From a behavioral point of view, learning is defined as a change in observable behavior that

occurs as a result of behavioral responses to environmental stimuli. However, behavioral views

of learning fail to explain the learners’ mental processes and the complexities of human
cognition, such as, in terms of language learning, how a child or a language learner can
construct a meaningful and grammatically correct sentence which s/he has never heard before.
(Hill, 2002 So, the need to understand how the mind processes information and how people
acquire, store, and recall new information gave rise to cognitive psychology and cognitive
views of learning (roxana, p. 194-196 (Hill, 2002). Snowman 249).
“To understand the development of knowledge, we must start with an idea of an operation” says
Jean Piaget (1964) and continues:
Knowledge is not a copy of reality. To know an object, to know an event, is
not simply to look at it and make a mental copy or image of it. To know an
object is to act on it. To know is to modify, to transform the object, and to
understand the process of this transformation and as consequence to
understand the way the object is constructed. An operation is thus the essence
of knowledge; it is an interiorized action which modifies the object of
knowledge. For instance an operation would consist of joining objects in a
class to construct a classification. Or an operation would consist of ordering or
putting things in a series.
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

Individual constructivism, also known as cognitive constructivism or psychological constructivism, is

largely inspired by the work of Piaget (1954), which we reviewed in Chapter 3. As its name suggests,
individual constructivism focuses on how individuals construct knowledge in their minds (Greeno,
Collins, & Resnick, 1996; Meter & Stevens, 2000). According to this learning perspective, individuals
have a natural tendency to search for understanding as they interact with the environment. Social
interactions are not heavily emphasized and are considered to be only one of the mechanisms that
facilitate cognitive growth (Palincsar, 1998). A learner’s discussion with a teacher or peer may create
cognitive conflict, motivating the learner to try to resolve the disequilibrium by individually
reconstructing his/her knowledge structures. In Piaget’s terms, learners who interact with others and
the environment construct knowledge by organizing, assimilating, and accommodating new information
in their cognitive structures. According to this constructivist perspective, the teacher’s role should
consist of providing instructional materials and supportive learning environments that are conducive

Cognitive constructivism inspired by the work of Piaget (1954) focusing on active mental
processes that human beings go through while learning (Greeno, Collins, & Resnick, 1996;
Meter & Stevens, 2000) consists of all the aspects of the idea of operation, which Piaget
proposed. The cognitive approach defines learning as, "an active mental process of acquiring,
remembering and using knowledge" (Woolfolk, 1993, p. 238). It emphasizes that learning
involves planning, using, and organizing knowledge in certain ways, which influence our way of
thinking and behaving. The cognitive approach sees human beings as active processors of
information, which is the classic model used by cognitive psychologists to explain cognition and
learning (Atkinson & Schiffrin, 1968; Newell & Simon, 1972), provides insights into the
complex nature of the learning process. Human beings seek out information, pay attention to
certain information, organize it, practice it, etc. In this way, learning is not perceived as simple
acquisition of knowledge, rather it is seen as the construction of knowledge (Woolfolk, 2001).
When human beings learn something, it becomes their own knowledge. That knowledge
provides a structure for understanding and organizing incoming new knowledge.
The name, the information-processing model explaining how we perceive information from the
environment, how we process and how we use it, comes from using the computer as a metaphor
to understand the human mind because, when using a word processing program, the computer
receives the input, processes the information, and stores the processed information (Roxana) so
does the human mind. The human mind is analogous to a computer in the sense that the human
mind also receives the input, processes, stores, and later retrieves it. Roxana

The information-processing model (a metaphor to understand the human mind, where the
human mind is analogous to a computer in that new information can be input, processed, stored,
and later retrieved (roxana)) explains how we perceive information from the environment, how
we process and how we use it. It is full of important ELT implications, which should strictly be
kept in mind by ELT practitioners using teaching approaches based on the cognitive learning
theory (particularly “Discovery Approach”) adapted by current ELT course books. What are
these cognitive constructivist theory-based ELT implications? There are many; for instance,
human mind attends and perceives information just like students in ELT classes first paying
attention and trying to attach meaning to (from the very beginning it must be made clear that to
draw students’ attention is the teacher’s responsibility because no attention from the students
means no reception/perception) and following) what the teacher is presenting. Second, the
human mind processes the information, like students trying to understand what the teacher is
teaching, of course through proper exercises and practices provided by the teacher. Third, the
human mind stores the new information in memory, again like students making the newly taught
topic, say, a grammar point, making a part of their knowledge. (this is a crucial moment in
learning because it is the time when, to explain with the original terms form Piaget’s Cognitive
Development theory, assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration is achieved.)
“Assimilation”, “accommodation”, “equilibration”, “disequilibration”, “sensory register”
(sensory memory), “short-term memory”, “perception”, “attention”, “short term memory”
(working memory), and “long term memory” are all important concepts of both cognitive
development and cognitive constructivist learning theories, whose implications can easily be
detected in ELT classes.
It is important to present one-to-one implications of all these concepts in ELT classrooms with
practical examples, as it reveals the need that ELT should be based on the right learning
theories.

