Bruners Theory

Compiled to fulfil assignment of Introduction to English for Children class

Singgih Indratama Mohamad Taufik Hidayat Tomyzul Habib Suprapto

11202244023 11202244032 11202244033

English Education Department Faculty of Languages and Arts

State University of Yogyakarta

2013

Introduction
This

A. History of Jerome Bruner Jerome Seymour Bruner is a psychologist who has made some contributions to human cognitive psychology and cognitive learning

theory in educational psychology, as well as to history and to the general philosophy of education. He was born in New York in October, 1st 1915. Bruners father, a watch manufacturer, died when Bruner was 12 years old. Bruner is currently a senior research fellow at the New York University School of Law. He received his B.A. in 1937 from Duke University and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1941. In 1939, Bruner published his first psychological article, studying the effect of thymus extract on the sexual behaviour of the female rat. During World War II, Bruner served on the Psychological Warfare Division of the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditor Force Europe committee under Eisenhower, researching social psychological phenomena. In 1945, Bruner returned to Harvard as a psychology professor and was heavily involved in research relating to cognitive psychology and educational psychology. In 1970, Bruner left Harvard to teach at the University of Oxford in England. He returned to the United States in 1980 to continue his research in developmental psychology. In 1991, Bruner joined the faculty at New York University, where he still teaches students today. As an adjunct professor at NYU School of Law, he studies how psychology affects legal practice. Throughout his career, Bruner has been awarded honorary doctorates from Yale and Columbia, as well as colleges and universities in such locations as Sorbonne, Berlin, and Rome, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

B. Bruners Constructivism Theory Bruner's constructivist theory suggests it is effective when faced with new material to follow a progression from enactive to iconic to symbolic representation; this holds true even for adult learners. A true instructional designer, Bruner's work also suggests that a learner even of a very young age is capable of learning any material so long as the instruction is organized appropriately, in sharp contrast to the beliefs of Piaget and other stage theorists. C. Scaffolding and Routines Language is the most important tool for cognitive growth. Bruner also has investigated how adults use language to mediate the world for children and help them to solve problems (Bruner 1983, 1990). Bruner have stated that Scaffolding is a cognitive support that an adult or a more able peer can give to a child so that he/she should develop and grow. Good scaffolding is tuned to the needs of the child and is adjusted as the child becomes more competent. Scaffolding has been transferred to the classroom and teacher-pupil talk. Wood (1998) suggests that teachers can scaffold childrens learning in various ways: Teachers can help children to Attend to what is relevant By Suggesting Praising to the significant Providing focusing activities Adopt useful strategies Encouraging rehearsal Being explicit about organization Remember the whole task and Remainding goals Modeling Providing part-whole activities Bruner has provided a further useful idea for language teaching in his notions of Formats and Routines. These are features of events that aloud scaffolding to take place. In the implementation to the classroom activities, children learn language through routines. As routines are repeated, children are able ti gradually assume more control and responsibility. A useful example of routines is of parents reading stories to their children from babyhood onwards. The importance of routines is linked to the role of stories or narratives in language classrooms. There is a space within which the child can take over and do the language him/herself. This space for growth matches the childs Zone of Proximal Development.

According to Bruner, these routines and their adjustments provide an important site for language and cognitive development and language skills. D. Routines in the Language Classroom Classroom routines may provide opportunities for language development. The example is giving out paper and scissors for making activities. As a routine, this would always take basically the same form. The language used would suit the task and the pupils level. The context and the familiarity of the event provide an opportunity for pupils to predict meaning and intention, but the routine also offers a way to add variation and novelty that can involve more complex language. As the language becomes more complex, the support to meaning that comes from the routine and the situation helps the children to continue to understand. Routines then can provide opportunities for meaningful language development; they allow the child to actively make sense of new language from familiar experience and provide a space for language growth. E. Bruners Three Modes of Representation 1. Enactive This appears first. It involves encoding action based information and storing it in our memory. For example, in the form of movement as a muscle memory, a baby might remember the action of shaking a rattle. The child represents past events through motor responses, i.e. an infant will shake a rattle which has just been removed or dropped, as if the movements themselves are expected to produce the accustomed sound. And this is not just limited to children. Many adults can perform a variety of motor tasks (typing, sewing a shirt, operating a lawn mower) that they would find difficult to describe in iconic (picture) or symbolic (word) form. 2. Iconic This is where information is stored visually in the form of images (a mental picture in the minds eye). For some, this is

conscious; others say they dont experience it. This may explain why, when we are learning a new subject, it is often helpful to have diagrams or illustrations to accompany verbal information. 3. Symbolic This develops last. This is where information is stored in the form of a code or symbol, such as language. This is the most adaptable form of representation, for actions & images have a fixed relation to that which they represent. Dog is a symbolic representation of a single class. Symbols are flexible in that they can be manipulated, ordered, classified etc., so the user isnt constrained by actions or images. In the symbolic stage, knowledge is stored primarily as words, mathematical symbols, or in other symbol systems. F. The Difference between Bruner and Other Theories 1. Bruner and Vygotsky Both Bruner and Vygotsky emphasise a child's environment, especially the social environment, more than Piaget did. Both agree that adults should play an active role in assisting the child's learning. Bruner, like Vygotksy, emphasised the social nature of learning, citing that other people should help a child develop skills through the process of scaffolding. The term scaffolding first appeared in the literature when Wood, Bruner and Ross described how tutors' interacted with preschooler to help them solve a block reconstruction problem (Wood et al., 1976). The concept of scaffolding is very similar to Vygotsky's notion of the zone of proximal development, and it not uncommon for the terms to be used interchangeably. Scaffolding involves helpful, structured

interaction between an adult and a child with the aim of helping the child achieve a specific goal.

2. Bruner and Piaget Obviously there are similarities between Piaget and Bruner, but an important difference is that Bruners modes are not related in terms of which presuppose the one that precedes it. Whilst sometimes one mode

may dominate in usage, they co-exist. Bruner states that what determines the level of intellectual development is the extent to which the child has been given appropriate instruction together with practice or experience. So, the right way of presentation and the right explanation will enable a child to grasp a concept usually only understood by an adult. His theory stresses the role of education and the adult. Although Bruner proposes stages of cognitive development, he doesnt see them as representing different separate modes of thought at different points of development (like Piaget). Instead, he sees a gradual development of cognitive skills and techniques into more integrated adult cognitive techniques. Bruner views symbolic representation as crucial for cognitive development and since language is our primary means of symbolizing the world, he attaches great importance to language in determining cognitive development.

G. H. Conclusion

References
Bruner, J. S. 1960. The Process of Education. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Cameron, Lynne. 2001. Teaching Languages to Young Learners. New York: Cambridge University Press.

McLeod, Saul. 2008. Jerome Bruner. Simply Psychology Official Page. http://simplypsychology.org/cognitive/jerome_bruner.html. Accessed on Tuesday, October 8, 2013 at 23.02 p.m. _________. 2001. Jerome Bruner. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopaedia English. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/jerome_bruner.html. Accessed on Tuesday, October 8, 2013 at 23.02 p.m. Roig, M. R. 2013. Routines in Language Classroom. Youtube. http://youtube.com/watch?v=P811wQCZxBY. Accessed on Tuesday, October 8, 2013 at 23.02 p.m.