Answering Question

Behaviorism and foreign language learning

1. Watson explained this instance of learning the ability to open the box with increasing
speed and with fewer and fewer useless movements as a function of frequency and
recency.
2. He created a new concept called Operant Conditioning. Operants are types of response
which are elicted and governed by the consequences the produce. Skinner makes quite
clear that learning language, although it is complex, is the same as learning other learned
behavior.
3. Both classical conditioning and operant conditioning are processes that lead to learning.
Classical conditioning pairs two stimuli, while operant conditioning pairs behavior and
response. Also, classical conditioning always works with involuntary responses, while
operant conditioning works with voluntary behaviors.
Examples of classical conditioning : in his classical experiments Pavlov trained a dog to
associate the sound of a turning fork with salvation until the dog acquired a conditioned
response that is salvation at the sound of the turning fork.
Examples of operant conditioning : a change in performance that occurs under the
conditions of practice.
4. In terms of its general principles, behaviorism suggests that in classroom instruction,
learning tasks should be broken down into small, discrete individual behaviors to be
developed into good habits. The goal of the lesson is for the learner to make the pattern
become a mechanical habit through imitation and repetition. The teacher provides the
necessary stimulus by presenting a model of the pattern and giving prompts. The learners
then responded by repeating after the teacher or making appropriate substitutions based
on the teacher’s prompts.
5. The application of this theory in Audiolingual Method is as follows: the organism as the
foreign language learner, the behavior as verbal behavior, the stimulus as what is taught,
the response as the learner's reaction to the stimulus and the reinforcement as the
approval or praise (or discouragement) of the teacher or fellow students.
6. Mimicry, memorization, and pattern drills.
7. Good habits are formed by giving correct responses rather than by making mistakes. The
meanings that the words of a language have for the native speaker can be learned only in
a linguistic and cultural context and not in isolation.
8. Behavior that is positively reinforced will reoccur; intermittent reinforcement is
particularly effective, information should be presented in small amounts so that responses
can be reinforced.
while the negative reinforcement is behavior not likely to occur again.
9.

10. Noam Chomsky (1959) published his famous critique. This critique based on his own
model of linguistics, namely : transformatical generative grammar. "Language is not a
habit structure; ordinary linguistic behavior characteristically involves innovation
formation of new sentences and patterns in accordance with rules of great abstractness
and intricacy"