Learner`s Characteristics - Previous Year Questions | Teaching Aptitude for Teaching Exam - B.Ed Entrance PDF Download

Q1: Given below are two statements: (December 2023)
Statement I: As per Dewey’s vision of learning, learners should demonstrate their knowledge through creativity and collaboration.
Statement II: According to Piaget, learning is independent of the developmental stages of learner.
In light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:
(a) Both Statement I and Statement II are correct.
(b) Both Statement I and Statement II are incorrect.
(c) Statement I is correct but Statement II is incorrect.
(d) Statement I is incorrect but Statement II is correct.
Ans: (c)
Sol: Dewey’s educational philosophy emphasizes the importance of learners expressing their understanding through creativity and collaboration.
Piaget’s theory highlights the significance of learning being tied to the developmental stages of the learner. In Piaget’s view, cognitive development influences how individuals understand and learn.

Q2: The quality of one’s memory can generally be judged on the basis of his/her (March 2023)
(a) Power of retention
(b) Analytical ability
(c) Communication skills
(d) Mathematical numeracy
Ans: (a)
Sol: Power of retention is a quality of memory power and a characteristic of the memory level of learning. There are three levels of learning:
A. Memory level: Lowest level of teaching where learning is focused on remembering, retention, and rote learning of information and facts. This is a thoughtless level.
B. Understanding level: This level is associated with understanding concepts and analyzing. This is a thoughtful level.
C. Reflective level: This is the highest thoughtful level. Here, learners learn skills of problem-solving and concept-building.

Q3: Given below are two statements: (March 2023)
Statement I: Vygotsky emphasised the significant role played by adults and more able peers in children’s learning.
Statement II: The zone of proximal development is the area, where the child solves a problem alone without the help of others.
In the light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:
(a) Both Statement I and Statement II are correct.
(b) Both Statement I and Statement II are incorrect.
(c) Statement I is correct but Statement II is incorrect.
(d) Statement I is incorrect but Statement II is correct.
Ans: (d)
Sol: Vygotsky gave the socio-cultural theory of cognitive development. According to his theory, society and culture affect the cognitive development of a child. The performance that a child can perform on their own is termed as actual development. The performance that a child can perform with the help of any adult or more skilled person is termed as expected development. The difference between actual and expected development is called the Zone of Proximal Development or ZPD.

Q4: According to David and Johnson, which of the following are the basic elements of cooperative learning groups? (March 2023)
1. Self conceptualisation
2. Individual accountability
3. Skill development
4. Positive interdependence
5. Promotive interaction
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
(a) 1, 3 and 4 only
(b) 1, 2 and 5 only
(c) 2, 4 and 5 only
(d) 1, 2, 4 and 5 only
Ans: (c)
Sol: According to David and Johnson, five elements are essential for cooperative learning groups:
1. Positive interdependence
2. Group and individual accountability
3. Promotive interaction
4. Appreciative use of social skills
5. Group processing

Q5: According to Kohlberg’s theory the conventional level of moral development includes the following stages: (March 2023)
1. Obedience orientation
2. Being nice/relationships orientation
3. Social contract orientation
4. Law and order orientation
5. Universal ethical principles orientation.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
(a) 1 and 5 only
(b) 3 and 4 only
(c) 2 and 4 only
(d) 2, 3 and 5 only
Ans: (c)
Sol: According to the theory of moral development by Kohlberg, there are three levels of moral development and five stages within them. They are:
1. Preconventional morality: This level is from 0 to 9 years of age. In this stage, a child tries to be nice to everyone, and moral values are dependent on the environment of home and peer group. A child follows moral values due to fear of punishment or to get an award or reward. Stage 1 and 2 are included in this level.
2. Conventional morality: From early adolescence to adulthood. In this level of moral development, the child is focused on developing good interpersonal relationships and maintaining social relationships and order. In other words, a child performs the moral values with the motive of getting social recognition and respect. Stage 3 and 4 are included in this level.
3. Postconventional morality: This level is rare and found in some adults. In this stage, a person performs moral values as a universal application of principles and social contracts.

Q6: Given below are two statements: (November 2021)
Statement I: According to Piaget, the ability to solve conservation problems depends on having an understanding of three basic aspects of reasoning: identity, compensation and reversibility.
Statement II: The stage of classification does not depend on a student’s ability to focus on a single characteristic of objects in a set and group the objects according to that characteristic.
In light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:
(a) Both Statement I and Statement II are correct
(b) Both Statement I and Statement II are incorrect
(c) Statement I is correct but Statement II is incorrect
(d) Statement I is incorrect but Statement II is correct
Ans: (c)
Sol: According to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, the ability of every person to solve problems is based on three aspects: identification, comparison, and reversibility. The stage of classification is based on the ability to focus on every single aspect of the problem.

Q7: Which of the given learner characteristics are associated with field dependent (holistic/visual) learning style? (November 2020)
(i) Focusing on facts and principles
(ii) Relating concepts to personal experience
(iii) Formal interaction with teacher related to tasks at hand
(iv) Preferring to compete rather than cooperate
(v) Preferring to cooperate rather than compete
(vi) Perceiving global aspects of concepts and materials
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
(a) (i), (ii) and (iii)
(b) (ii), (iii) and (v)
(c) (ii), (v) and (vi)
(d) (iv), (v) and (vi)
Ans: (c)
Sol: Field-dependent learners perform better in teams and are good at interpersonal relationships. So, they believe in cooperation and past experiences more. These people are best at learning from social experiences and surroundings.

