成人學習理論綜述 a Summary of Three Adult Learning

遠東學報第二十三卷第三期中華民國九十五年九月出版成人學習理論綜述 A SUMMARY OF THREE ADULT LEARNING THEORIES 杜約翰(John Duxbury) 美國南達科塔大學教育博士李分明遠東科技大學應外系副教授摘要本文主要探討三種成人學習理論-行為主義學派、認知學派和人本主義學派。行為主義學派是以 John B.Watson 以及 B.F.Skinner 等人的主張為主，此外行為主義學派的新近理論也被論述。認知學派包含 Gestalt 完形學派、Jean Piaget、 Ausubel &Bruner、Gagne 等人的主張、及強調 Vygotsky 的時間序列發展學派（Zone of Proximal Development）。人本主義學派主要是論及 Abraham Maslow 和 Carl Rogers 等人的主張，他們的主張不同於行為學派，而認為人類可以控制自己的命運。本文以人本主義學派以及作者的立論基礎作為結論。關鍵字：行為主義學派、認知學派、人本主義學派 I-221 遠東學報第二十三卷第三期中華民國九十五年九月出版 John Duxbury, of Applied Foreign Language, Far East University Fen-Ming Lee, Dept. of Applied Foreign Language, Far East University ABSTRACT This article presents three adult learning theories-behaviorist, cognitive, and humanist orientation. The behaviorist orientation is concerned mostly with the work of Jonn B. Watson and B.F.Skinner some current practices which incorporate behavioristic models ave mentioned. The cognitive orientation is then discussed with mention of the Gestalt psychologists, with Jean Piaget, Ausubel &Bruner, Gagne, and finally with the emphasis of Vygotsky’s “zone of proximal development”. The humanist ovientation talks mostly about the work and theories of Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers which differs from the behavioral predetermined orientation by asserting that people can control their own destinies. The article concludes with the author’s humanistic orientation and the rationale for this position. Keywords：Behaviorist Orientation、Cognitive Orientation、Humanist Orientation I-222 遠東學報第二十三卷第三期中華民國九十五年九月出版 BEHAVIORIST ORIENTATION a better society. Skinner reasoned that we needed to Of all the disciplines in psychology, behaviorism give up our personal freedom, including its has had the most impact on general and adult accompanying sense of dignity and personal worth, to education (Elias, Merriam, 1980). This system of improve our world. psychology is concerned with the overt, observable He was concerned with preventing our self behavior of an organism. John B. Watson is destruction. It was important we understood people’s considered the founder of Behaviorism because of lack of free will - it was all an illusion; the two texts he wrote in the 1920s.1 He believed that environment shapes and maintains people’s behavior. people could be understood solely through their He advocated engineering a safe society before it was behavior, not through their mind and emotions. too late. His book Walden Two (1948) is a fictional Emotions, he insisted, were “a hereditary pattern of account of a utopian society based on behavioral response in which implicit visceral and glandular engineering. He saw schools as a good way to responses were predominant” (Keller, 1977). He condition citizens and he outlined who and what rejected the idea of instincts completely, ascribing to should be taught, and the administrative control of the Pavlov’s principle of conditioning. Watson students in his book The Technology of Teaching claimed he could take an infant and through (1968). environmental conditioning, produce either a doctor Because of the work of these behaviorists, or a beggar (Watson, 1919). educational settings now use behavioral objectives For the next 30 years behaviorists continued the for implementation, measurement, and accountability. work of Watson by concentrating on more complex There are three components of behavioral objectives: behaviors such as the effects of contiguity, (1) the conditions or stimuli the schools employ to intervening variables between a stimulus and a teach; (2) the expected student behavior; and (3) the response, and habits and motivations. B. F. Skinner criteria by which the behavior will be judged. brought Behaviorism to its hiatus of popularity with A few of the conditions or stimuli being used his concept of operant conditioning. In operant now-a-days are programmed instruction, computer conditioning the behavior is “strengthened by its based instruction, teaching machines, and contract consequences and for that reason the consequences learning. Malcolm Knowles maintains that contract themselves are called ‘reinforcers’ … one is learning is the single most potent tool he has come voluntary and the other involuntary” (Skinner, 1974, across in more than half of a century. He now uses pp.39-40). In other words, the behavior itself is contracts in all of his academic courses (Knowles, rewarding. Since humans are controlled by their Holton, Swanson, 2005). environment, science can study that environment, For the second component, the student’s specify that environment, and finally manipulate it. expected behavior is determined by a Controlling human behavior, he asserts, can result in competency-based education. The learner’s progress or accomplishments are compared to a fixed standard 