Barriers to Effective Learning

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To become a good learner, every student must recognize their own strengths and weaknesses in how they learn. We have already identified individual learning strengths and successful study tips using the Learning Styles Assessment. Now we can begin to look at our potential weaknesses by identifying barriers to effective learning. There are a variety of different things that can prevent each of us from being the best learners we can possibly be.

These barriers can be divided into three general groups:

●     Emotional Barriers

●     Motivational Barriers

●     Learning Disabilities

Every student faces their own unique challenges when it comes to learning, and identifying those barriers is the first step to overcoming them and becoming a better learner. A description of each of the three categories of learning barriers is given below.

Emotional Barriers to Learning

One of the primary problems students, especially in high school, have to deal with is their emotions. The four major emotional barriers for high school students are:

●     Fear

●     Shame

●     Emotional Sensitivity

●     Adjusting to Change

Each of these emotional barriers affects every student in a different way. Many students encounter more than one of these barriers. Understanding and knowing where emotional barriers come from, is the first step to getting over them and continuing your

growth.

Fear

“To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom”    Bertrand Russell

“Fear is what prevents the flowering of the mind.”    Jiddu Krishnamurti

A major emotional barrier to learning is fear. Some people express their fears as anxiety or anger. Others suffer from lowered confidence, withdrawal or self-isolation. Understanding the reasons behind a fear of learning is important in confronting it. For most people, their fear arises for one or more of the following reasons;

●     A fear of what people say, fear of criticism and judgement

●     A fear of not succeeding, fear of failure·

●     A fear of rejection

It is important to know the causes and results of each of these emotional barriers. Read the descriptions of the causes and consequences of the various fears that follow.

Fear of Criticism and Judgement

“Judgments prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances.”              Wayne Dyer

Students are often afraid of the criticism they will receive from their teachers, classmates or parents if they do not do a good job or get high marks in school. For some students, this fear is so great that they would rather not try to succeed than risk having to take this criticism. For many such students, the criticism they receive from other people is seen as being a personal attack, and they internalize these criticisms to mean that they themselves must be dumb or lazy.

Fear of Failure

“Failure is success if we learn from it”    Malcolm S. Forbes

Some students, rather than being afraid of the criticism that comes with not succeeding, are afraid of the failure itself. Sometimes, if a student has experienced failure in school repeatedly in the past, they get “stuck”, because of the idea that they will always fail. They reason that because they have failed in some of their efforts in school, they themselves are failures, and do not bother trying. Sometimes, this fear of failure can grow to include not trying in sports, social activities and other parts of life.

Fear of Rejection

“Human beings, like plants, grow in the soil of acceptance, not in the atmosphere of rejection”     John Powell

Besides the fear of criticism or the fear of failure, many students are much more afraid of rejection by their peers. Some students feel that if they do well, they will not be as “cool”, and people will not like them as much as if they failed. They are terrified of being called a “brainer” or a “nerd”. It is important that students feel pride when they are rewarded with high grades for their work, rather than worrying what their friends will say.

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."   Frank Herbert, Litany Against Fear

Shame

Shame, like fear, is another emotional barrier that prevents learning. Many students who feel they are not doing well in school feel a sense of shame. They are afraid of what people will think when they see their work. These students feel they will never be as good as the brightest students, and so do not even try to succeed. Shame is perhaps the most self-destructive barrier to a student’s learning.

Emotional Sensitivity

Teenagers, just like adults, have a variety of personalities, strengths and weaknesses. Some people have strength in organizing and calculating, and others’ strength lies in their emotions. Students in high school can be especially emotionally sensitive.

Although emotional sensitivity helps a person understand their own and other people’s feelings, it can also at times overwhelm a person. People that are very passionate in this way can sometimes lose control of their emotions. They may sometimes be more easily brought to tears than others when exposed to their own or other people’s pain. This passion can also turn to aggression, however, even when the person did not mean to become upset or angry.

Often emotional over-reactions can occur in school and have a negative impact on the person’s ability to learn.

 Adjusting to Change

"Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have—and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up."

