The ideas of literacy learning in When Poverty's Children Write are based on Brian Cambourne's theory of Natural Language Learning and his Conditions of Learning; essentially, what he would like to be shown reliable enough to be called "An Educationally Relevant Theory of Literacy Learning" (Cambourne, 1995,190). The basis of this theory is that learning is natural because that is what our brain does (Smith, 1989), and that for natural learning to occur well, certain conditions need to be present, and especially that the learner needs to be engaged in the process. As a young teacher, Cambourne observed that children who were having difficulty learning to read and write in the classroom were having no trouble at all learning very complex tasks, like owning businesses and playing musical instruments (explaining the photo above), outside of the classroom. With this in mind he began to observe children in the process of learning language (the most complex early learning experience of all children) and found eight conditions (see below) that needed to be present for optimal language learning. He got together with some teachers to see how these ideas would work in the classroom, and after their experiment they found that, even with all the conditions present, “engagement was the key….if students didn’t engage with language, no learning could occur” (Cambourne, 1995,186). From this they came up with what they called the “Principles of Engagement.” In a 1995 article in The Reading Teacher, Cambourne provides a flowchart with explanations of how these ideas work together in a classroom setting for literacy learning. |
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Cambourne's Conditions of Learning ü Immersion: Learners need to be completely immersed in whatever it is that is to be learned. ü Demonstration: Learners need to be able to observe the thing which is to be learned—how it is used, what it consists, of, etc. ü Expectations: Learners are expected to succeed by the one who is mentoring them, and consequently they also expect themselves to succeed. ü Responsibility: Learners are able to choose which part of the new learning they will take on at any given point in the process. ü Employment: Learners need opportunities to practice their new skills both with others and alone in ways that are meaningful. ü Approximations: Learners need to be able to try out their new learning while it is still in the developing stages without fear of being reprimanded for the mistakes they will surely make. ü Response: Learners need to receive feedback from those who are more knowledgeable in the particular skill or content area being learned. (Cambourne, 1995) |
Principles of Engagement ü “Learners are more likely to engage deeply with demonstrations if they believe that they are capable of ultimately learning or doing whatever is being demonstrated. ü Learners are more likely to engage deeply with demonstrations if they believe that learning whatever is being demonstrated has some potential value, purpose, and use for them. ü Learners are more likely to engage with demonstrations if they’re free from anxiety. ü Learners are more likely to engage with demonstrations given by someone they like, respect, admire, trust, and would like to emulate” (Cambourne, 1995, 186-7).  |
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