BEHAVIORIST THEORY

BEHAVIORIST THEORY

1. Supported by B. F. Skinner

   • Emphasises on the importnace of verbal behavior

2. Its principle rest on the analysis of human behavior in a stimulus-response interaction

   • Steps of Behaviorism
     • Native language babbling or muttering is rewarded leading to similar articulations or productions of words in order to have a stimulus.
       • After making errors children start to use more advanced speech according to the level of speech that their community use.
     • 1. Stimulus
     • 2. Response
     • 3. Reinforcement
     • 4. Reward

3. Basic Tenets of Behaviorist Theory

   • 1. Behaviorism focus on spoken language
     • The first thing a person learns is to speak that is why is important to teach this skill first rather than writing.
   • 2. Behaviorism is the theory that reminds structural grammar learning.
     • Language is indeed controlled by behavior. Therefore, it can be seen as a mechanical process.
   • 3. Stimulus-response conditions the learner.
     • Stimulus-response is a chain reaction as every stimulus leads to a response and each response becomes the beginning of a new stimulus.
   • 4. The habit of learning is the result of reinforcement-reward.
     • When a stimulus is reinforced correctly it leads to a habit formation. Therefore, positive reinforcement is reward while negative reinforcement is punishment.
   • 5. Learning can occur in the same way for different people.
     • If the conditions are the same for different people, the outcome will be the same for all of them.

4. Counterarguments on the principles of Behaviorist theory.

   • Every theory may not be a complete model for Behaviorism. Therefore, there are some counterarguments in its principles.
     • 1. Children's imitation in language learning doesn't have innovation.
     • 2. The development of a habit doesn't guarantee a natural language learning.
     • 3. If learning is obstructed, damage can be done as it doesn't let the learner be creative leading to a slow threshold acquisition.
     • 4. A question that can't be answered. To what extent and rate, does the social surrounding promote language leaming?
     • 5. Chomsky says that the learner needs to have innate capacities to learn a language. Thus, it is not possible for every individual to learn in the same way.
     • 6. The strategies are useful only in the early stages of age and its experimentation has been done on animals.
     • 7. The process of learning is too complex for children to learn only with habits and stimulus.

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