Presented by:
-BOUCHAR Rahma
-LARAIDJI Hamza
-YEZLI Soumaya
Plan work
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
The introduction
Back ground information
Definition
The big threes experiments
a. Ivan Pavlov
b. J.B Watson
c. B.F Skinner
Principals of behaviorism
First and second language learning according to behaviorists
Counterarguments
Conclusion
References
Introduction
There are some basic theories advanced to describe how language is acquired,
learnt and taught. The behaviorist theory, Mentalist theory (Innatism), Rationalist
theory (Cognitive theory), and Interactionism are some of these theories.
Of these, behaviorism and mentalism are two main schools concerning language
learning and teaching. E ach one has a point of view towards language learning. The
paper will discuss in detail the behaviorism theory throw background information ,
definition , the big threes experiments, principles of behaviorism, the behaviorists
point of view about the first and the second language learning ,and the
counterarguments on behaviorism theory of language learning.
of reward, he gradually learns to make finer and finer discriminations until his
utterances approximate more and more closely the speech of the community in which
he is growing up (Wilga M. Rivers, 1968; 73). To put it in other words, children develop
a natural affinity to learn the language of their social surroundings whose importance
both over language learning and teaching must never be underestimated. In this
respect behaviorist theory stresses the fact that "human and animal learning is a
process of habit formation. A highly complex learning task, according to this theory
may be learned by being broken' down into small habits. These are formed correct or
incorrect responses, are rewarded or, punished, respectively'. (Hubbard Jones and
Thornton Wheeler, 1983; 326). Thus it is clear that the acquisition of learning in
infancy is governed the acquisition of other habits.
Definition
The bell , being the secondary stimulus, was so directly connected with the food or
primary stimulus that the bell brought about the salivary flow or primary response.
The relax was triggered by a new stimulus. He called this a conditioned
reflex(Rippa, 1996 as cited in Walt man(2003)). A learner behavior based on
experience became known as classical conditioning.
B.F Skinner(1904-1990)
B.F Skinner is American behaviorist whom develop a system based on
operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is the idea that we behave the way we do
because this kind of behavior has had certain consequences in the past. In operant
conditioning there is reinforcement of the behavior by giving reward or punishment.
Positive reinforcement shows by giving reward to increase the response.
Negative reinforcement shows by giving punishment to decrease response.
the greatest contribution of B.F Skinner was known his studies of how rewards and
punishment influence behavior (Fisher, 202 as cited in Waltman: 2003). He taught that
reinforcement follows behavior. Human behavior is developed by previous situations
and reinforcements. Behavior enlarges in areas that are positively reinforced,
therefore, we should be controlling, creating events that reinforce desired behavior.
Skinner used a tool which was known theSkinner box. This box was used to observe
behavior in tested situations and for operant conditioning experiment. For example
Operant conditioning (as cited in Stranding) is the mouse pushes the lever and
receives a food reward. Therefore, he will push the lever repeatedly in order to get the
treat. It means that the mouse can response to the stimuli well so, the mouse can get
reward in the form of treat .Through his experiment he concluded that behavior could
Principals of Behaviorism
Behaviorist theory dwells on spoken language .that is, primary medium of
language is oral: speech is language because there are many languages without
written. Then, language is primarily what is spoken and secondary what is
written. Thats why spoken language must have a priority.
Behaviorist theory is the habit formation theory of language teaching and
learning, reminding us the learning of structural grammar-language learning
concerns us by not problem-solving but the in-formation and performance of
habits (Nelson Brooks, 1960; 46-47). In other words, language learning is a
mechanical process leading the learners to habit formation whose underlying
scheme is the conditioned reflex .thus it is definitely true that language is
controlled by the consequences of behavior.
The stimulus-response chain is a pure cause of conditioning. Behaviorist
learning theory emphasizes conditioning and buildings from the simplest
conditional responses to more and more complex (behaviors David .Palermo,
1978;19_20) .This comes to mean that clauses and sentences are learned
linearly as longer and longer stimulus-responses and chains, produced in a left
to right series of sequence , as probabilistic incidents, which are basically
Markovs processes .Each stimulus is thus the case of a response, and each
response becomes this initiator of a stimulus, and this process goes on and on in
this way.
All learning is the establishments of habits as the result of reinforcement and
reward. Positive reinforcement is a reward while negative reinforcement is a
punishment. In a stimulus situation , a response is exerted, and if the response
is positively augmented by a reward , then the association between the stimulus
and response is itself reinforced and thus the response will very likely be
manipulated by every appearance of stimulus the result will yield conditioning.
When responses to stimuli are coherently reinforced, then habit formation is
established. It is because of this fact that this theory is termed habit formation
by reinforcement theory.
The learning, due to its socially-conditioned nature, can be the same for each
individual. In other words, each person can learn equally if the conditions in
which the learning takes place are the same for each person.
The counterarguments
The behaviorist theory believes that infants learn oral language from
other human role models through a process involving imitation, rewards, and
practice. Human role models in an infants environment provide the stimuli and
rewards, (Cooter & Reutzel, 2004). When a child attempts oral language or
imitates the sounds or speech patterns they are usually praised and given
affection for their efforts. Thus, praise and affection becomes the rewards.
However, the behaviorist theory is scrutinized for a variety of reasons. If
rewards play such a vital component in language development, what about the
parent who is inattentive or not present when the child attempts speech? If a
babys language learning is motivated strictly by rewards would the speech
attempts stop merely for lack of rewards (Cooter & Reutzel, 2004)? Other cases
against this theory include learning the use and meaning of abstract words,
evidence of novel forms of language not modeled by others, and uniformity of
language acquisition in humans (Cooter & Reutzel, 2004).
conclusion
it is clear that language learning and its development, for the behaviorists,
is a matter of conditioning by means of imitation, practice, reinforcement, and
habituation, which constitute the paces of language acquisition. It must be born in
mind that all behavioristic theories of learning are associationistic, including
Thorndike's, Guthrie's, Hull's, Skinner's, and the theory of the school of functionalism.
References
http://www.learningteaching.info/learning/behaviour.htm
Bloom, L.M. (1974). "Imitations in Language Development: If, When, and Why",
Cognitive Psychology , pp. 380-420.
Brooks, Nelson (1960). Language and Language Learning . New York: Harcourt,
Brace and World.
Clark, Herbert and Eve Clark (1977). Language and Psychology: An Introduction to
Psycholinguistics . New York: Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich.
Jones, Hubbard and Thornton Wheeler (1983). A Training Course for TEFL . Oxford
University Press.
Palermo, David S. (1978). Psychology of Language . Dallas: Scott, Foresman and Co.
Rivers, M. Wilga (1968). Teaching Foreign Language Skills . Chicago: Chicago
University Press.
Stern, H.H. (1983). Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching . Oxford: Oxford
University Press.