The Psychology

of
teaching reading
Teachers need to be aware of a psychology of
teaching in reading and the language Arts.

Behaviorism has its strong advocates in teaching

and learning.

So many educators desire objectives to be stated

precisely and some advocate that there is no
expansion in determining what to be taught.

Behaviorism as a psychology of learning has a

difficult time measuring pupil creativity in
writing poetry.
The teacher may state to pupils what they
are to learn before instruction takes
place.

After instructions, the teacher test pupils

to see if the objective is achieved. Those
achieving the objective may go to the
next sequential lesson & those not being
successful achievers may need different
teaching strategy so that the objectives
maybe achieved.
Examples of objectives for pupil achievement
pertaining to vocabulary development in reading.
1. The pupils will orally present five definitions of
the concept animation, as it relates to stories in
reading.
2. The pupil will write a setting of a story
containing at least fifty words.

Behavioral stated objectives should be

written at different levels of complexity
for pupils to achieve.

Here are examples, starting the lowest

level of cognition.
1. The pupil will give the names of eight parts of
speech in English Language. The objective is in
recall/memorization level.

2. The pupil will explain his/her own words consisting

of at least fifty words. The objective is written on
the meaning or understanding level.

3. The pupil will write a poem using the elements that

make up a tanka poem. Here the pupils learned
what he learned previously.
4. The pupil will analyze an editorial from a
newspaper in terms of statements being
factual versions opinion.

5. The pupil will rewrite the editorial, number

four above to indicate an explanatory account
of happening.

6. The pupil will indicate the value of what was

written in an explanatory approach.
 *STANDARDS USED IN
EVALUATING EXPLANATORY
WRITING*
1. The content is based upon current societal thought
as to what is relevant.

2. The content is comprehensive in covering diverse

facets of what the public considers relevant.
 Advantage in Behaviorally stated
objectives in Teaching
It made educators more aware about having
objectives that are more precise objectives in
teaching.

It assisted educators in looking at objectives more

thoroughly in terms of what is relevant.

The evaluation process is simplified in that a

person has/has not achieved, after instruction,
what is written in the behaviorally stated objective.
 Personal objections to
behaviorally stated objectives:
They can make teaching to factual in subject
matter stressed in that rote learning is
emphasized.

We have noticed how difficult it is to write this

kind of objective that stress higher levels of
cognition.

It is very difficult to write attitudinal objectives

in measurable terms.
 THE PSYCHOLOGY
OF LEARNING USING
TASK ANALYSIS
Robert Gagne (1984)
He was an American educational
psychologist best known for his
"Conditions of Learning".

He also was involved in applying

concepts of instructional theory to
the design of computer based training
and multimedia based learning.
A major contribution to the theory of
instruction was the model "Nine
Events of Instruction".
Gain attention
Inform learner of objectives
Stimulate recall of prior learning
Present stimulus material

Provide learner guidance

 8 Sequential Step
Stress the following

1.) Signal Learning => classical

conditioning is involved here in
that pupil learn to respond to a
stimulus that is neutral initially to
a response.
2.) Stimulus-Response Learning => this
concept emphasizes operant conditioning.

3.) Chaining => a series of correct

responses is necessary from the pupil in the
lesson or unit of study.

4.) Verbal Association Learning => the

pupil in a creative dramatics presentation
uses words appropriately in a sequence or
order to convey what is in the story being
appropriate.
5.) Multiple Discrimination => the pupil is
able, during and/ or after lesson
presentation to analyze and separate into
component parts.

6.) Concept Learning => the pupil is able to

learn concept such as nouns, verbs,
adjectives, and adverbs.

7.) Rule Learning => rules are

generalization.

8.) Problem Solving => this is the highest

level of Gagne’s hierarchy of objectives in
 The
Structure of
Knowledge
Specialists believed that pupils should
learn what is salient and not the trivia.

In reading and the language arts, the

structure of knowledge, consisting of
main ideas needs to be determined.

Sentence patterns, for example provides

structure or a blue print for how that
English langu4age works or operates.
Teachers have been looking for major
concepts and generalizations to teach.

Academicians get together and select what

pupils should learn in terms of concepts and
generalizations.

I t is very important to choose the best

subject matter possible to teach pupils.

It suggests that inductive and deductive

procedures should be used.
 Inductive Method

also referred to as the scientific method

is a process of using observations to
develop general principles about a
specific subject.
the inductive method--whether guided in
classrooms or occurring in non-academic
settings--is one of the most common and
natural forms of making logical
assumptions about what we observe.
 Deductive Method

It progresses from general concept to the

specific use or application.

is the process of reaching a conclusion

that is guaranteed to follow, if the
evidence provided is true and the
reasoning used to reach the conclusion is
correct.
 In situations in life we
learn through deductive
and inductive
approaches.
 Deductive Learning

Listening to news broadcasts and

weather forecasts.
Obtaining information on how to repair an
item.
Following directions for making
something such as baking a cake.
 Inductive Learning

Finding out what is not functioning well

with one’s car.
Discovering how to attach a doorbell to a
house.
Determining how to make a picnic table
that is sturdy and beautiful.
Structural approaches in
curriculum development
have always stressed
evaluating current
subject matter
thoroughly to see if it’s
vital for pupils to
achieve.
Jean Piaget
and
Readiness for
Learning
 Jean Piaget

He studied middle class

children for over forty years in
Geneva, Switzerland.
He believes that biological
maturation was a key concept
in findings pertaining to child growth and
development.
 Cognitive Development
1. Psychomotor Intelligence
q Birth to 2 years of age

2. Preoperational Intelligence
q 2 to 7 years of age
q Language development is one of the
hallmarks of this period.
3. Concrete Operation
q 6 to 11 years of age
q Pupils can experience the concrete
along with the symbolic or abstract
words.

4. Formal or abstract thought lasts from

eleven years and up pertaining to the
age of the child.
 Piaget and his research
have made the following
contributions:
The teacher must study the maturation
levels of pupils in order to know what and
how to teach these learners.

There can be much wasting of time in

teaching what the maturational level of
the child is not ready for..
Hastening the readiness of a pupil for
learning does not work.

There needs to be an adequate amount of

concrete material available for teaching
through the age of eleven, approximately.

Securing attention for learning is salient

since learners do not achieve unless they
mentally operate upon the content being
presented.
 According to Piaget and
Imhelder (1969)
Biological maturation,
interaction with experiences in
the environment, social
activities and balance between
the self.
Learning Styles of
Pupils
 Bernice Mc Carthy (1996)

Four types of Learning Styles:

1. The highly creative pupil with a feeling
and reflective style of learning.

1. The analytic pupil who is well

organized in classifying and analyzing
details.
3. Problem solvers in thinking who are
doers and like concrete situations not
reading activities basically.

4. Learners who like to work

cooperatively as well as independently on
open-ended tasks in which inductive
learning is stressed using
kinesthetic/audio/visual materials.
 Examples harmonizing the
four learning styles
Pupils might brainstorm characteristics
pertaining to the major character of the
story.
Analytical pupils might contrast
characterization.
Pupils who are problem solvers like to
identify stimulating questions.
There are selected pupils who like to work
in groups or committees, not by the self.
 We believe we can use the
best of all four strategies in
1.
teaching:
Clearly stated objectives as advocated
by behaviorists.
2. Quality in sequence in pupil learning
as advocated by tasks analysis
psychology.
3. Good problem solvers in school and in
society among pupils, as emphasized
by problem solving advocates.
4. Styles of learning which harmonize
with pupil’s intrinsic make-up in terms of
how individual learn.