Peter Westwood. Teaching and Learning Difficulties

Reviewed by Arifin

Tulungagung, 22 March 2014

Preface

By Peter Westwood

This book has been written as a companion volume to my text Learning and learning difficulties (2004). Here, Peter has attempted to explore in detail the many different teaching approaches available for use, describing their potential advantages and disadvantages. In particular, hes has identified aspects of teaching approaches that may directly or indirectly cause students to have learning problems. He concurs completely with Farkota’s (2005) belief that many cases of learning difficulty can be traced to inappropriate or insufficient teaching, rather than to deficiencies in the students. 

It has not been his intention to recommend one particular method as superior to all others for achieving all types of educational objective. Purdie and Ellis (2005) are right in suggesting

that no single teaching method can possibly be appropriate for bringing about all types of learning. A teaching approach should be selected because of its goodness of fit for the type of learning involved in a lesson and for the learning characteristics of the students in that class. 

In this book, teaching approaches have been categorised as belonging somewhere on a continuum between ‘teacher-directedness’ and ‘student-centredness’ in their emphasis. But as he points out later, such categories are misleading, because most approaches contain elements of both teacher direction and student-centredness. Lessons are rarely wholly teacher-centred or wholly student-centred, and effective teaching requires that an appropriate balance be achieved between the two.

An unusual feature of this book is that he has included coverage of learning difficulties and teaching methods in relation not only to basic academic skills (literacy and numeracy) but also to specific subject areas such as science, social studies, history, geography and environmental education. Potential causes of learning difficulty are discussed within the context of these subjects. 

He has deliberately used as his primary source international literature on curriculum, learning difficulties and teaching methods, particularly from Britain, Australia, New Zealand and the US. It has always irritated me greatly over the years that professional literature in the field of learning difficulties tends to be very parochial in its perspective, dealing often with minutiae of local policies and practices in a particular country but failing to see the bigger picture in which key issues in teaching and learning are identical across all countries. He hopes this text helps delineate the bigger picture by taking a cross-curricular and international perspective.

In this text he has introduced many references and resources that can be located online. This

has been done to help any reader who wishes to investigate issues in greater detail but does not have easy access to an academic library. A disadvantage may be that certain websites may eventually disappear; for that he apologizes in advance. 

Contents

1 Curriculum, teaching methods and learning difficulties

   Curriculum as a source of difficulty

   Teaching methods as a source of difficulty

   Students’ views of good teaching

   The ‘effective teacher’ model 

   Teacher expertise 

   Meeting individual needs 

   Adaptive teaching

   Useful resources 

2 Teacher-centred approaches to instruction 

   Expository approach 

   Interactive whole-class teaching 

   Direct instruction 

   Precision teaching 

   Mastery learning 

   Computer-based learning 

   Multisensory teaching methods 

   Useful resources 

3 Student-centred approaches to learning 

   Discovery learning 

   Resource-based learning 

   Project-based learning 

   Problem-based learning 

   Task-based learning 

   Cognitive strategy training 

   Cognitive apprenticeship 

   Situated learning 

   Anchored instruction

   Useful resources 

4 Classroom interactions for learning and teaching 

   Establishing attention 

   Questioning 

   Discussions 

   Same-age peer tutoring and cross-age tutoring 

   Cooperative learning 

   Reciprocal teaching 

   Useful resources 

5 Teaching basic academic skills: literacy 

   Teaching students to read 

   Beginning to read 

   Phonic skills 

   Building sight vocabulary 

   Comprehension 

   Learning difficulties in writing  

   Approaches to the teaching of writing 

   Strategy training  

   Word processors 

   Teaching spelling 

   Useful resources 

6 Teaching basic academic skills: mathematics 

   Goals and content of mathematics education 

   Teaching and learning in basic mathematics  

   Contemporary approaches 

   Is the pendulum swinging again?  

   Effective teaching of basic mathematics 

   Poor-quality teaching 

   Difficulties associated with learning basic mathematics 

   Strategy training for problem-solving 

   Using appropriate methods to match instructional aims 

   Useful resources 

7 Teaching science 

   Science for all 

   Approaches to teaching and learning 

   Science in special schools 

   Anticipating areas of difficulty 

   Attention and concentration problems 

   Memory and recall problems

   Stages of cognitive development 

   Language difficulties 

   Literacy problems  

   Numeracy problems 

   Social and behavioural problems 

   Clumsiness 

   Weak self-efficacy

   Poor self-management 

   Poor-quality instruction 

   Useful resources 

8 Teaching social studies, history, geography and environmental education 

   Social studies and related subjects: aims and purposes  

   History 

   Geography 

   Environmental education 

   Approaches to teaching and learning 

   Poor-quality teaching 

   Using group discussion effectively 

   The challenge of mixed-ability classes 

   Anticipating areas of difficulty 

   Difficulties with literacy and language 

   Cognitive and affective development 

   Numeracy problems 

   Problems associated with field trips 

   Useful resources 

9 Support for learning 

   Providing support in schools 

   Support teachers 

   In-class support 

   Paraprofessionals 

   Volunteers 

   The Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) 

   Teacher assistance teams (TATs) 

   Collaborative consultation  

   Useful resources 

Conclusion

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Peter Westwood. Learning and Learning Difficulties

Reviewed by Arifin

Tulungagung, 22 March 2014

Preface
By Peter Westwood

In writing this book Peter has attempted to place the phenomenon of learning difficulty within a much wider context than is usual by exploring a variety of learning processes, learning theories, and concepts about learning. An understanding of the way in which learning occurs is fundamental to an understanding of how and when problems in learning may arise. By painting this broader canvas he hopes to help teachers and others appreciate that problems in learning are not all due to weaknesses within students or to lack of motivation on their part. Indeed, many learning difficulties are created or exacerbated not by factors within the students but by influences within the environment in which they live and learn. Many such factors in the learning environment are amenable to modification and improvement, whereas deficits within learners are not so easily changed.

