Behaviorism

Behaviorism

1. Second Language Acquisition Theory

   • Behaviorists view the process of language acquisition as a building process that results from interacting with the environment
   • It is also called imitation theory which is based on an empirical or behavioral approach
   • Children start out as "clean slates" and language learning is a process of getting linguistic habits printed on these "slates"
     • Language is a 'conditioned behavior'

2. Principles

   • Peoples's behaviors are directly observable, rather than the mental systems underlying these behaviors
   • Children are born with a mind that is like a blank state. This state is called Tabula Rasa
   • Language is a verbal observable bahavior
   • Chinking theory: Language is learned in parts, then linked together: 1st words, 2nd phrases, 3rd sentences
   • Reinforcement will generalize similar stimulus generalizations

3. Problems and Deficiencies

   • Children don't pick up grammatical structures immediately as some children show and incorrect use of grammar. For example, they man say "wented" instead of "went". Showing they have not imitated this from others.
   • Kids normally only use the words they understand, so if they imitate others, they would copy all the words spoken by others.
   • If a child is hearing impaired, they cannot imitate another person, therefore instead use sign language suggesting that this theory does not provide an account for all kids

4. Implications

   • Cultural influences and interactions with others/peers should be considered SLA
   • Stuednts are always more interested when they can apply what they learn in the classroom to their lives- learn what they are interested in to help promote conversation in the second language with peers. This will also help create a welcoming classroom environment
   • Performig a variety of activities, typically with other students, builds confidence and allows students to use the language to interact with others, as well as learn from their mistakes through error correction (Lyster & Ranta, 1998)

5. Burrhus Frederic Skinner

   • American Behavioral Phychologist
   • Experimented with operant conditioning on rats and pigeons
   • Taught the pigeons how to bowl through operant conditioning

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