Q8: Which of the following is an example of higher order cognitive learning outcome? (June 2019)
(a) Learning of facts and their sequences
(b) Learning roles and action sequences
(c) Learning of concepts and abstractions
(d) Learning of awareness and valuing
Ans: (c)
Sol: Abstraction is a deep understanding of an idea and not just an event or situation. Concepts and abstraction both are based on the experience of an individual and mostly can be generalized.

Q9: From the following list of learner characteristics identify those which will be helpful in ensuring effectiveness of teaching. Select your answer from the code. (December 2018)
1. Extent to which learner obeys the school rules
2. Learner’s level of motivation
3. Feelings of learners towards the social system
4. Learner’s interest in sports and games
5. Prior experience of the learner
6. Interpersonal relations of learners
(a) 2, 5 and 6
(b) 3, 4 and 5
(c) 1, 3 and 5
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Ans: (a)
Sol: The key learner’s characteristics to ensure an effective teaching–learning process will be a high motivation level in learners, past experience of learners, and the kind of interpersonal dynamics among them.

Q10: Which of the following learner characteristics is highly related to effectiveness of teaching? (July 2018)
(a) Prior experience of the learner
(b) Educational status of the parents of the learner
(c) Peer groups of the learner
(d) Family size from which the learner comes
Ans: (a)
Sol: Previous experience of the learner determines the level of understanding in the learner. It also becomes the basis for further learning.

Q11: From the list given below identify the learner characteristics which would facilitate teaching–learning system to become effective. Choose the correct code to indicate your answer. (November 2017)
1. Prior experience of learner
2. Learner’s family lineage
3. Aptitude of the learner
4. Learner’s stage of development
5. Learner’s food habits and hobbies
6. Learner’s religious affiliation
(a) 1, 3 and 4
(b) 4, 5 and 6
(c) 1, 4 and 5
(d) 2, 3 and 6
Ans: (a)
Sol: Learner’s prior experience, aptitude of the learner, and stage of development facilitate the teaching–learning process.

Q12: Assertion (A): Learning is a life long process. (January 2017)
Reason (R): Learning to be useful must be linked with life processes.
Choose the correct answer from the following code:
(a) Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).
(b) Both (A) and (R) are true, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A).
(c) (A) is true, but (R) is false.
(d) (A) is false, but (R) is true.
Ans: (b)
Sol: Learning is a lifelong process and learning should be related to life processes for better understanding. But these two statements cannot be related.

Q13: Which set of learner characteristics may be considered helpful in designing effective teaching–learning systems? Select the correct alternative from the codes given below: (June 2016)
(i) Prior experience of learners in respect of the subject.
(ii) Interpersonal relationships of learner’s family friends.
(iii) Ability of the learners in respect of the subject.
(iv) Student’s language background.
(v) Interest of students in following the prescribed dress code.
(vi) Motivational-orientation of the students.
Codes:
(a) (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv)
(b) (i), (iii), (iv) and (vi)
(c) (ii), (iii), (iv) and (v)
(d) (iii), (iv), (v) and (vi)
Ans: (b)
Sol: For ensuring an effective teaching–learning process, the characteristics of learners which are helpful are prior experience of learners, ability of learners, language ability of learners, and motivation to learn among students.

Q14: For an efficient and durable learning, learner should have (December 2012)
(a) ability to learn only
(b) requisite level of motivation only
(c) opportunities to learn only
(d) desired level of ability and motivation
Ans: (d)
Sol: Following characteristics are needed in a learner to become an effective learner:
1. Ability
2. Desire
3. Motivation
4. Interest
5. Critical thinking
6. Question asking
7. Creativity
8. Opportunity to learn
9. Learning by doing

Q15: Some students in a class exhibit great curiosity for learning. It may be because such children (December 2010)
(a) are gifted
(b) come from rich families
(c) show artificial behaviour
(d) create indiscipline in the class
Ans: (a)
Sol: Students who are always curious in the class to get knowledge or show excitement are gifted/brilliant.
Exam tip – we have to ignore negative options in the exam in the portion of teaching aptitude.

Q16: Which correlation co-efficient best explains the relationship between creativity and intelligence? (December 2009)
(a) 1.00
(b) 0.6
(c) 0.5
(d) 0.3
Ans: (a)
Sol: Creativity and intelligence are perfectly correlated with each other. The coefficient of correlation between them is a perfect 1 or perfectly related.

Q17: To be critical, thinking must be (December 2009)
(a) practical
(b) socially relevant
(c) individually satisfying
(d) analytical
Ans: (b)
Sol: Being critical means to look at both, i.e., positive and negative aspects. Being socially active and making thinking socially relevant are the necessary components of critical thinking because without these a person cannot have a proper knowledge of anything.

Q18: Attitudes, concepts, skills and knowledge are products of: (June 2009)
(a) Learning
(b) Research
(c) Heredity
(d) Explanation
Ans: (a)
Sol: Learning is a change in behavior and attitude. Hence, attitude, concepts, skills, and knowledge are products of learning.

Q19: Which of the following is not a product of learning? (June 2009)
(a) Attitudes
(b) Concepts
(c) Knowledge
(d) Maturation
Ans: (d)
Sol: Attitude, concepts, skills, and knowledge are the products of learning. Maturation does not depend on learning only, but on situation, circumstances, social development, and many more factors.