Two of the most powerful influences in the learning environment are the school curriculum and the approaches to teaching. It is argued here that teaching methods and materials must be selected carefully to suit the types of learning involved in specific lessons, and to accommodate the learning characteristics of the students. Many learning problems are prevented or minimized by matching teaching methods and lesson content to learners’ current aptitude and prior experience. 

Of course, some learning problems are indeed due to deficits or impairments within students themselves; and discussion focuses on such causes in later chapters of the book. However, the point is made that some commonly observed weaknesses or ‘deficits’ (for example, poor attention to task, limited concentration, poor retention and recall of information) are often the outcome from learning failure, not the cause. The impact of inappropriate curriculum, insufficient teaching, and persistent failure is discussed, with particular reference to the detrimental effects they can have on students’ affective development and motivation.

Readers will identify a number of recurring themes running through the chapters — including the need to catch and maintain students’ attention, the importance of explicit teaching and guided practice, and the value of teaching students effective task-approach strategies. Also emphasized in many chapters is the importance of addressing students’ personal and emotional needs, as well as working toward cognitive and academic goals.

He has drawn widely from international literature to support his arguments and to present contemporary perspectives on learning and learning difficulty. There is universal agreement that early prevention of learning failure is much more effective than later attempted cures

Contents

1 Perspectives on learning

   Teaching should be based on a knowledge of learning 

   Learning defined and described

   Types of learning 

   Categories of learning 

   Learning physical (psychomotor) skills 

   Acquiring information 

   Developing intellectual skills 

   Learning cognitive and metacognitive strategies 

   Developing attitudes, beliefs and values 

   Intentional learning and incidental learning 

   Observational learning

   Rote learning versus meaningful learning 

   Learning hierarchies 

   The process and sequence of learning 

   The role of practice 

2 Theories of learning and motivation 

   Behavioural theory 

   Cognitive theories of learning 

   Information processing 

   Representing information in long-term memory 

   Constructivist perspective 

   Criticisms of the constructivist viewpoint 

   Neobehaviourism 

   Self-efficacy 

   Locus of control and attribution theory 

   Explanatory style 

   Attribution retraining 

   Metacognition and self-regulation 

   Motivation 

   Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation 

   Expectancy-value theory 

   Motivation in the classroom 

3 Brain, memory and intelligence 

   Brain development 

   Learning and the brain 

   Exploring brain function and structure 

   Memory 

   Short-term memory 

   Working memory 

   Long-term memory 

   Meta-memory 

   Forgetting 

   Remembering 

   Intelligence 

   Models of intelligence

   Contemporary views 

   Can intelligence be taught? 

   Beyond intelligence 

   A current definition 

4 Learning difficulties: prevalence and causes 

   Students with learning difficulties 

   Possible causes of learning difficulty 

   Teaching methods as a cause of learning difficulty 

   Curriculum

   Classroom environment 

   Socio-economic disadvantage 

   Poor relationship between student and teacher 

   Poor school attendance 

   Health and physical status 

   Learning through the medium of a second language 

   Loss of confidence

   Emotional or behavioural problems 

   Below-average intelligence 

   Sensory impairment 

   Specific information processing difficulties 

   Visual perceptual difficulties 

   Auditory perception 

   Attentional difficulties 

   Memory 

5 Specific learning disabilities 

   Discrepancy between ability and achievement 

   Defining and describing learning disability 

   Types of learning disability

   Prevalence 

   Causes 

   Genetic factors 

   Neurological factors 

   Phonological awareness and rapid automatic naming 

   Visual perception 

   Learning style 

   Dyspedagogia (inefficient teaching) 

   Identification 

   Differential diagnosis 

   Are students with SpLD really different from other low achievers? 

   Intervention methods 

6 Difficulties in reading 

   Defining and describing reading

   Learning to read 

   Word identification and phonics 

   Reading difficulties 

   Reading disability: dyslexia 

   Aptitude-Treatment Interactions 

   Phonological awareness 

   Is dyslexia different from other types of reading difficulty? 

   General principles of intervention 

7 Difficulties in writing and spelling 

   The need for explicit instruction 

   Writing is a complex skill 

   Developmental aspects of writing and spelling 

   Difficulties in writing 

   Difficulties with spelling 

   Phonological skills 

   Visual imagery 

   Insufficient instruction 

   Specific disability in written language: dysgraphia

   Handwriting 

   Assessment

   Intervention: general principles 

   Strategy instruction 

   Interventions for spelling 

   Use of computers and spellcheckers 

8 Learning difficulties in mathematics 

   The changing nature of mathematics education 

   Learning difficulties in mathematics

   Poor teaching generates poor learning 

   Affective components of learning difficulties in mathematics

   Specific learning disability in mathematics: developmental dyscalculia 

   Specific areas of weakness

   Subtypes within dyscalculia 

   Determining a student’s instructional needs

   Intervention: general principles and strategies

9 Intellectual disability

   Description and definition

   Mild intellectual disability

   Moderate intellectual disability

   Severe intellectual disability

   Autism

   Causes of intellectual disability

   Cognition

   Attention

   Memory

   Generalization

   Motivation

   Language delay or disorder

   Social development

   Teaching approaches for students with intellectual disability

Conclusion

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