Reading material for Lesson 2.2 Principles of learning & teaching
4. Factors affecting learning
It has been found out that the learner's difficulty in learning may be due to many factors within the learner them self. Therefore, it is considered as important to study about the factors affecting learning to solve the problems related to learning to improve our efforts of teaching and training the learners in developing their competencies.
Psychology reveals that some of the important factors which may affect the learning process are as follows:
Readiness / Preparedness: Readiness / Preparedness are to be mentally ready to learn a skill is called readiness. Readiness implies a degree of concentration and eagerness. (Individuals learn best when they are physically, mentally, and emotionally ready to learn) and do not learn well if they see no reason for learning.
Interest: Interest refers to the feeling
of Your activities that
you enjoy doing and the subjects
that you like to spend time learning about
to know or learn about something. Teachers
should make the lesson material relevant and applicable to learner's lives in order to build interest.
Intelligence: Intelligence is a natural capacity and ability which helps the individual to understand and solve the problems according to the situation.
Motivation: Role of motivation on learning engage learners in learning when they feel competent to do what is expected of them and perceive stable link between actions and achievements, they value the subject and have a clear sense of purpose they experience positive emotions towards learning activities.
Attitude: Human attitude is constructed on the bases of one's personal thinking and ideologies he/she likes and dislikes these ideologies create feelings among the individual. Negative attitude slows down the speed of learning and positive attitude speeds up learning process. Teachers must be cognizant of these attitudes and over all employ strategies that encourages positive attitude. Teacher can create love for education, hope, good ideas and development by changing the behaviour of the learner.
Feelings: feelings are the physical sensation we experience in our body and emotions are the labels we give those sensations in our minds. Love, fear and anger are supposed to be the basic feelings. Feeling is a power which leads a person to its successful destination. Negative behaviour of parents, teachers and peers, improper environment, inferiority complex, failure in some tasks also affects the learning process. Teachers should promote positive feelings and emotions. He has to eradicate the feelings of fear and anger from the minds.
Frustration: The feeling of being upset or annoyed, especially because of inability to change or achieve something is called frustration. Frustration is caused by a lack of control over a situation. The best way to handle frustration is to back away from the problem, take a breath, and then approach the problem calmly and rationally.
Aptitude: Aptitude is the potential in the learner, which has as yet not been tapped and trained to a skill level. A learner, who possesses appropriate aptitude for a particular subject of study or skill, will learn better and retain it for a longer time.
Individual Differences: Learners have different strategies, approaches, and capabilities for learning that are a function of prior experience and heredity. Teachers need to help learners examine their learning preferences and expand or modify them, if necessary. The interaction between learner differences and curricular and environmental conditions is another key factor affecting learning outcomes. As teachers/trainers, we must be aware of about learner's individual differences.