The implications of cognitive learning theories have undoubtedly been previously discussed and
interpreted in many books and academic publications in general terms. However, this study will
be the first to show the implications of the concepts of the cognitive learning theory in an ELT
classroom, in terms of the techniques, methods and even sentences written on the board by an
English teacher when presenting a new topic.
In the second part, the above-mentioned concepts of cognitive learning theory will be discussed
especially in terms of their relations with the ELT. In the third part, the implications of the
cognitive learning concepts in ELT will be explained with concrete actual teaching examples.
This study is important in explaining to ELT teachers, for example, why a new structure is
presented or should be presented in a context that is not very foreign to students and by
highlighting it.

practical implications

Applications of Cognitive Approach to Learning

The cognitive approach has helped us understand and at the same time design strategies to
contribute to our process in learning. These strategies include problem solving, transfer of

learning, critical thinking, discovery learning, reception learning, concept learning,

inductive and deductive thinking, advance organizers, and creative thinking. We will examine
the first five of these more closely below.
Belki burada discovery de anlatılır

Literature

Basic Principles of Development

According to Jean Piaget, all human beings posses two natural functions in thinking:
organization and adaptation (Pulaski, 1980; Woolfolk, 1993).

Organization is the process of continual establishing of

information human beings are exposed to. Organization, as an
inborn ability, enables us to organize and form new knowledge
structures through combining, categorizing, selecting and
comparing. For example, we store in our mind the word "cat" in
its relation to other animals, not as an independent (isolated)
unit, which allows more efficient processing of information.

Adaptation is a process of adjusting to new information, which

results from assimilation and accommodation; in other words,
assimilation and accommodation are the processes that make
adaptation possible. (roxana).
Assimilation and accommodation is of primary importance in
Piaget’s theory (hergenhahn) and this is also strongly true for
ELT. The definition “assimilation involves responding to situations
in terms of activities or knowledge that have already been
learned or that are present at birth” (guy) includes two highly
important aspects of learning which should be given importance
in ELT: (new) “situations” and “knowledge that have already
been learned”. As it is clear from the definition that assimilation
is a process of new experience fitting the existing knowledge and
using these already learned patterns to make sense of new
information.
In terms of teaching techniques and activities concerning ELT, an
ELT practitioner should focus on how s/he make use of “existing
knowledge or already learned patterns” to enable the learners to
make sense of new information, which is, in this context, a new
grammar item or vocabulary.

assimilation involves making sense of new information on the

basis of existing knowledge. On the orher hand, assimilating new
experiences into existing cognitive structure, in other words ,
understanding the meaning of new information or recognition, is
not enough for the growth of learning requiring developmental
progress, which results from modifications or changes in the
existing cognitive structures. These modifications or changes
equated with learning defined accommodation. guy

accommodation is A cognitive process that takes place when an

individual changes an existing knowledge so that it can explain
the new experience because the new information doesn’t fit well
with existing schemas. roxana

Assimilation, however, is a static kind of learning, limited by the

current cognitive structure; accommodation is a progressive
growth of the cognitive structure that changes the character o f
all subsequent learning. (herger)

According to Piaget, failure of previous knowledge to allow for

assimilation of an experience causes accommodation, or new
learning.

