Psychology

Communication is an issue that affects all learners in different stages of life within different environmental settings. Language is a crucial tool in any given environment as it helps learners in communicating, building friendship, expressing themselves and most of all comprehending the world around them. In the education system, for example K-12, higher education or in business and industry, language is life because without good communication a person is faced with confusion, vulnerability, insecurity and uncertainties (Laird, 1985). For instance, if you would visit a class where you do not understand the language the teacher or students are using you would end up being confused and vulnerable. The same applies when given a sentence with more than five vocabularies. There will be no understanding what the sentence was meaning. It is without question that acquiring a language, understanding it and employing it are the most fundamental aspects of learning. Learning process includes theories such as humanism and cognitive- Gestalt theories and factors that affect learning process such as peer pressure, reward and punishment among others.


THEORIES OF LEARNING
There are various theories that can help a child in acquiring, learning and employing a language. Languages can be classified as primary language also referred to as mother tongue, secondary language or foreign language. Primary language is the first language a child acquires and learns while the second language is acquired when people migrate to another country. However when people learn a language that is not natively spoken in their country, they are said to learn a foreign language. For example, English-speaking students in U.S can learn Spanish or Germany in school as a foreign language. There have been many theories proposed in teaching and learning languages. Developments in psychology and linguistics have influenced these theories and inspired second and foreign languages learning.

THEORY OF HUMANISM
Theory of humanism mostly concentrates on a childs self-esteem or self-concept (McGill  Beaty, 1995). When a child is positive about himherself, it is easier for himher to learn and understand a language. Feeling good about oneself is a positive start in developing any form of communication. When a student is positive about himselfherself, it is easier to understand the strengths and weakness and the areas they need to improve on. Learning is regarded as a building stone to self-actualization. According to Laird (1985), it is a growing process that has no end but progresses as a person grows up until he reaches the optimum levels of self-development. The ability of a child to learn a second or a foreign language depends a whole lot on the drive heshe has. The speed and efficacy of learning depend mostly on the joy and satisfaction a student derives from achieving something. The theory suggests that using humanism a student gets intrinsic rewards. Intrinsic rewards indicate personal reward where students feel happy with themselves because they have achieved something on their own without any form of outside influence. Learning a language requires a student to be self-motivated to learn.

The facilitative theory of learning is one of the humanistic approaches developed by Carl Rogers and others (Laird, D. 1985). The theory names educators as facilitators who should provide a good learning atmosphere to the learners. The facilitators work is to ensure that learners have a comfortable atmosphere free from external threats so that they can generate new ideas. The theory suggests that naturally every human being is born with eagerness to learn.  The theory suggests that, although human beings are born eager to learn, as time elapses they give up due to unpleasant consequences or adopted resistance. Facilitative theory also suggests that changing ones concept of self is the most significant form of learning.

The Humanist Classroom Environment composes of a facilitative teacher and a learner. The difference between facilitative teachers and other teachers is that they are more liberal of how they run their business in addition to being more flexible. They have a close relationship with the learners and listen to them keenly. Facilitative teachers play close attention to the courses content as much as their relationship with their learners. They usually ask for learners opinions whether positive or negative and use the feedback to construct their behavior or improve themselves. According to The journal of psychology (1998), facilitative theory eliminates the resistance to learn by encouraging learners to take responsibility for their own learning. Through experiences and insights, the learners give much input for learning. The learners are also encouraged by humanistic approach that the best evaluation for learning is self-evaluation through solving significant problems in order to achieve significant results.

THE PEER FACTOR
Peer pressure involves values, social pressure or actions a person has to adopt in order to be accepted in a peer group (Buhs, Ladd  Herald, 2006). A peer group can be a group of people of certain age or ability. Most people have regarded peer pressure as a bad thing but it has been discovered that peers have influenced everyone either negatively or positively. In a learning environment, peer pressure is one factor that influences a learners capability to progress.

A hypothetical model taken to evaluate peer exclusion as a determinant for learning in students from kindergarten to the fifth grade was undertaken. The model indicated a close relationship between negative peer treatment and peer rejection to learners schools adjustment and engagement(Buhs, Ladd  Herald, 2006).The hypothetical method shows that a learners self concept, achievement and engagement is highly linked to victimization and rejection. A learner who has been rejected by the peers does not perform well in school. On the other hand, a child who is victimized or bullied by the peers lacks concentration in class and also suffers from academic self-incompetence. A childs engagement and adjustment in learning is therefore determined by chronic maltreatment or victimization and peer rejection.

Study shows that there is a distinctive connection between peer rejection, a childs mother-child interaction and sociometric status (Buhs, Ladd  Herald, 2006). Children who have bad social reputation and low interaction with their mothers are seen to exhibit undesirable qualities by their peer and may thus be rejected. Therefore, the only way to ensure that a child does not face peer rejection is to ensure that mothers are free with their children and interact well. Mothers are the first encounters with a child and the way they relate with them determines whether they will have low or high self-esteem. Positive children tend to be accepted by their peers while negative children get bullied and

LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE
According to the Cognitive- Gestalt theory, Learning is a process that is achieved through experience. This theory emphasizes on problem solving skills achieved through deriving meaning and experience in order to develop insights(Laird,1985).This theory suggest that a problem should be considered and solved through productive and reproductive thinking. Productive thinking is using insight to come up with an unplanned response to problems and situations. Reproductive thinking is using what is an already known or previous experience in solving problems. In a learning environment learners use the previous assignments or experience to analyze a concept and also examine relationship between various concepts using reproductive thinking. Gestalts theory helps learners to develop unconscious thinking and increase mental processing speed.

REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS
When students have wronged it is logical to punish them. The debate however is on the form of punishment that is effective. Punishment is only effective when students are afraid. Therefore, any form of punishment that makes students afraid and stops them from repeating mistakes is considered an effective. Punishment should not bring negativity in the learning process. It should be a way that corrects mistakes positively making students feel better and not worse (Darling-Hammond  LaPointe, 2007). Many people rule out detention as a way of punishment because despite its implementation students still have indiscipline problems. Positive ways of punishing students are advocated such as telling students what they should do rather than what they should not do and setting examples to them(Darling-Hammond LaPointe,2007).Teachers should be the source of inspiration through rewarding obedience. Students who behave responsibly and show effort in learning should be rewarded as a way of encouraging positive behavior.

CONCLUSION
Learning is all about motivation (Laird, 1985).The various theories that have been laid out as theories of learning suggest that learning a language requires a person to be self-motivated. Although facilitation is required through educators or facilitators, acquiring, learning and employing a language mostly occurs through inward drive and experience. Some of the experiences learners go through during learning process include peer pressure and discipline. Children who lack warm maternal interaction face peer rejection while in school which causing disengagement and lack of adjustment. When it comes to issues of punishment, positive motivation and reward of the obedient students are effective forms of punishment rather than detention.