THE Strength AND Weakness/Criticism ABOUT Cognitive Development PIAGET

By Ifti Luthviana Dewi 

Experts	Main Arguments / Name of Theory	Strength	Weakness/Criticism
PIAGET	Name of theory : Cognitive Development Main Argument: 4 Cognitive Development stages 1.      Sensorimotor Age: 18 months-2 years. It involves the use of motor activity without the use of symbols. Knowledge is limited in as it is based on physical interactions and experiences. 2.      Preoperational Age: 18-24months and 7 years Children start to use language; memory and imagination also develop. 3.      Concrete Operational Age: 7-11 years Intellectual development revealed using logical and systematic manipulation of symbols, which are related to concrete objects. 4.      Formal Operational Age: adolescence and adult Using symbols that related to abstract concepts	1.      This theory considered as a research break-through because he changed how people view and study children. 2.      This theory stimulated a comprehensive education, which focus on the understanding of children. 3.      These stages help to explain the children thought processes and how they see the world. 4.      This theory permits teachers and parents to recognize the children developmental level. Thus, children will get some assistances in working and learning at their own level.	1.      This theory is only for normal children, so that it does not suitable to apply and understand the disabled children who consider as late developers. 2.      Piaget was unsuccessful to develop a theory for after adolescence. Therefore, it only can be applied for children development. 3.      This will be unsuccessful efforts to teach children developmentally advanced concepts. Since some researchers believed that children often learn more about advanced concepts with a quite brief instruction. 4.      Piaget often did not define new terms operationally. For example, accommodation and assimilation. This problem provides a further difficulty to understand and establish a cause-and-effect relationship among Piaget’s variables. 5.      Some researchers claims that this theory may be inaccurate, as some children develop object-permanence earlier than Piaget theory, the preoperational children may be less egocentric, and some children may never achieve the level of formal operations. 6.      Piaget did not offer evidence of two children of different stages. 7.      This theory failed to explain how children understand abstract words related to physical object. 8.      Piaget ignored the attention to culturally influences on cognitive development.

 

 

1. How this theory be implemented in an English class for young learners in Indonesia?

The Cognitive Development stages can be implemented in an English class for young learners especially in Indonesia by adapting the material for learning which are appropriate with the children comprehending level. The teacher can collaborate with the parent in knowing and understanding their children level of developmental. Therefore, the children will get the advantages such as easily understanding the material by learning at their own level. For example, the teacher explains about grammar for 2 years old child, it is not appropriate because children in that age could not receive such an abstract concept. Two years old children may be more suitable to teach by physical interactions.