To put the matter still another way,

we respond to the world according to our previous experience

(assimilation), but each experience contains aspects unlike
anything we had experienced before. These unique aspects of
experience cause changes in our cognitive structures, wwhcicg is
called (accommodation). (herger)

implication

All activity, claims Piaget, involves both assimilation and

accommodation. The child cannot react to an entirely new
situation without using some old learning and some old behaviors
(hence assimilating). At the same time, even reacting to the
same situation for the thousandth time nevertheless implies
some change, however subtle (hence some accommodation).
Flavell (1985) notes that these activities are simply the two sides
of the same cognitive coin.
iyi bir asimilation sağlaDIĞI YENİ BİLGİYİ ANLAMA, anlamdırma ve tanıma meselesini , bu yeni bilginin
assimilationdan çıkıp artık yeni bir bilgi olmasına yani accomodation a nasıl varabiliriz. Assimilation ve
accomodatioon bir öğretmenin yeni bir konu present etme ve bunu öğencilerinini dil gelişimiin bir parçası etme
çabasının merkkezindedidir. Mevcut bilgi dahilinde yeni olanın tanınması ve bu yeni olanın öğrencinin bilgi
daarcığının bir parası haline getiirlmesi meselesi

öğrtmenin öğretim teknikleri ve sonra bunu accomate etmek içn çabalarının ne olacağını belirliyot

Experiences should be moderately challenging in order to stimulate cognitive growth. Again, no such growth will
occur if only assimilation occurs.
hergen

One might ask what the driving force behind intellectual growth is. For Piaget, the answer would
be found in his concept o f equilibration. Piaget assumed that all organisms have an innate tendency to create a
harmonious relationship between themselves and their environment. In other words, all aspects o f the organism are
geared toward optimal adaptation. Equilibration is this innate tendency to organize one’s experiences to assure
maximal adaptation. Roughly, equilibration can be defined as the continuous drive toward equilibrium or balance.

roxana
According to Piaget, the processes of assimilation and accommodation are motivated by the need to find
equilibrium, the natural tendency to find consistency in one’s thinking. Disequilibrium, on the other hand, is the
state of cognitive conflict that arises when one’s thinking is not consistent or when our current schemas are not
confirmed by our experiences with the world.

Piaget argued that disequilibrium acts as a force to drive cognitive growth. Therefore, teachers should find ways to
promote cognitive conflict to help children learn in meaningful ways. For example, in the case of a child who uses a
dog schema for understanding what a cat is, a teacher can help the child focus on defining characteristics of dogs
that are absent in cats (e.g., barking) to promote cognitive conflict, accommodation, and equilibrium. Limón (2001)
identified the following steps to produce students’ cognitive conflict: 1. Assess students’ current state of knowledge
or beliefs. 2. Confront students with contradictory information. 3. Evaluate the degree of change from students’
prior knowledge or beliefs.

Guy

It is important, explains Piaget, that there be a balance between assimilation and accommodation-an equilibrium.
Hence he uses the term equilibration to signify the processes or tendencies that lead to this balance. Ifthere is too
much assimilation, there is no new learning; if there is too much accommodation (that is, change), behavior
becomes chaotic. Piaget called assimilation and accommodation functional invariants because they are functions, or
ways of behaving, that don't change throughout development. These functional invariants are clearly illustrated in
two important activities of early childhood: play, which involves mainly assimilation, and imitation, which is
mostly accommodation.
the driving force behind intellectual growth is, according to Piaget, an equilibrium,
which is a natural tendency to find consistency in one’s thinking(roxana). if there is too much accommodation (that
is to signify the processes or tendencies that lead to this balance., change), behavior becomes chaotic.(guy) So,
there is a balance between assimilation and accommodation (guy)

When this does not happen, that is, when an individual is not able to
make sense of new information, a state of disequilibration exists.
Disequilibrium, is the state of cognitive conflict that arises when one’s thinking is not consistent with the new
experiences. (roxana)

Then, the learner must deal with this discrepancy between the new
information and his/her existing knowledge structure by learning more
about it and enlarging or modifying the existing knowledge structures.

When s/he understands the new phenomenon satisfactorily, s/he reaches

a state of equilibration again. Piaget indicates that the process of
eliminating disequilibration and reaching equilibration occurs by the

process of lifelong learning,

stimulated by biological structure, individual activity and social
interaction with others.
İmplication

Piaget argued that disequilibrium acts as a force to drive cognitive growth. Therefore, teachers should find ways to
promote cognitive conflict to help children learn in meaningful ways. For example, in the case of a child who uses a
dog schema for understanding what a cat is, a teacher can help the child focus on defining characteristics of dogs
that are absent in cats (e.g., barking) to promote cognitive conflict, accommodation, and equilibrium. Limón (2001)
identified the following steps to produce students’ cognitive conflict: 1. Assess students’ current state of knowledge
or beliefs. 2. Confront students with contradictory information. 3. Evaluate the degree of change from students’
prior knowledge or beliefs. (roxana)

Sadece assimilation veya accomodation olmuyor daha önce bu söylendi aynı zamanda bu ikisi arasında denge
gerekli

Bu denge olmadığı zaman sisbalance ki bu bir drivig force conlict gerekli hoca bunu ansıl gerçekleştirecek

cognitive conflict meselesini promote etmek ndeidr? Nasıl yapılır? Teknikler nelerdir?

