Educational psychology helps us understand how students learn by examining both cognitive processes and emotional factors. George Reese’s idea of productive struggle highlights that learning is most effective when students experience manageable difficulty—enough challenge to promote growth, but not so much that they feel overwhelmed. For young EFL learners in Taiwan, I see this often: when tasks are slightly challenging (like decoding new vocabulary or forming their first full sentences), students show deeper engagement and better long-term learning.

Update:

One important area of the learning sciences is cognitive development, and educational psychology contributes significantly to how we understand it. Educational psychology provides evidence on how learners process, store, and retrieve new language, which is essential in an EFL setting. For example, working memory theory explains why young learners benefit from short, meaningful chunks of language and visuals. Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) helps teachers scaffold tasks so that students can succeed with support—something I use daily when guiding young learners through English patterns or phonics. Research on productive struggle, scaffolding, and metacognition shows that students learn better when they have support, choice, and opportunities to make sense of challenges. Educational psychology helps teachers like me interpret classroom behaviors—not as ability issues but as part of normal learning processes. These theories give me a framework for creating activities that feel achievable but also motivating for EFL learners developing confidence and fluency.

References:

Bjork, R. A., & Bjork, E. L. (2011). Desirable difficulties. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society. Gathercole, S. E., & Alloway, T. P. (2008). Working Memory and Learning. Wood, D., Bruner, J. S., & Ross, G. (1976). Scaffolding in learning.