Question:
Write an Essay on Aptitude-Treatment Interaction.
Learning may be defined as the process or activity of gaining skill or knowledge through practicing, studying, experiences or by the processes involving being taught. It may also be described as the activity that is undertaken by a person who learns. It is a process that takes place in a social context that involves and intertwines attitudes and motivations, emotional and cognitive responses. The conceptual frameworks that describe the ways of absorption, processing and retention of knowledge during the learning may be referred to as the theories of learning. Environmental, emotional and cognitive influences in addition to early experiences play distinct roles in the ways in which a world view or understanding is changed or acquired and the skills and knowledge are retained. Aptitude-treatment interactions refer to the concept that some of the strategies that are used for the instructional purposes are either more effective or less for certain individuals (Yeh, 2012). This difference in the effectiveness depends on the specific abilities of the learners.
This essay deals with the idea of aptitude-treatment interaction or ATI. The essay attempts to identify the major goals of the researches on ATI. It also puts in an effort to identify the weaknesses of the researches that have been conducted on ATI. The essay identifies an area of individual difference that has been investigated in the ATI research. The essay discusses the theoretical foundations of the concerned difference and moves on to provide some related evidences for the importance of the discussed difference of the individual. The essay also makes and attempt to suggest the processes by which the teachers may identify the ways in which the students may differ on a given variable of the aptitude-treatment interaction. The essay on an ending note recommends the ways in which instructions may be modified in order to help in the maximisation of language.
Aptitude-treatment interaction may be defined as an approach towards the instruction provided to the learners who are generally the students (Clark, 1982). The concept of ATI may also be translated as the ability-process interrelation. The concept is based on the presumption that it is necessary to have an optimal adaptation of the skills of the learner and the teaching methods adapted by the teaching facilities. The teaching methods maintain a reciprocal relationship with the abilities of the students. The concept is generally used in the concepts of educational psychology and in the fields of therapies that are needed for the social behaviour. In order to achieve optimal learning, it is important to tailor the methods of learning with the requirements of the learner (Corno et al, 2002). The students who have unfavourable prerequisites for learning such as low levels of intelligence or the high potentials for anxiety are known to have better learning experiences in the environments wherein the teaching methods are highly structured and educator-centred (Hessler, & Sosnowsky, 2006). The students however gain better control over their learning goals in conditions where the prerequisites of learning are favourable. A high degree of freedom is effective in cases where the students have the freedom to set their own learning goals (Cronbach & Snow, 1977). The ATI research is a paradigm of research that makes an attempt to study the ways in which the outcome of learning depends on the similarities between the specific aptitudes of an individual and the treatments that they receive. The effect of the treatment meted out to the individuals is found to be optimal when the aptitude of the individual is similar to the treatment that he encounters.
The major goals of the aptitude-treatment interaction ensure that the learners will be able to acquire knowledge based on their respective learning aptitudes. There should be a great alignment between the aptitude of the learner and the instruction materials that are provided. The research covers a very large range of instructional variables and aptitudes. The ATI research is used to search for the new strategies used in teaching and the designing of the curriculum especially in the cases of subjects like reading and mathematics. Opportunities should be created to promote the goals for learning over the goals for performance while designing the environments for learning in the schools (Robinson, 2012). This can be observed in the areas of the designing of curriculum of the concerned school. The educators should emphasize on having more classroom environments that are centred on the knowledge. They should make sure that these environments should encourage the concept of performing while forming an understanding of the task at hand (DeKeyser, 2012). The primary goal of the theory of aptitude-treatment interaction is the determination of the particular combinations of treatments and aptitude that may be required to attain the desired outcomes. There are three principles that help in the formulation of these interactions (Snow, 2014). These principles suggest that the interactions between the instructional treatments and the aptitudes follow complex patterns. These interactions are influenced by the situational and task-related variables. It can be noticed that the students with lower capabilities of learning can achieve success in their learning procedures in an instructional environment that is highly structured (Johnson et al, 2013). Similarly, the students who possess higher learning capabilities tend to perform better in the lo-structured environments. It may be observed that the students who suffer from anxiety perform well in the instructional environments that are highly-structured while the independent students are seen to perform well in the low-structured environments (Fuchs et al, 2014).
