Henry P Smith defined learning as the acquisition of new behavior or the strengthening or

weakening of old behavior as a result of experiences. Other theorists such as Rod Plotnik

Defined learning as a relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by individual

experiences. There have been various types and theories of behavioral learning introduced by

various theorists or researchers. All of these theories suggest that whatever the type of

learning or source of learning it leads to a relatively permanent or potential change in

behavior. Learning can be influenced internally or externally, positively and negatively.

Things that we find interesting are learned relatively sooner than things that are of lesser

interest to us. Externally there are a lot of factors that can influence learning such as climate,

socio-economic status, availability of resources, political status, culture, and so on.

Culture influences almost every aspect of our life. In learning, researchers and educators both

realize that learning is not the same for all. Pat Guild (2002) suggested that “Too often

educators continue to treat all learners alike despite the obvious cultural diversity within

them.“ In today’s day and age, there are foreign students in every school, college, university,

or institution. However, the teaching pattern for all students most likely remains the same. It

is often overlooked that there might be obvious cultural differences in the examples provided

to learn. It is important to incorporate a more universal concept of learning, to use examples

that are not relative to the country or a state of the institute but that can be relatable to

individuals all over the world. Such universality might be difficult to incorporate in various

subjects like history, communications studies, political science, and others.

For example – "in my college Where I pursued my Bachelor's degree, there were several

international students from various countries all over the world. Most of them were familiar

with the language of teaching, that is, English; but there were a few who were not well versed

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 with the language. The teachers tried their best to incorporate as many universal examples as

possible, but still, there were a lot of cultural influences that acted as barriers in learning. To

tackle these barriers the teachers then assigned one student for every class she attended to

help her understand the subject matter better and follow up with the homework given in class.

One of the students also offered to help her with her studies before and during the exams.

Another barrier included handwriting. Handwriting acted as a barrier due to a difference in

the scripts of both languages.

What worked in favor of such a situation was the environment in the classroom. Most

classmates were always ready to help and see others grow. The professors too made sure they

put extra effort into teaching in an unbiased way culturally, they offered to help students in

need after class hours as well. They encouraged students to ask questions and clear doubts the

very moment they arise. Through constant effort and focused learning, it is safe to suggest

that she not only learned the language well and improved her handwriting, but she also went

on to secure a distinction in her final grade.

In a learning process, the basic need and expectation from any student are that they analyst,

work hard, think logically and rationally, be consistent in learning, solve problems, interpret

and evaluate any incoming new information as well as use that information to associate and

add on to their already existing information. However, every individual is/ can be faced with

various changes during the learning process (deal with changes, deal with lack of or

unavailability of resources, conflicts in training styles, engaging into the learning process,

being consistent, stress, lack of motivation, environmental/climatic factors, and so on) that

he/she needs to overcome to efficiently complete the learning process.

A cluster of surveys and researches suggest that the most influential factors to a student’s

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 learning process may include the academic and curriculum structure, teachers behavior,

fellow student behavior, classroom environment, peer relationships, teaching methods,

linguistic barriers especially for international students, Family instability, parenting styles,

troubles in the family, assessment styles and so on.

Assessment of knowledge and skills is the most talked of and also the controversial aspect of

learning. May do not agree with the way children are assessed and termed an intellectual or a

failure. It is well known that all of us have various skill sets that do not necessarily be in our

academics. There might be hundreds of students who might be average or even below

average in studies but excel in sports, artistic works, etc. Thus, it is important to form an

educational/ academic structure that can bring out the true potential of individuals. It is

important to stress the quote “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to

climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

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