**15.8 Vygotsky's theory**

Social interactions can guide and mediate a person's learning ability. The theory suggests that socialization contributes significantly to learning. Essentially, this

theory outlines three core concepts related to cognitive development: (1) culture plays an influential role in learning, (2) language is the root of culture, and (3) individuals learn and develop within their communities.

#### **15.9 Zone of proximal development (ZPD)**

A learner is traveling between two terminals: the known and the unknown. Guidance and encouragement from a knowledgeable person can help a learner who is having difficulty mastering certain skills. A skilled partner can guide and encourage a learner to achieve greater results than he or she could on their own. In other words, those skills the learner is "close" to acquiring are considered.

## **16. Case in point**

The teaching environment in Oman involves three main factors: learners, teachers, and obstacles. Therefore, the comparison of students' results after certain methodical interventions with a control group reflected the difference in achievement. Omani colleges' English classes, for example, provide students with both basic language skills and a foundation for advanced language abilities that will be crucial to completing their degrees. The process of learning a second language requires more than just language skills. For our learners to be successful at learning a new language, they must be in control of their own learning and self-management.

A longitudinal study was conducted at Mazoon College, Sultanate of Oman. A total of 176 students (mixed ability learners) taking preparatory English language courses for a bachelor's degree were chosen as the subject of study from six different sections of the authors' own classes. The data were collected over a period of 14 months (three semesters). Learners were given reading and writing exercises that focused on abstraction, thinking, hypothesizing, and drawing conclusions. The study was conducted on an experimental group of 93 students and compared with a control group of 83 students.

#### **16.1 Theoretical perspective**

Guided by the theory of cognitive development to understand the interplay between teaching strategy and cognition in education, students use a certain amount of working memory, which is explained by cognitive load theory. Observing and recording the assessments that how stress and emotion alter the cognitive processes that support performance our study concluded from findings in the preview of cognitive psychology and education point of view.

#### **16.2 Methodology**

The study was descriptive in nature and used both quantitative data on samples selected at convenience. The intervention strategy was based on the premise that cognition mediates learning and behavior. Cognitive-behavioral instructional strategies (CBIS) were designed to promote learning and behavior change. Students were taught to examine their feelings and thoughts in their lessons. Interventions included single-task training, integrated training, meditation, group work, and transcranial

*Cognitive Learning Theory and Development: Higher Education Case Study DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110629*

stimulation to improve cognitive control. The strategies were based on cognitive restructuring, exposure, and response prevention to develop the following targeted skills:


Outcomes (**Table 1**) are based on the assessment of students' data on given tasks. A tendency investigation of summative assessments and behavioral outcomes assessment measured the following: verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, response to challenging situations, processing speed, number of mistakes, and willingness to accept a challenge (**Figure 1**).


**Table 1.**

*Descriptive.*

**Figure 1.** *Marks average.*


#### **Table 2.**

*Hypothesis test summary.*

There was a significant difference in variance (**Table 2**) between the control group and the experimental group.