The major weakness of the aptitude-treatment interaction research is the lack in the attention that is paid to the social aspects of the learning activities. It is observed that the differences in the styles of learning can be associated to the variables of aptitude or the stability of the concerned person (Speece, 1990). The styles of learning may also vary within the individuals based on the variables of situations and tasks. There are a number of limitations that are incurred in the formulations of the model for the aptitude-treatment interactions. The abilities that were presumed to prove effective for one particular treatment may not be exclusive to that particular treatment (Jonassen, & Grabowski, 1993). There may be ways in which one single ability may be used in a variety of effective ways for providing instructions in a certain technique. The requirements of the abilities may differ along with the progress of the concerned task at hand. This ensures that the importance of the concerned ability changes with the change in the progress of the task. The aptitude-treatment interactions may vary for the various kinds of the content that needs to be addressed and can be highly content-specific. The aptitude-treatment interactions that have been validated at the laboratories may not prove to be worthy of application in the real-time situations that are present in the classroom (Koran & Koran, 1984). Aptitude-learning interactions may also be criticised on the aspects of the fact that these are over-concerned with the exploration of the simple relations of input and output, the measured traits and the learning outcomes that have been set previously. The critics suggest that a detailed understanding is needed of the psychological processes involved in the learning of a particular task in order to formulate and develop a theory of the aptitude-treatment interactions (Snow, 1989). It is difficult to calculate the variables of individual differences. Thus, the validity of the test may also face a problem in the attempt towards adapting the instructions that are to be followed keeping in mind the characteristics of the general students.
Learning can be basically defined as the mode of communication wherein knowledge is transferred from a sender to a receiver who returns the feedback to the concerned sender. The messages that have been exchanged between the two parties are all affected by some variables that may alter the entire meaning of the message that is intended. ATI takes into account all the factors that affect the learning processes of the concerned individual. The basic factors that interfere with the process of learning are the environmental factors, the psychological factors and other personal filters (Lehmann, Goussios & Seufert, 2016). The environmental factors include any conditional change in the environment that causes distraction on the part of the learner. These factors may lead to the blockage of communications. The psychological factors refer to the individual differences that help to define and affect the reception of the information that has been conveyed. These factors may include both the emotional state of the learner and his emotional state. The personal filters of the learner may refer to the values, beliefs and the heritage of the individual. These filters may be inclusive of the cultural differences, attitudes and the opinions of both the educator and the learner (Tobias, 1989).
ATI research takes into account the theories and problems that relate to the second language acquisition. The second language learners face a varied number of problems while they try to adapt to the unique features of the new language that they are attempting to learn. The learners adapt to different paces and under varied circumstances (Vatz et al, 2013). Language aptitude is often seen to be dependent on a number of different aspects. The experiences of the learner vary in accordance with the language aptitude of the learner rather than with the general factor of intelligence. The learners work according to their own skills of learning. It is the duty on the part of the educators to design the curriculum in a way that the learners find a comfortable pace to work on it (Granena & Long, 2013). The conventional notions as well as some of the modern ones are proven to be inadequate notions on the subject of intelligence. Intelligence is not seen to be an individual construct anymore. The patterns of positive correlations cannot be considered to be a function of the inherent structure of the intellect of the concerned person. It is said to reflect on the limitations that is incurred in the interactions that take place among the individuals who are interrogated or interviewed.
Intelligence may be referred to as the cognitive abilities of a concerned learner to learn and comprehend. This ability is associated with the factors of abstract thoughts, memories, logic, self-awareness, planning, emotional knowledge, problem solving and creativity. There are three aspects to intelligence of a person they are the analytical intelligence, creative intelligence and the practical intelligence. Analytical intelligence or the componential intelligence refers to the traditional idea of the concept of intelligence. This is characterised by the presence of mathematical and verbal skill as well as logical reasoning besides abstract thinking. Creative intelligence is also known as experiential intelligence. This is defined by the ability of the concerned learner to possess divergent thinking. In simpler words, the learner is considered to be owner of creative intelligence if the concerned person is able to generate new ideas and notions. He should also be capable of dealing with unique situations. The practical intelligence, also known as contextual intelligence may also be referred to as the “street smarts”. The learner possessing this type of intelligence must be able to apply the knowledge that he has gained from his studies in the real-life situations. The person should also be able to choose the environments for himself and shape them according to his own tastes.
The intelligence quotient, commonly known as IQ, of an individual depends largely on the genetic susceptibility of a person. There are a number of varied modifiable environmental factors that may influence the IQ of a person. These factors include factors like education, alcohol and drug abuse, diseases and other mental illnesses, premature birth and even pollution. The intelligence of a person may be affected by both genetic and the non-genetic factors. There are several theories related to the concept of intelligence. The implicit theory of intelligence refers to the underlying fundamental beliefs of the learner as to whether or not can the abilities or the intelligence change. The followers of the entity theory assess the concept of intelligence as something that is constant. According to this group of learners, intelligence of a person is unchangeable. They consider it to be an internal characteristic of the learner that is fixed and thus, cannot be changed with the help of foreign influences. The followers of the incremental theory of intelligence believe in the fact that their intelligence is flexible. They believe that their intelligence can be increased through the efforts that they put in to do so. The intelligence of a person may be affected by his surroundings as well. The environment of a person influences the genes of the person which in turn affect the intelligence of the concerned person.
