The Behaviourist Theory (also known Empiricism, Behaviourism, Behavioural Theory, Stimulus-response Theory) stands among the major

theoretical perspectives within the field of first language acquisition. It began as a reaction against the introspective psychology of the late 19th and early 20th century and dominated the study of learning throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Although its ascendancy was blurred by the emergence of the Innate Theory in the mid 20th century, still today much language learning programmes firmly stands on the foundation laid by the Behaviourist Theory. Theoretical Assumptions The theoretical assumptions underlying the Behaviourist Theory are as follows:

Language learning is a habit formation resembling the formation of other habits. In other words, Language is learned in the way in which other habits are learned. