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The nature of an adolescent learner.
1. The concept of adolescence and its basic
characteristic features.
Adolescence is one of a few stages of development and is often
defined as the period between childhood and adulthood, between 12
and 18/20 years of age. Many physical, cognitive and social changes
are visible during this time and after the completion of all the
processes a child becomes an adult. The transition to adulthood is
widely regarded as the most important change and the most difficult
period experienced by all people.
G.Stanley Hall was the first psychologist who popularised this
psychological concept. According to him, adolescence is primarily a
period of ”storm and stress,” a time to deal with emotions, career
choices, political and economic issues, and other adult problems. On
the other hand, there are many psychologists who claim that
adolescence is just one more period in which young people have to
adapt to changes and accept the demands of their parents and
society. All in all, in both these views some truth can be found - some
adolescents enter adulthood smoothly and effortlessly while for others
it is a period of constant conflict. Most youngsters, however,
experience times of calmness as well as storm (Hall, 1904 cited in
Seifert, 1987:593-594, Dworetzky, 1988:370).
As for physical growth, it must be remembered that most
problems are related to body changes. It means that teenagers’
feelings about their body image highly influence social relationships.
For instance, adolescents pay close attention to their ”right” height as
this, according to Seifert (1987:594), lets them predict how tall they will
be - those who are very tall, especially girls, wish to stop growing,
while those who are quite short, especially boys dream about being, at
least, as tall as their friends. Moreover, as Dworetzky (1988:371)
suggests, we should be particularly sensitive to the fact that
adolescents may vary physically, even if of the same age and sex, i.e.
some are totally prepubescent while others are fully mature.
Furthermore, cognitive development also seems to be of great
importance. Erik Erikson (1968) calls adolescence ‘a period of identity
crisis’ (Erikson, 1968 cited in Dworetzky, 1988:373) as, to use
Fontana’s words, ‘the fluid personality of the child’ undergoes the
transition ‘to the more constant one of the adult’ (Fontana, 1988:249).
According to Erikson, the most common questions asked during this
period are ”Who am I?” and ”What is my role in life?.” It is a dramatic
period as an adolescent has to achieve a fully accomplished,
psychological identity - mature and unique. Only then is such an
adolescent capable of reasonable thinking. Moreover, there are some
other important issues, as discussed by Dworetzky (1988:373-374).
For instance, youngsters are now prepared for abstract thinking, which
does not, however, help them solve all their problems. It is the time
when adolescents have to face and deal with more ambitious tasks set
either by themselves or by the society. All these demands from the
inside and outside world often appear to be very stressful and even
unbearable. During this period many problems concerning their career
and future life appear and decisions made at that time are crucial as
they will influence the course of the rest of their life. It is strongly
believed that the establishment of identity depends on a youngster’s
family, peers and society. It often happens that adolescents abandon
their parents’ or society’s values and ideas, and accept others in order
to achieve their own identity. The search for the role models is not a
trivial task and in most cases peers play the most crucial role
(Fontana, 1988:249). According to Borich (1988:41), peer groups are
the source of a ”hidden curriculum” as in order to belong to a particular
group teenagers have to adjust to it by changing their dress,
behaviour, jargon, views and beliefs. Dworetzky (1988:375) maintains
that teenagers are ready to do everything as the very thought of
loneliness simply scares them. School, its atmosphere and teachers
are often mentioned as the major causes of children’s failures in the
process of identification. On the other hand, Seifert (1987:702-703)
claims that school failure is usually the result of family-related
problems. The whole situation seems to be like a vicious circle with no
perfect solution. All in all, after all these phases of the rejection of help,
care, advice and re-acceptance of parents’ authority an adolescent
establishes his self (Seifert, 1987:677-678).
2. Personality aspects.
Gage and Berliner (1975:381) define personality as ‘the
integration of all of a person’s traits, abilities, and motives as well as
his temperament, attitudes, opinions, beliefs, emotional responses,
cognitive styles, character, and morals.’ Needless to say, the term
itself describes all the aspects of human nature and behaviour. Only
the most common issues will be touched upon here, especially those
that are connected with a learner.
Extroversion and introversion encompass such features as
being talkative, sociable, adventurous, outgoing versus silent,
reclusive,
cautious,
shy.
A
typical
extrovert
emphasises
the
importance of change and variety, is open to the outside world, enjoys
demanding tasks and loves meeting people. A typical introvert, on the
other hand, is closed inside, lives in his own world of thoughts and
emotions, looks for stability, peace and quiet. The role of these two
factors in school learning may be decisive. Brown (1980:110), for
example, notes that introverts are perceived as ”problems”, especially
that at present speaking in a language classroom is emphasised.
Another point of view is presented by Entwistle (1972 cited in Fontana,
1988:132) who points to the fact that extroversion is highly desirable in
primary school during group-work while introversion leads to success
in secondary or higher education. Nevertheless, as Fontana
(1988:132) maintains, a teacher should not avoid grouping students of
different personalities as this is likely to create better learning
environment.
Anxiety usually describes the emotional sphere of human’s life.
However, it should also be taken into account while teaching. Fontana
(1988:131) believes that learners with a low level of anxiety usually
appear to be very helpful in the classroom while those who are too
anxious often turn out to affect the classroom atmosphere in a
negative way. Obviously the amount of anxiety which motivates and
inhibits varies from learner to learner, and depends on the task.
According to Fontana (1988:131), the most common source of anxiety
is the fear of failure, especially during exams or in the classroom
where children are exposed to a teacher’s anger or classmates’
laughter. Borich (1988:39-40) discusses two types of anxiety: state
anxiety (described by Spielberger, 1966 cited in Borich, 1988:39) momentary condition produced by such stimuli as, for example, a test,
a speech in front of the audience, a first date, etc., and trait anxiety - a
general feeling of the possibility of being threatened by a wide range
of harmful looking conditions. As for state anxiety, Borich claims that
some of it is necessary for students to realise the negative
consequences (for example, a failing grade) of a particular behaviour
or response. Similarly, a little amount of trait anxiety is also desirable,
but high levels of it should be avoided as they may be ”immobilizing”
(Borich, 1988:40). It is said that highly anxious people are usually
guided by fear of failure and this prevents them from completing tasks
more successfully (Borich, 1988:40). All in all, according to Franson
(1977), a learner performs better in the presence of low anxiety
(Franson, 1977 cited in Fontana, 1988:131).
Self-esteem is how we feel about ourselves, what we think
about ourselves, how strong is our belief that we can do something as
well as others. Brown (1980:103-104) discusses three levels of selfesteem. The first, global self-esteem is said to be quite stable when a
person is fully mature. The next, situational or specific self-esteem is
connected with one’s own judgement of oneself in certain situations,
for example: work, home, education. The last, task self-esteem refers
to particular tasks of certain situations. Fontana (1988:131-132)
mentions Coopersmith (1968), one of numerous researchers who
have proved that high self-esteem is more desirable than low selfesteem if children wish to achieve a goal. He claims that children who
possess it tend to perform much better and progress faster. As a
result, they set higher aims, they do not need so much their parents’
approval and are less vulnerable to failure. However, a lot depends
here on their parents, who have to pay attention to their children,
encourage them constantly and let them feel they are needed,
valuable and responsible in their family. Teachers may also aid
children to be more confident if they create numerous opportunities for
success.
Empathy is defined by Brown (1980:107-108) as the process of
‘putting yourself into someone else’s shoes’ or ‘the projection of one’s
own personality into the personality of another in order to understand
him better.’ He claims that empathy is particularly needed in
communication as in order to communicate successfully and avoid
misunderstandings one should understand the other person’s
emotional and mental states. Therefore, Brown (1980:108-109)
highlights the importance of empathy in foreign language learning as
the learner-speaker has to identify the learner-hearer’s states and
transmit a message in a language different than his own. In the case
of incorrect identification the whole communication may prove to be a
complete flop.
To understand the adolescents is thus a very demanding task.
Nevertheless, it must be pointed out that although their constant
search for identity leads to many breakdowns and misunderstandings
between them and their caretakers, they are, in fact, ‘prey to
insecurity’ (Fontana, 1988:250). What is meant by this expression is
their sheer lack of idea of what they will become, and whether they will
be accepted by the adult world. Therefore, we should not refuse our
help and advice as they really need them. Teachers’ role at this stage
of development is greatly appreciated as they are often the only
people who, being aware of the nature of adolescence, are able to
create a favourable relationship with the youngsters. Teachers’
guidance, sympathy, patience and tolerance are often sought by
teenagers, and teachers should make use of this to emphasise the
greatest values in life.
Marta Mazur
Bibliography:
Dworetzky, J.P. 1988 Psychology. St.Paul: West Publishing Company.
Seifert, K.L. 1987 Child and Adolescent Development. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company.
Fontana, D. 1988 Psychology for Teachers. Hampshire: The British
Psychological Society, St. Andrews House in Association with
Macmillan Publishers, Ltd.
Borich, G.D. 1988 Effective Teaching Methods. New York: Macmillan
Publishing Company.
Gage, N. L. and D.C.Berliner 1975 Educational Psychology. Chicago:
Rand McNally College Publishing Company.
Brown, H.D. 1980 Principles of Language Learning and Teaching.
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632: Prentice-Hall, Inc.