselves). Use activities that involve emotional processing, silent reflection methods, thinking strategies, concentration skills, higher order reasoning, "centering" practices, meta-cognitive techniques.
■Naturalist (connected to the intricacies and subtleties in nature such as Charles Darwin and Meriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame). Use activities that involve bringing the outdoors into the class, relating to the natural world, charting, mapping changes, observing wildlife, keeping journals or logs.
4. Top 10 Tips for studying English ●Learning English Grammar in TextsHow can you best study and remember certain aspects of English grammar (e.g. tenses)?
When reading English texts (lyrics, novels, news, textbooks) look out for the grammar aspect you want to remember. Mark it and reflect on why it is used there.
To see whether you're right about a rule, look up the topic in an English grammar reference, your English textbook.
●Doing English Gap-Filling Exercises
Make your own gap-filling exercises from English texts.
Choose a short, interesting English text that is not too difficult (e.g. lyrics, text from your textbook, news, excerpt from a story/novel). Copy the text and delete some words in the copy, e.g.:
★prepositions
★adjectives
★verbs in a certain tense
Try to fill the gaps correctly and then take the original text to check your answers.
This sure is more fun when doing it with friends. Everyone prepares a short text and gives a copy to the others, who will try to fill the gaps correctly.
To make things a bit easier, you can provide the words in a different order or as a translation.
●Learning English through Films
Thanks to DVD, watching films in English has become an easy thing to do. Choose your favourite film - you've watched that film a dozen times and probably know all the dialogues off by heart in your native language. So following the story will be easy for you.
Have paper and pen ready as you may want to jot down useful words or phrases that you wish to learn. English subtitles might be useful for that (although they might differ from what is actually being said).
If you are not used to watching films in English, choose a only few episodes - at the beginning it isn't easy to concentrate on listening to the foreign language for a long time.
●Learning English through Songs Vocabulary needs to be revised again and again. Well, what could be better than studying vocabulary by listening to your favourite songs?
Read the lyrics first and try to understand them. You don't have to translate the lyrics word by word, just try to find out what the song is all about. (Note: 'Rap' might not be practical as those songs usually contain slang words that not even 'ordinary' English native speakers know.)
Pick some words or phrases from the song that you would like to learn. If necessary, look up their exact meaning in a dictionary. A dictionary might also be useful to find other interesting phrases with the word. Now, to learn the vocabulary, all you have to do is listening to the song again and again (that shouldn't be a problem if it's one of your favourite songs).。