The Information Processing View of Learning provides some insights into the complex nature of
the learning process.

It explains how we perceive information from the environment, how we process and how we use
it.

How does the learner start information processing the multiple stimuli from the environment? roxana

there are three important stages of information processing. These are: sensory register (sensory
memory), short term memory (working memory), and long term memory (Woolfolk, 2001).

First, the sensory memory system comes into contact with the the multiple stimuli from the
environment . This memory system has sensory registers, which perceive and register the
unprocessed information such as words, images, sounds from the environment selectively and to
send it to the short-term memory. But, perceived information has not yet been processed for
meaning
These registrations are in the form of representations like visual and auditory pictures or
symbols of original stimuli. These representations are coded briefly in the sensory register and if
we pay further attention, these images or patterns are sent to the short-term memory.
Yukarıdaki paragrafla oyna

Before moving on to the subject of short memory, I believe that the relationship between the concept
of “selectively”, which is especially used in relation to the sensory registration stage and the concept of
"attention" and “perception” in terms of ELT should be emphasized.

Attention, a process of allocating cognitive resources to a stimulus or task at hand (Bruning, Schraw,
Norby, & Ronning, 2004),is used to select certain stimuli from the environment and simulta-
neously ignore others (Snowman & Biehler, 2000). Being a selective process, we can pay attention
to limited number of things at once (Anderson, 2005). because the amount of cognitive resources in the
brain are limited (Mangels, Piction, & Craik, 2001). So teachers, to let their students devote their attention to certain
stimuli or not to be distracted by irrelevant ones, try to get and sustain students’ attention to achieve their teaching
goals.

Yukarıdaki paragrafla oyna

The sensory register's capacity is very large,

accommodating a lot of information at once.
Kullanılmadı henüz
When human beings attend to a stimulus, they can register many stimuli from the environment

for short periods of time. Kullanılmadı henüz

Attention implication

When applied to ELT, practitioners should draw students’

attention if they want them to give meaning to what they are are trying
to teaching to them. To increase their attention, the information
should be meaningful and interesting to the student.
3. bölüm
Asking questions to arouse curiosity of students,
using different signals to stop what students are doing and
focusing on the task,
calling students by name,
surprising events,
changes in voice level,
and using variety of teaching methods are the examples to gain
and maintain students’ attention.
In addition, in the classroom setting, other stimuli that may
potentially draw attention should be reduced so that the student
can more easily focus on the task itself.

In order to process the information that is stored in the sensory registers, we need to move it to working memory.
This happens through the attention and perception processes that are described next.

After the information received from the environment has been stored in the sensory registers, it
needs to sent to the short term memory for processing in which Perception and attention play an
important role.
We are exposed to a lot of information from the external environment, but we only select some
in our sensory register and ignore others. Perception is the meaning we give to the stimulus that
we attend to. For us to perceive the stimulus we are exposed to, it should be meaningful,
otherwise it is not perceived.
Here, there is an important ELT implication to mention. Why do we attach meaning to some
stimulus but not others? In other words, What makes a stimulus meaningful to us? The answer
to these guestions also imply a critical ELT implication. Our interpretation of the stimuli is
based on our prior knowledge. It means that students can only make sense of and perceive a new piece of
language if it is presented in the scope of theeir existing knowledge.

That reflects a limitation in our attention capacity. Novel stimuli require more of our attention
than familiar stimuli. Therefore, we have a narrower attention span when we are learning
something new.

The information is kept for a short time in short term memory and it may be sent to the long -
term memory. The information in the long-term memory can be recalled into the short term
memory, its contents and form can be changed, and it can be used for generating a response.
This process is similar to a computer’s operation. Short memory ile

Short Term Memory (Working Memory)

Once a stimulus is attended to and perceived through the sensory register as repre-
sentations of images or sounds, it is transferred to short-term (working) memory
(Baddeley, 1992, 1998, 2001; Terry, 2009).

