Abstract

“This is the best lecturer that I have got in my life”. The greatest satisfaction that a lecturer can have is that each time students come out of his class, they have the above feeling. However, in a classroom of about sixty students of different knowledge, skills and attitude, this is quite difficult. To be able to achieve this, it is of utmost importance that we, lecturers, understand the learning process of our students and are able to motivate them. Furthermore, we should ensure that our classroom has the ideal environment that supports the acquisition and sharing of knowledge. This paper presents a reflection on the three dominant learning theories: behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism and analyses their strengths and weaknesses. It then presents some practices and principles that focus on the strengths of these learning theories while minimising their weaknesses.