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阅读理解 The term “formal learning” refers to all learning which takes place in the classroom regardless of whether such learning is informed by conservative or progressive ideologies(思想意识). “Informal learning”, on the other hand, is used to refer to learning which takes place outside the classroom.
These definitions(定义) provide the basic difference between the two models of learning. Formal learning is separated from daily life and may actually promote ways of learning and thinking which often run counter to those obtained form practical daily life. A characteristic feature of formal learning is the centrality of activities which can prepare for the changes of adult life outside the classroom, but it cannot, by its nature, consist of these challenges.
In doing this, language plays an important role as a major channel for information exchange. The language of the classroom is more similar to the language used by middle-class families than that used by working-class families. Middle class children thus find it easier to gain the language of the classroom than their working-class classmates.
Informal learning, in contrast, occurs in the setting to which it relates, making learning immediately relevant (相关的). In this context, language does not occupy such an important role: the child's experience of learning is more direct, involving sight, touch, taste, and smell senses that are not used in the classroom. Whereas formal learning is transmitted by teachers selected to perform this role, informal learning is gained as a natural part of child's socialization. Adults or older children who are proficient (熟练的) in skill or activity provide—sometimes unintentionally (无意义地)---target models of behavior in the course of everyday activity.
Informal learning, therefore, can take place at any time and place. The motivation of learner provides another important difference between the two models of learning. The formal learner is generally motivated by some kind of external goal such as parental approval, social status, and possible financial reward. The informal learner, however, tends to be motivated by successful completion of the task itself and the partial knowledge of adult status.
Given that learning systems develop as a response to the social and economic contexts in which they are firmly, it is understandable that modern, high urbanized (城市化) societies have concentrated almost specially on the establishment of formal education systems. What these societies have failed to recognize are the ways in which formal learning inhibits the child's multi-sensory acquisition of practical skills. The failure to provide a child with a direct education may in part account for many of the social problems which trouble our societies.
