Recognition as the Basis For Bloom's

The Seventh Taxonomy Element

By Dr. Benjamin S. Johnson

We all are familiar or should be familiar with the foundational concepts proposed by Dr. Benjamin Bloom in 1956.? His work on the cognitive domain is the basis of all teaching and learning today, but he forgot to mention one element of his hierarchical taxonomy that is essential in the learning process: recognition.? I learned as a Spanish teacher that before Bloom’s ‘Understanding’ and certainly before ‘Comprehension’ that this other element of the ‘Taxonomy’ was necessary. In fact, if we look at all teaching through the lens of the content being a foreign language to the students, then this first step, or pre-step on the taxonomy ladder in teaching that new language is crucial in helping the students begin to master it.

For an example on learning a new language, how do infants learn to talk?? Their impulse to learn is instinctive, hard-wired into their being.? They are surrounded with visual, tactile and auditory stimulants, but they cannot see a language, they only hear it.? At first it sounds like jibberish to them.? The baby learns to mimic the sounds, with no meanings attached.? Then, as all our brains do, they recognize repeated patterns of those sounds.? Their amazing intellects put together the idea that combinations of these sounds are connected to particular items or events.? The infant begins to recognize when those sounds are used and associates the sound groups with a meaning.? Once the baby recognizes the sounds and their importance, then he begins to mimic the use of the words. As the child uses the words and receives responses, the rudiments of a conversation begin.

Now, switching gears, and still considering that all subjects taught in school have their own vocabulary, language structures, and syntax, wouldn’t the goal of teachers be to have their students to become fluent in the language of their area of study?? Isn’t it the whole purpose of instruction to help their students be able to converse about their learning, being able to correctly utilize the vocabulary, syntax and grammar of the subject?

Often we think that while most subjects in schools and colleges are taught in a primary language, let’s say English, students would be able to understand the content area with ease. This is not always the case, rather, because the subject is new to the students, it might as well be a foreign language and thus should be taught as if the students were learning a foreign language.? Following that train of thought, let’s apply the example of infants learning to speak to students learning new content areas. At first the students consider the sounds, concepts and vocabulary of the subject to be jibberish.? Then, as their amazing intellects are hard-wired to do, they recognize patterns in how the words are used and begin to assign meaning to the words.? They begin to mimic the instructor’s use of the words in context and so the rudiments of conversation in that content area begins.

As you see, everything starts with recognition.? How do you teach recognition in all content areas?? I can only share what I did to teach students to associate words with meaning as a foreign language teacher (Johnson, 2008).?

1.?????? First, I created an environment in my classroom that was rich in meaning.? I used all four walls of the room as a tool to help students recognize words in Spanish.? I had pictures of people participating in the concepts I wanted the students to master.? I even became a master of drawing ‘stick people’ to focus on particular actions and posted those drawings around the room.?

2.?????? Then in the “me Tarzan, you Jane” fashion, I pointed to each drawing or picture and stated the words that corresponded to it, whether it was ‘mowing the lawn’, or ‘I’m hungry’? and I would have them repeat the phrases and words at least three times each.?

3.?????? Once they had been presented with the words, I used a process called ‘Total Physical Response’ (TPR) (Asher, 2009) to build their capacity to recognize the words or phrases.? I ask them, “Where is, ‘I’m hungry’?” and they point to the picture on the wall that represents, ‘I’m hungry.’? I reference TPR in both of my books, Better Questioning for Better Learning and Teaching Students to Dig Deeper.

4.?????? Since repetition is a learning tool, I repeatedly ask questions in different formats to get the students to show they recognize the words by pointing to, touching, mimicking, standing under the picture, or doing physical gestures.

Because this is also a ‘total engagement’ activity, it is easy for the students of all ages to perform with low levels of anxiety because everyone is doing the same thing.? The anxiety is further lowered in the fact that if a student does not know the answer, all they have to do is look around to see what the other students are doing and the answer will be obvious.? TPR is a recognition activity that can be used in any content area to use as a basis for vocabulary building and conversation.? Students must recognize a word before they can ever begin to understand it or use it.?

In conclusion, since recognizing words and word patterns from infancy and assigning meaning lead to us being able to converse, recognition of words and word patterns in any course of study must necessarily lead to students learning how to converse in that content area, be it math, science, engineering or music.? Recognition must be the first step in learning any content area and hierarchically it is the easiest and most natural element of thinking and learning.? I do not know why Dr. Benjamin Bloom selected the first step in his Taxonomy of thinking as being ‘knowledge’, but I am glad that I was able to add recognition to be the prerequisite to ‘knowledge’.

References

Asher, J. J. (2009). “Learning Another Language Through Actions, 7th Edition.” Los Gatos, CA: Sky Oaks Productions, Inc.

Bloom, B. S. (1956). "Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain." New York: David McKay Co Inc.

Johnson, B.S. (2008), " Just Plain Good Teaching, Part Two: Engage the Body and the Brain" Edutopia.org, available at https://www.edutopia.org/teacher-development-sheltered-instruction-part-two

?Johnson, B. S. (2017). Teaching Students to Dig Deeper: Ten Essential Skills for College and Career Readiness. New York, New York: Routledge.

Johnson, B. S. (2021). Better Questioning for Better Learning: Strategies for Engaged Thinking. New York, New York: Routledge.

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Other Books by Dr. Benjamin Johnson

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Johnson, B. S. (2024). The Fire Lord Trilogy: The Battle for Portus. Orem, Utah: Kindle Direct.

Johnson, B. S. (2024). The Fire Lord Trilogy: The Dragon and the Maelstrom. Orem, Utah: Kindle Direct.

Johnson, B. S. (2024). The Fire Lord Trilogy: The Last Voyage of the Betty-Lou. Orem, Utah: Kindle Direct .

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