Evidences of the fact that intelligence is an individual difference may be found in classroom environments wherein a student with a higher intelligence level may acquire the lessons faster than one with a lower intelligence level. This is generally observed during the curriculum of mathematics and other such subjects wherein the implication of the acquired knowledge is needed. The educator needs to identify the learners with lower levels of intelligence and must aid them in order to help them learn the needed skill.
The educator needs to be able to identify the students who face difficulties in learning (Peterson et al, 2013). The educator needs to identify the difficulties that a student faces while learning any curriculum. It is the duty on the part of the educator to then tailor the teaching process in order to help the learner cope up with the difficulty that he might be facing. The first and foremost step of the educator, however, should be the identification of the problems that the learner is facing. The educator should be able to connect with all the students in the concerned classroom (Yeh & Lin, 2015). The teacher should maintain the visibility of the entire classroom by moving around while teaching. The teacher should allow the integration of the concepts and ideas that come forth from the students. The mode of teaching should be thematic and the presentation must be made in a brisk and lively pace. The teacher may put forth questions that require reasoning to be answered. The questions should be open-ended and help to stimulate discussion among the students. The students should need to use their ability to think critically in order to answer the questions put forward by the teacher. Efforts should be made on the part of the teacher to increase the responses from the students (Snow, Federico & Montague, 1980). The students should be urged to respond in the classroom based on the information that has been taught in the class. The use of direct techniques for the purpose of teaching should be encouraged. The use of questioning methods that require to be responded in unison should be promoted. The lesson plans should be structured in a way such that the students may work in groups. This helps in maximising the attention and the involvements of the students (Pervin, 2015). The teachers may also alter the ways to call on the students. They may ask the students to ask the students to help them by asking their partners to respond by either written notes or by doing anything that may attract their attention (Leutner, 2014).
Teaching a learner with low intelligence may prove to be a challenge to many teachers. A special kind of teacher is required to help the people with low intelligence levels to learn. It is crucial on the part of the teacher to be patient, understanding and well-aware of the challenges that are specifically faced by these kind of students. The success of these students depend heavily on the quality of the knowledge that is imparted on to them. These students must be assessed accurately in order to provide them with the most appropriate teaching methods in order to affect their lives in an insightful way (Nurmi, 2012). The teacher must assess the intelligence of the learner in the initial stage by conducting an IQ test on the student. The normal zone of IQ levels lies in between 85 to 100; an IQ level that ranges between 70 to 85 is considered to be low while a learner with IQ levels below 70 may be identified to be suffering from mental retardation. The teacher may require a bit more patience and should devote some extra time for a student with an IQ level of 85. The learner with an IQ level below 70 may demand help even with the very basic tasks. The educator must make a note of the areas where the student faces the most number of challenges and the areas where the student is observed to be performing well. The teacher needs to encourage the artistic abilities of the student, if he possesses any such skills while helping the student to cope up with the spheres which he finds to be the most difficult. The teacher must set the curriculum based on the style of learning with which the student is comfortable. In many cases the teacher may have to repeat the same thing many times in order to help the student internalise the concept. The teacher must adhere to the easier vocabulary while dealing with the students having low intelligence. The instructions provided by the teacher should be clearly understood by the student in order to execute them in a proper manner.
In conclusion to the above discussion, it may be said that the educators play a huge role in shaping the lives of the students who possess lower intelligence levels. The teachers and other educators have the huge responsibility to formulate the interaction processes that would help the students with lower IQ levels to learn alongside the other learners who possess higher levels of intelligence. The researches in the field of aptitude treatment interaction or ATI helps to provide a clearer insight into the steps and processes that should be kept in mind while designing the curriculum for the students that face difficulties in learning. The educators should be more careful while preparing curriculum for the subjects that require interactive skills such as mathematics and reading. These subjects require the learner to apply the knowledge that has been imparted to him by his educators. Thus it may be safely said that in order to ensure the fruitfulness of the aptitude-treatment interactions, the educator needs to put special emphasis on the individual differences that the students face while acquiring knowledge on the concerned subject curriculum.
References
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