Applied Linguistics

Learning types with characteristics and explanation

Learning

Learning refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values ​​, and attitudes, and human beings could not adapt to changes if it were not for this process. Learning types with characteristics

When we think of learning, the first things that come to mind are books and the people who read them, however, this is not the only way to learn. In fact, knowledge can be acquired, according to science, with at least 13 types of different forms, associated with the way in which the new idea is received and assimilated. In this special article, we unravel the different types of learning one by one, plus an extra of three others that we think are interesting to take into account.

Learning is understood as the process through which human beings acquire or modify their abilities, skills, knowledge or behaviors, as a result of direct experience, study, observation, reasoning, or instruction. In other words, learning is the process of forming experience and adapting it for future occasions: learning.

It is not easy to talk about learning since there are various theories and approaches to the fact. What is clear is that human beings and higher animals are endowed with a certain capacity to adapt behavior and solve problems that can be the result of environmental pressures or fortuitous events, but also of a voluntary process (or not ) teaching.

Human learning is linked to personal development and occurs in the best way when the subject is motivated, that is when he wants to learn and makes an effort to do so. To do this, he uses his memory, his attention span, his logical or abstract reasoning, and various mental tools that psychology studies separately.

Types of Learning

1. Implicit learning

Implicit learning refers to a type of learning that is generally unintentional learning and where the learner is not aware of what is learned. Learning types with characteristics

The result of this learning is the automatic execution of motor behavior. The truth is that many of the things we learn happen without realizing it, for example, talking or walking. Implicit learning was the first to exist and was key to our survival. We are always learning without realizing it.

2. Explicit learning

Explicit learning is characterized because the learner has the intention to learn and is aware of what he learns.

For example, this type of learning allows us to acquire information about people, places, and objects. That is why this way of learning requires sustained and selective attention from the most evolved area of ​​our brain, that is, it requires the activation of the prefrontal lobes.

3. Associative learning

This is a process by which an individual learns the association between two stimuli or a stimulus and behavior. One of the great theorists of this type of learning was Ivan Pavlov, who dedicated part of his life to the study of classical conditioning, a type of associative learning.

4. Non-associative learning (habituation and awareness)

Non-associative learning is a type of learning that is based on a change in our response to a stimulus that occurs continuously and repeatedly. For instance. When someone lives near a nightclub, they may be bothered by the noise at first. Over time, after prolonged exposure to this stimulus, you will not notice noise pollution, as you will have become accustomed to the noise.

5-Meaningful learning

This type of learning is characterized because the individual collects information, selects it, organizes and establishes relationships with the knowledge that he/she already had previously. In other words, it is when a person relates new information to what they already have.

6. Cooperative learning

Cooperative learning is a type of learning that allows each student to learn not alone, but together with their peers.

Therefore, it is usually carried out in the classrooms of many educational centers, and the groups of students do not usually exceed five members. The teacher is the one who forms the groups and who guides them, directing the performance and distributing roles and functions.

7. Collaborative learning

Collaborative learning is similar to cooperative learning. Now, the first differs from the second in the degree of freedom with which the groups are constituted and function.

In this type of learning, it is the teachers or educators who propose a topic or problem and the students decide how to approach it. Learning types with characteristics

8. Emotional learning

Emotional learning means learning to know and manage emotions more efficiently. This learning brings many benefits on a mental and psychological level, as it positively influences our well-being, improves interpersonal relationships, favors personal development, and empowers us.

9. Observational learning

This type of learning is also known as vicarious learning, by imitation or modeling, and is based on a social situation in which at least two individuals participate: the model (the person from whom one learns) and the subject who performs the observation of said behavior and learns it.

10. Experiential learning

Experiential learning is learning that occurs as a result of experience, as its name suggests.

This is a very powerful way to learn. In fact, when we talk about learning from mistakes, we are referring to learning produced by experience itself. Now, the experience can have different consequences for each individual, since not everyone will perceive the facts in the same way. What takes us from simple experience to learning is self-reflection.

11. Learning by discovery

This learning refers to active learning, in which the person instead of learning the contents passively, discovers, relates, and rearranges the concepts to adapt them to their cognitive scheme. One of the great theorists of this type of learning is Jerome Bruner.

12. Rote learning

Rote learning means learning and fixing different concepts in memory without understanding what they mean, so it does not carry out a meaningful process. It is a type of learning that takes place like a mechanical and repetitive action.

13. Receptive learning

With this type of learning called receptive learning, the person receives the content to be internalized.

It is a kind of imposed, passive learning. In the classroom, it occurs when the student, especially due to the teacher‘s explanation, the printed material, or the audiovisual information, only needs to understand the content to be able to reproduce it. Learning types with characteristics

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