Change is scary for everyone, but for teenagers, change may be particularly difficult. Some students prefer procedures to stay the same and have a hard time moving from one activity to another.

Many students have trouble moving from one task to another without completely finishing the first task before moving on to the next one. These students are sometimes  described as inflexible when it comes to considering another person's viewpoint or a different way of doing something.

In general, teenagers are less prepared for the unexpected than adults, since they have to at the same time cope with new emotions, responsibilities and school settings. The unexpected may bring new learning hurdles, new demands or new social challenges.

Motivational Barriers to Learning

“People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.”    Andrew Carnegie

Motivation is the drive inside an individual to channel their energy towards a goal. Many people, especially teenagers experiencing their first adult freedoms and overcoming emotional and social challenges, find it difficult to do this. When it comes to school, real difficulties can arise if homework does not get done on time or tests are not studied for. Getting motivated is hard work, and presents many challenges for a high school student. There are three major motivational barriers typically encountered by teenagers. Each of the three is discussed in further detail below.

The three major motivational barriers to learning most often encountered by teens

include:

●     Lack of a goal

●     Procrastination

●     Improperly arranged learning environment

Lack of a Goal

“Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.”     Fitzhugh Dodson

In order to achieve a goal, you have to first know what that goal is. It is important to have a clear idea of what it is you want. In high school, your ultimate goal should be to get your diploma and graduate. This goal, however, is difficult to keep in your mind on a day-to-day basis.

Set out short-term and medium-term goals to help you stay motivated. For example, some of your focus can be placed on doing well on the math quiz tomorrow in the short-term and an English essay next week in the medium-term. Having clear-cut objectives for the near future will allow you to track your progress through school and feel like you are getting somewhere. 

                                                                                                                                                     

Procrastination

"Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried."    Author Unknown

Like most students, you have no doubt put off doing homework or studying for a test, only to find that when you try to do it later, you do not have enough time. In school, just as in the workforce, or at home with chores, saying “I didn’t have enough time” is rarely accepted as a good excuse for not doing your work.

It is important to set time aside in the day which is reserved for schoolwork. Many students find it helpful to make a chart or write down on a calendar due dates for their assignments. For big assignments or tests, mark down on your calendar how much work or studying you plan to have done by a particular day, and stick to it!                                                                                                                                                   

Learning Environment

A key to achieving success in school is having the right atmosphere at home in which you can study and do homework. Set aside a quiet place where you can be alone without any distraction. Avoid studying in a room with a TV or a computer, unless you are using the computer for schoolwork.

It is also important to have a plan on what you are going to study, when, and for how long. Try to set up a routine in which you study in the same place at the same time every day. Let your friends know not to call you or to come over at that time. It is far better to learn for half an hour each day than trying to cram for many hours on Sunday night!

Learning Disabilities

Learning disabilities are one of the barriers to learning that some students encounter. Having a learning disability does not mean that someone is dumb or lazy, it simply means that they have to put more effort into studying and behaving at school than others. All that this means is that they process information in a different way than other kids.

Students with learning disabilities are presented with a set of challenges including any of the following:

●     difficulty doing school work at their grade level

●     difficulty getting along with teachers and other students

●     behavior problems

●     depression

●     becoming sick due to personal or school problems

Students with learning disabilities are more likely to have poor marks, get into trouble because of their behavior and have trouble containing their emotions. These students can benefit from after-class or one-on-one help that recognizes their learning needs. The school can accommodate them and access additional help. How does one find out about having learning disabilities?

Students with LD may answer "yes" to most of the following questions:

●     Do you struggle in school?

●     Do you think you should be doing better than you are in school?

●     Is reading harder for you than it should be?

●     Does your head think one thing but your hand writes something else?

●     Is writing slow and tedious for you?

●     Do you make spelling and grammatical errors when you write?

●     Are you having difficulty with math?

●     Is it hard for you to keep your notebooks and papers organized?

●     Do you end up losing or forgetting them?

Sri Lanka Society for Medical Laboratory Science

http://slsmls.org/