Investigation of Saadi's Bostan Based on Bandura's Observational Learning Theory

Learning is one of the valuable aspects and existential ability of creatures in general and humans in particular. And we can boldly say that most human behaviors are the result of learning. Basically, learning in general is a transformative activity that prepares people to deal with animal life, from the conditioned reflexes of lower animals to the complex cognitive processes of human beings (Parsa, 2012:16).One of the principles and duties that literature has always assumed for itself in interacting with society is learning and teaching. And in this matter, it has gone so far that in the division of literary types, a part of literature has been dedicated to didactic literature. It goes without saying that the feeling of the duty of literature towards education, teaching and learning on the one hand and the view of educational sciences with a scientific approach to the subject of learning on the other hand has created an unbreakable link between the two fields of literature and educational sciences. And has provided; the context of the emergence of educational and psychological criticism as one of the effective approaches in the field of literary studies - which goes beyond traditional criticism and reveals the extra textual positions and the role of the creator of the text and other people who are connected with the text and its creator.
One of the prominent poets in the field of Persian educational literature is Saadi Shirazi, who has always tried to teach different fields, especially individual and social ethics, and his two precious works, Golestan and Bostan, have been specifically dedicated to this matter. Saadi is not only a judge of moral and ruling points, but also tried to show solutions. By providing practical solutions to improve human behavior and relationships, he is the answer to many mental and psychological problems and conflicts of the people of that time and even now (Sadeghzadeh & Dehghan Banadaki, 2017:109).The fusion of Saadi's educational views with moral issues makes it possible that a text like Bostan, with its moral-mystical nature, is also prone to educational-literary explorations with a unified view, including the matter of learning, which Saadi seems to be well-versed with learning and style. The practical applications of its criteria - of course not with today's terminology - have been familiar and although each of the learning theories may be fruitful in some way in the study of Bostan. But the examination of the mentioned work shows its affinity and closeness with Bandura's views on observational learning, which lists the four stages of the learning process (attention, memorization, recreation and motivation) as the four main pillars of the observational learning model (Saif, 2022:168-171).
Bandura's observational learning, as mentioned, has four stages: 1-attention (extracting the required information related to the pattern) 2-memorization (the ability of the observer to retain and encode the observed information) 3-production or reproduction (transforming what has been learned) to performance) 4- perception (providing reinforcement to transform learning into performance). Also, Bandura believes that learning based on observational learning happens in three ways and for that he defines three basic models of observational learning: 1. live model, which requires displaying or performing a behavior by a real person. Is. 2. Verbal educational model, which requires describing and explaining a behavior. 3. Symbolic model, which involves the depicted behavior of real or fictional characters in books, movies, television shows, or online media. . (Bandura, 1977:45).
  Two important questions that this article seeks to answer are: 1. how are the learning approaches used by Saadi in Bostan compatible with Bandura's theory of observational learning? 2. Among Bandura's three models (living, educational and symbolic), which models have been used in observational learning in Bostan?
 The research method of this research is based on an integrated-interdisciplinary approach and by using educational, discourse and meaning analysis tools and in a descriptive-analytical way in order to adapt the teaching approaches in the kindergarten with the social observational learning criteria of Bandura. The tool of data collection is a flash, and first, by using library resources and using the method of document analysis, the fundamental criteria of Bandura's theory were extracted, and in the next step, the entire text of the statistical community of this research; That is, Bostan Saadi's book was studied by the method of total induction, and the necessary sampling and extraction of examples suitable to the topics of discussion were done, and finally, based on the obtained data, the necessary analysis was done in a comparative manner.
Based on the findings of the research, it is possible to separate and classify the whole approach of Saadi from Bandura's triple models (living, educational and symbolic) in the form of two models that have been used in the garden: first, the educational model and Second symbolic model.In Bandura's educational model, he describes behaviors and actions that should be modeled and exemplified. In Bostan, Saadi has made good use of this model and has described individual and social behaviors in various formats, including (traveling and observing people's behavior and interacting with them), (narrating and experiencing events) and (Using allegory and equation style), Accuracy in the three mentioned methods guides us to their exact correspondence and connection with the stages of observational learning, i.e. (attention, memorization, re-creation and motivation) - which are among the important principles of learning intended by Bandura. In the symbolic model of Bandura's observational learning theory, which is also used in Bostan and is consistent with the components of observational learning, Saadi has tried to describe individual and typical characters. Indicators for determining a role model, including gender, class, age, social status, and the like, have been well expressed in his educational poems, especially in Bostan. In the process of learning with an observational approach, it is very common to follow the example of famous people who are famous in a certain field and are considered to be charismatic, pioneering, prominent and influential figures in that field.Based on what was discussed in the previous pages, it can be concluded that despite the novelty of observational learning and its scientific and logical explanation in recent years, This method has been paid attention to in teaching educational and moral issues in the past and has been used in a practical and practical way, as in the book of Bostan, Saadi has used these characteristics and criteria. And in the study, it was found that it has a significant agreement with the criteria of Bandura's observational learning theory, And in fact, the secret of the longevity of Saadi and his works should be sought in his practical and desirable ways of expressing concepts and contents and their harmony with the taste of people in different historical periods, including our time