Short Term Memory is limited in capacity. It holds five to nine new units (a
meaningful item: a letter, word, number, or common expression) of information at
once. In terms of duration, Short Term Memory has also a limited capacity;
therefore, it can hold new items not more than 30 seconds. So, units (items) must
be rehearsed to be maintained. Rehearsal allows information to be retained
(Anderson, 1990). Without rehearsal, forgetting occurs and information is lost.
As the attention shifts, which is caused by the new stimuli, we tend to loose the
previous ones.

Short term memory fulfils two crucial functions: maintenance and retrieval
(Unsworth & Engle, 2007). Information coming from sensory registers is kept
active and is processed with rehearsals or related to information we recall from
the long-term memory.
In fact, the short-term memory works on new or old (retrieved from long term
memory) items. For this reason, short-term memory is also known as working
memory and equated with consciousness (Sweller, van Merrienboer, & Paas, 1998,
cited in Eggen & Kauchak, 2001).

3. bölüm ile
There are certain strategies used to remember new information in the short-term memory for
longer periods of time.
Repeating information (e. g., the name of a book) is called maintenance rehearsal (also called
rote rehearsal or repetition), which simply keeps the information activated.

Elaborative rehearsal (also called elaborative encoding) refers

to relating the new information to something we already know.
For example, remembering the name of a place in relation to its similarity to some place already
known is an example of elaborative rehearsal, and this strategy makes it easier to move the new
information to long term memory.
Finally. Chunking refers to regrouping units of information into fewer numbers of manageable
units.
Remembering a seven-digit telephone number in two or three grouped numbers instead of seven
separate numbers makes it easier to remember (Woolfolk, 2001).

Long Term Memory

components of information processing in LTM involve storage, retrieval, and forgetting.
Once the information is well attended and perceived (attached a meaning) it is sent to long-term
memory and it is retained there in the storage system that can hold large amounts of information for an
unlimited amount of time (Schunk, 2008). We may not remember certain information ( forgetting),
however, that does not mean that the information is no longer in the long-term memory. It is
most likely still there and information held in long-term memory can be retrieved and stored in working
memory for further processing.
Students experience meaningful learning when they make connections between new information and their prior
knowledge. Therefore, meaningful learning requires students to encode (a cognitive process by which new
information is elaborated or organized and saved into long-term memory) rather than merely store new information
into long-term memory (Anderson, 1995; Ausubel, Novak, & Hanesian, 1978; Bransford & Johnson, 1972).
Meaningful learning methods are aimed at expanding on the original information by associating it with other
information held in students’ long-term memory (Gagné, Yekovich, & Yekovich, 1993).
There are two methods for encoding information in meaningful ways: elaboration and organization. With
elaboration methods, students use their prior knowledge to expand on a new idea, thereby storing more information
than what was originally presented to them. Students encode information in meaningful ways when they actively
use information stored in long-term memory to add details to new information, clarify the meaning of a new idea,
make inferences, construct visual images, and create analogies (King, 1992).
Just as prior knowledge affects perception, it also affects the degree to which students encode new information The
more background knowledge a student has, the more room for meaningful learning there is because students will be
more likely to find a relationship between new information and something already stored in their long-term memory

3. bölüm roxana
When students use elaboration in their encoding of information, their retrieval of information is enhanced (Terry,
2003). However, elaboration techniques are not used spontaneously and therefore need to be taught, especially to
younger learners (Schneider & Pressley, 1997). The second method for encoding information meaningfully is
organization, which is most useful when the information to be encoded is complex and interrelated. Organization
consists of providing an orderly structure to multiple pieces of information; it can range from “chunking”
information with similar characteristics (i.e., categorizing items) to creating a visual representation of all the most
relevant concepts to be learned with corresponding links to other concepts (e.g., concept maps). In one study,
researchers investigated the effects of chunking on learning (Bower, Clark, Lesgold, & Winzenz 1969). Students
were asked to learn four lists of words in two conditions. Some students received the words in a random order (e.g.,
cat, kitchen, sunflower, rose, dog, bath) and others received the words organized in hierarchies (e.g., cat, dog,
kitchen, bath, rose, sunflower). Guess which group remembered more words? Not surprisingly, students who were
given the organized words recalled more than twice as many words as their counterparts. Providing students with
organized instructional materials helps them encode the new information. Table 6.2 summarizes what you have
learned about storing and encoding information with rehearsal, elaboration, and organization methods. Just as prior
knowledge affects perception,
 However, the speed
The capacity of the long-term memory is very large, maybe limitless.
of information inputting and processing is slow. It takes time and effort
to move information from the short-term memory into the long-term
memory and vice versa. Even if the information is in the long-term memory it may not
always be possible to immediately recall it to the short term memory.Sometimes it
requires quite a bit effort to locate the right information in the
long-term memory and to recall it to the working memory for
use. Recently, some psychologists have argued that working memory and long term memory
are not two separate memory stores, rather they are interwoven. That is, working memory is the
part of long-term memory that responsible from processing information (Baddeley, 1998, cited
in Woolfolk, 2001).
The content of the information in the long-term memory is somewhat different from the content
of information in the short-term memory. In the short-term memory information is kept as
discrete words, images, sentences, etc. In the long-term memory the information is kept in an
organized way such as schemata, networks, episodes, etc. The units of information are stored in
relation to each other and structured in different ways. For example, knowing how tq use a
computer requires that a number of steps be taken together, and in relation to each other.

