Explain
Maslow's (1970) hierarchy of needs theory and comment on whether you
feel it is valid, as well as why or why not. Do we as teachers really
need to consider all of these needs? In what ways are they relevant or
irrelevant to us in a classroom?
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Maslow developed this theory to explain what's behind human motivation and personal development. He created a hierarchy of need the average human must have in order to reach their full potential. These things may be used to understand success in business and relationships. However, they also are needed for success in language learning. The 5 stage model (going from bottom to top in the hierarchy) includes: biological and physical needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs, and self-actualisation. These needs are VITAL to all types of learning if they matter in any other aspect of human growth.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, let's say a student arrives to class starving. As much intrinsic motivation as they have, they may not focus on anything but their hunger the entire class and not learn anything. Perhaps a teacher could help make sure this biological need is met by allowing food and drink in the classroom. For more abstract needs like belongingness, especially if using a cooperative method, the student must feel like they are an important part of the work group. This shows how important it is for the teacher to know the students and assign them to groups appropriately.
The esteem needs pillar is also important. An L2 learner who may be making huge strides might, depending on personality, still consider themselves "inept" or "stupid." It is important for the teacher to remind the students of how far they've come, encourage them to continue in that fashion, and praise them for extra hard work.
If those previously said needs are all met, the student is in the most fertile mental state. They feel comfortable, and can not only succeed to what's thrown their way but, reach that final step of self-actualisation and fulfillment. Reaching that means not only is the student doing what they can to get by, but there can be a new sense of intrinsic motivation. They will have power over their education.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pyramid theorizes that for a person to attain the highest level of development, self-actualization, his or her basic needs must first be fulfilled. He developed a list of these basic needs and proposed that people are motivated to meet these needs in a specific order. In this pyramid of needs, the basic physiological needs of air, food, water, rest and exercise must be fulfilled before a person is motivated to seek safety, security, protection and freedom from fear. Once these needs are met, people see belonging (love, affection and belongingness) and finally esteem (self-esteem, confidence, achievement and respect of others). The top of the pyramid, self-actualization refers to a person reaching his or her highest potential.
ReplyDeleteI have a strong belief in this theory based on my experience in the Army. Traditional Army training methods deprive you of sleep and food to simulate the stress of battle. When you are only thinking about your next meal or sleep break, you are not motivated to participate in learning tasks.
This theory is very relevant in an ESL classroom. Students living in an L2 environment experience stress as they try to navigate in a different culture and language to meet basic needs (grocery shopping, health care needs). In a classroom, we can help motivate students by meeting basic needs and knowing our students. We can create a comfortable environment through use of routines. Partner exercises will help students build friendships and a sense of belonging. Finally, encouragement helps build self-esteem and confidence. Awareness of student needs based on Maslow’s hierarchy helps maintain motivation and provides the best environment for effective L2 learning.
It really depends on each student. The theory itself is a bit too general, because for example, what if in order for a person to get food, water, etc, they might need to learn to communicate or work so they can get those basic needs (even love, belongingness, etc- think of immigrants who have a desire to make friends in a country where they don’t know anyone or just want to achieve their goals but don’t have a method to do so). So, I don’t quite agree with there being a hierarchy of needs in a specific order, but I do agree that needs will affect priorities (in this case, learning a new language). So yes a student might not want to learn because he or she is too hungry to even care, but at the same time you might have students who realize this, and who believe that if they could just speak English better they might get a better job, more money, more food, etc. It might be advantageous sometimes and disadvantageous other times (it might motivate a student to learn in order to achieve their needs, or a student might prioritize other needs before learning a language). Again, it depends on the student (and the condition under which they are learning a new language). This is where knowing your students will be helpful, and it can be relevant in the way that you teach the class, because you can adjust your teaching to help the students achieve their needs. The hierarchy is something that teachers should probably keep in the back of their minds, and maybe integrate into their teaching as a motivation tool (i.e, let them know the overall goal of learning to communicate, which should help them in everything else they do, whether they are buying food or making friends or looking for a job, etc..). In this day and age communication is vital for anything and everything.
ReplyDeleteThe main idea Maslow is proposing is that students cannot reach their maximum potential if their more basic needs are not met. He includes in this theory the idea that there is a hierarchy of needs, starting with basic physical needs and progressing on to things such as safety, love/belongingness, and esteem.
ReplyDeleteIs Maslow's hierarchy true of all people everywhere? No. But it does remind us as teachers that our students are not one-dimensional and we do not teach English in a bubble. Life is messy, and our students' lives are complicated. We may not be able to solve all of our students' problems (nor should we), however there are many things we can do to smooth their way. The most relevant to the classroom involve the higher levels of Maslow's pyramid; teachers can and should already be striving to create an environment of belongingness, in addition to building up the confidence of their students.
The students with problems on the lower portion of the pyramid are often the students who stop attending class all together. I could add a number of other things to this list, including child care, health problems, family support, personal issues, etc. With adult students, the list of factors they have stacked against them seems endless. In some cases, we can do nothing about it, and the student will drop out. However, I've found I as the teacher have a great amount of influence in the situation. When I notice a student is missing class a lot, I will call her to ask about it. In doing so, I can encourage the student (investing in upper-pyramid factors) and help her think through potential solutions to what is holding her back. If it is a problem of basic needs, I can connect her to other resources at Catholic Charities or in the community. That one simple call communicates to the student that she is valued as a member of the class. I've had students in the past who were in this situation but returned to class and excelled after their other personal issues had been addressed.