1 Behavior – An Introduction to Comparative or criterion of mastery rather than compared to other Psychology (1914) and Psychology from the students. Hence all students can accomplish the Standpoint of a Behaviorist (1919). I-223 遠東學報第二十三卷第三期中華民國九十五年九月出版 objectives if they are given sufficient time and COGNITIVE ORIENTATION reinforcement. Our class text dates the beginning of Cognitive The third component is the criteria by which theory back to a publication in 1929 when a Gestalt the schools will be judged. Elias and Merriam’s in psychologist criticized behaviorists for being “too their 1980 book, Philosophical Foundations of Adult concerned about single events” and “too dependent Education, say that “performance contracting and on overt behavior” (Merriam, Caffarella, 1999, p. educational vouchers are two of the more intriguing 253).2 The Gestalt psychologists suggested looking ways in which school systems have sought to deal at the whole, not the parts; seeing the patterns, not the with accountability” (p.91). “Performance isolated events. Perception, insight, and meaning contracting” sounds a lot like the No Child Left were necessary to understand people. A person Behind Act of 2001 and, of course, educational needed to reorganize incoming stimuli to make sense voucher would now be the school voucher programs. of the world. This would sometimes be perceived as In adult learning, the tenets of Behaviorism flashes of insight. are manifested in the different starting points as well In 1966, Jean Piaget proposed a theory of as the flexibility of time needed to master a task. This neurology maturation. According to Piaget there are is particularly important in vocational education four stages of cognitive development which where it is important to “identify the skills needed to correspond to two factors: (1) an individual’s age; perform in an occupation, teaching those skills, and and (2) their interaction with the environment. requiring a certain standard of performance” (Elias, David Ausubel and Jerome Bruner emphasized 1980, p.95). mental structures and organizational frameworks. Current Human Resources practices use basic Ausubel put forward that learning can take place only elements of behavioral theory. A systems model of when related knowledge was in a person’s cognitive training involves the four phases: (1) needs structure (brain) and he suggested the use of assessment; (2) design; (3) implementation; and (4) “advanced organizers” (Ausubel, 1967). His work evaluation (Bohlander, Snell, 2004, p.235). These predated the idea of “schemata,” a term referring to bring to mind the behavioral objectives of such things learner’s worldview concerning how they process as contract learning, implementation, accountability, new experiences. (Merriam, 1999). Bruner talked and so forth. about learning through discovery. He sees learning as Arguments about whether or not behaviorism three processes transpiring almost simultaneously: (1) is valid or appropriate seem absurd since its tenets are acquisition of new knowledge; (2) the translation of being employed successfully in so many areas of our that knowledge to new tasks; and (3) the evaluation society. It is a tool that enhances learning and of that information for appropriateness (Bruner, productivity. However, I do not believe it should be 1965). used as the main orientation in education and the workplace because it has such potential to be 2 Bode, B. H. (1929). Conflicting Psychologies of dehumanizing. Learning. Boston: Heath. I-224 遠東學報第二十三卷第三期中華民國九十五年九月出版 Gagne’s contributions deal with the concept of HUMANIST ORIENTATION “learning how to learn.” Within this concept it is The humanist perspective considers the affective important to consider the learner’s needs, a person’s as well as the cognitive aspects. Perceptions are learning style, and training. Gagne and two other centered in experience and learning is a growth colleagues, Briggs and Wager (1992) suggest process. Humanists reject the idea that behavior is different types of knowledge – signal learning, predetermined. They assert that people can control stimulus-response, motor training, verbal association, their own destiny and maintain that people are discrimination learning, concept learning, rule inherently good. learning, and problem solving. Respected philosophers in history have had Another man of note in Cognitive psychology is Humanistic ideologies. Confucius talked about the that of Vygotsky. He emphasized the importance of potential for people to be either “profound” or the internal and external aspects of learning and he is “small” when he explained his concept of credited with the concept of the “zone of proximal “self-cultivation” (A Brief view, 2004). Aristotle development.” This zone

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