Therefore, elaboration or organization of new information assists in more effective storage, and
use in the long-term memory. When new information is related to the old {elaboration), and
placed in a certain structure {organization), İt can be recalled and processed more efficiently by
the individual. Units of information which are not elaborated and organized in a meaningful way
will more likely to be forgotten and be difficult to reconstruct into the short term memory for
use (Woolfolk, 2001).
On levels of processing, Eggen and Kauchak (1999) suggest that “the more deeply information
is processed, the more meaningful it becomes” (p. 264). Levels of processing was first proposed
as an alternative theory to three-store models by Craik and Lockhart (1972) but currently it is
accepted as a way of processing information into long-term memory (cited in Eggen &
Kauchak, 1999). Processing information deeply enables individuals to make more connections
and then information becomes more meaningful. For example, instead of asking students to
identify the characteristics of good teachers, teachers may ask them to identify their best
teachers and think about their characteristics.
Whether from the long-term memory is not always an easy task for human beings. In fact, it is
increasingly becoming a challenge as we tend to store more knowledge in our long-term
memory in this information age. Hence, effective storage of information becomes more
important as we become more verbal in our cognitive operations. Sometimes remembering a
piece of information activates recall of related information. That is, the spread of activation
helps us find the information we seek. If spreading activation does not helpful, we can still
retrieve information by reconstruction. Reconstruction is recreating information by using our
existing knowledge, memories, logic, and expectations (Woolfolk, 2001). Attaching meaning
and relating to experience also helps individuals achieve reconstruction more effectively and
accurately.
Whether forgetting from long-term memory occurs is a continuing controversy among
researchers. Some believe that even if we do not remember any piece of information that we
learned at any phase of our life, it is still in our long-term memory. It is just that we are having
difficulty in recalling it. Others suggest that forgetting occurs due to time, decay and
interference from newly learned knowledge. When the information learned more recently
interferes with the retention and recall of material learned previously, retroactive interference
occurs. Sometimes previous learning interferes with learning going on at the present time. This
is called proactive interference. Retroactive and proactive interferences appear if current and
previously learned tasks are similar such as the histories of World War I and World War II
(Henson & Eller, 1999).
Accommodation is a process of reformulating or rearranging an existing
pattern of thought.

This happens when an existing knowledge structure (assimilation) does

not accommodate the new experience satisfactorily. Then, a new
structure has to be formed or the existing structure has to be rearranged.

Going back to our example above, the child may see both a mouse and
an elephant, and realize that they differ in size. Then s/he may need to
reformulate the existing knowledge structure about animals in order to
accommodate the new information about sizes of animals.

Another example might be learning about

irregular verbs in English and modifying a
possible generalization of their use of past tense
based on the characteristics about regular verbs.
Both organization and adaptation are cognitive functions that help
human beings process and act upon new knowledge.
When organization and adaptation occurs satisfactorily, that is, when an
individual is able to make sense of new information, there is a balance
between the knowledge structure and new information. Piaget calls this
situation equilibration, which is a process where an individual
comfortably makes sense of new information based on his/her existing
knowledge.

When this does not happen, that is, when an individual is not able to
make sense of new information, a state of disequilibration exists.

Then, this individual must deal with this discrepancy between the new
information and his/her existing knowledge structure by learning more
about it and enlarging or modifying the existing knowledge structures.

When s/he understands the new phenomenon satisfactorily, s/he reaches

a state of equilibration again. Piaget indicates that the process of
eliminating disequilibration and reaching equilibration occurs by the

process of lifelong learning,

stimulated by biological structure, individual activity and social
interaction with others.