It's true that we are teachers, not social workers. We can't fix all our students' problems. But if we're going to be the most effective we can be, we have to recognize that our students are complex individuals with whole lives outside of our classrooms. It's been my experience, though, that a strong community and sense of belongingness among students can do wonders toward motivating them to work hard toward language goals even when there are a number of outside factors working against them.
-Debby Adams
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory is a good overview of the structure of a person’s needs in all aspects of life. I find it interesting that Maslow somehow attempted to put all of life’s complexities into boxes in a pyramid. Teachers do not need to concern themselves with fulfilling every part of the hierarchy, but I believe some parts (especially the second level from the bottom) are within reach of working on in the classroom. That level contains the most relevant topics because that is something that we all look for when learning in class, especially in a language class. In particular, safety and freedom from fear rings true for me. Fear has definitely been a stifling component in me not learning a second language. Feeling insecure from making myself look foolish is a part of it too. These social aspects can controls one’s mind. Without these in place, the student reverts back to thinking about grammatical accuracy and correctness. Maybe it is a little naïve for me to expect safety and protection, but hopefully, in the U.S., the institution tries to take care of that.
ReplyDeleteMaslow's (1970) hierarchy of needs theory outlines in pyramid form what a person needs to be all that she can be. At the bottom are basic physical needs such as air, water, food, rest, and exercise. The second level are needs relating to physical and emotional safety such as safety, security, protection, and freedom from fear. The third level are needs relating to feeling cared for: love, belongingness, and affection. The fourth level are needs for esteem such as strength and status. The final need is self-actualization. Maslow’s hierarchy is a useful way of conceptualizing what human needs are and how they relate to each other, though the upper levels are arguable in their order (does one needs for love come before one’s need for status and strength?) and need to be explained in their meaning (what does self-actualization mean?).
ReplyDeleteAs teachers, it is important that we consider all these needs, though we don’t need to meet all these needs for our students. The truth is however, if one’s needs for water, food, rest, and safety aren’t being met, then they won’t be concerned with their need to learn English. Therefore we need to provide a safe and caring environment so that students can focus on learning English. It is interesting to consider where learning English fits into the hierarchy. Learning English could rank as high as filling a need for self-actualization and status but it could also be something students need to know to accomplish daily tasks that will satisfy their basic needs. Thus teachers can teach students English to fill their basic needs first and gradually develop their language abilities to equip them to fulfill higher level needs.
Hopefully students in our classrooms are not struggling to meet their basic needs for air and water! But, it’s possible that conditions in our schools do or don’t measure up in terms of feelings of safety, security, protection, and freedom from fear. I can imagine that if a student felt a lack of any of those things, or any other basic needs, then a he or she would not want to continue to be in that school. Or if any of those things were lacking at home, it might preoccupy the student, taking focus off of studies. Perhaps this would make Maslow's hierarchy leading to self-actualization plausible.
ReplyDeleteHowever, some of the needs listed are somewhat irrelevant to the classroom. As camaraderie builds among students, ideally belongingness can be created; but I feel that needs for love and affection (especially romantically speaking) are more appropriately met at home, not in the classroom.
The example the text gives of meeting lower needs are: taking roll, checking homework, and small talk at the beginning of class. I don’t know if these are good examples of meeting basic survival needs –they all have valuable functions within a working curriculum. But I don’t see their direct relationship to anything in the hierarchy. However, I do understand the analogy that fulfilling lower-order needs paves the way to meeting higher order needs within a curriculum.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs outlines the process of self-actualization in order from the most simple human needs to the most complex, stating that the bottom group of needs must be met before the above groups can be attained. It's completely sensible and can be applied to a variety of language learning settings. Last semester in Methods and Materials there was a lot of focus on needs analyses, and this pyramid can serve as a guideline for identifying your students specific needs. For example, someone working with refugees would have to realize that a student may come from an environment lacking in a number of the most basic human needs (shelter, food, etc) and therefore may have to adjust to living a comfortable life for the first time before they feel motivated to learn. Obviously the hierarchy of needs is not completely applicable because as teachers we will not be the ones to provide the students with most of these things in their daily life, but it can applied in that we must consider students' personal lives to a degree in order to understand their difficulties in the classroom. You never really know what a student might have had to go through before they even made it to class. Some aspects of the hierarchy of needs can be applied when we think about the environment we want to create for our students, like self-esteem, belongingness, and freedom from fear so we can nourish the "language learning ego" and promote communicative language learning.
ReplyDeleteMaslow's Hierarchy of Needs is just a systematic way of listing human needs from basic to important. Its a simple way of describing or lumping what a person needs in life. I think they are valid partially because humans need things like food, rest, water, freedom from fear, etc. But many professions such as nursing will fallback on Maslow's hierarchy. Nursing students learn these needs and apply them to patient care.
ReplyDeleteI think as teacher we should consider some of these needs but not all needs are relevant in a classroom. Needs such as food, water, and rest could be considered irrelevant in a classroom setting. Students are there to learn not snack or nap. I think teachers should consider needs such as freedom from fear, belongingness, esteem: strength, and self-actualization in a classroom. Students will be open to more of what is being taught if they aren't afraid and if students feel like they belong the will want to learn more. As teachers doing a these things to make students feel more comfortable will then lead to stronger self-esteem and self-actualization as a student. So teachers should learn about all tiers in Maslow's hierarchy and apply the relevant needs to their classes. This can only help the students be better students and help the teacher in creating a classroom where students learn the things they need to learn.
Stefani Goode