Second Language Acquisition in Early Childhood

Some authors consider language acquisition a different from second language learning, based on the premise that the former is a natural process, similar to the first language acquisition process.
The presentation above describes the stages of the process. Second Language Acquisition

View more presentations from Marisol Smith

Developmental Stages

This is a video that explains the four stages of cognitive development of Piaget.

What is Psychology?

Theories of Learning

Psychology is the scientific study of mental functions and behavior including:

Perception, cognition, behavior, emotion, personality, and interpersonal relationships.

Kaplan (1990) describes educational psychology as the application of psychology to education by focusing on the development, evaluation and application of theories and principles of learning and instruction that can enhance lifelong learning.  This means that as teachers we should not only focus on knowledge, on transmitting or sharing it, but in how useful and meaningful it will be for students’ lives and we should be more concerned about educating the whole person. The theories to be mentioned proposed different ways on which we should teach and how students should learn. All of them take into account different characteristics of the learners and the learning processes, however I believe that mixing them together and, taking what is useful for our own students is the best way to create that whole person mentioned.

The major theories of learning have been classified into three groups:

1.Behaviorist theories:

•Focuses on stimulus response and reinforcers;

•Studies conditioning, modifying, or shaping behavior through reinforcement and rewards

2. Cognitive theories:

•Focuses information processing in relation to the total environment

•Studies developmental stages, understanding, multiple forms of intelligence, problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity.

3. Phenomenological and Humanistic theories:

•Focuses on the whole child, their social, psychological, and cognitive development.

•Studies focus on human needs, attitudes, feelings and self-awareness.

Characteristics of the Piagetian Stages of Cognitive Development

The Cognitive Developmental Stages of Piaget:

Tiffany Davis, Meghann Hummel, and Kay Sauers (2006)

Characteristics of each stage:

1. The sensorimotor stage (0 - 2 years)

Appearance of self-preservation instincts.

Assimilation of new information.

Development of sensori-motor reactions, reflexes and first schemata.

Perception of object permanence.

Problem solving by sudden mental operations.

2. Preoperational stage (2 - 7 years)

Egocentrism (children are unable to understand other than their own perceptions).

Perception of object conservation (objects change place without alteration of their physical properties of matter).

3. Concrete operational stage (7 - 11 years)

Problem solving involving concrete thinking (present objects).

Full development of perception of object permanence.

Development of inductive logic.

4. Formal operational stage (adolescence - adulthood)

Problem solving involving concrete and abstract thinking.

Development of deductive logic.

Piaget, J., Inhelder, B. (1969). La Psicología del Niño. Morata. París.

Cognitive Development - Stage 3 - Concrete Operational

This video shows how the ability of conservation is completed. This occurs during the Concrete Operational stage. During this stage, children also develop their capacity of inductive logic, which refers to the ability to use their schemata and previous experiences for problem solving.

Piaget, J., Inhelder, B. (1969). The Psychology of the Child. Morata. París.

Cognitive Development - Stage 2 - Preoperational

The conservation task is part of the experiments developed to demonstrate the Piagetian stages of coginitive development. During the Preoperational stage children are not able to perceive conservation, which refers to object alteration of place or spatial organization (among others) without affecting quantity, volume, weight and other physical characteristics.

Piaget, J., Inhelder, B. (1969). The Psychology of the Child. Morata. París.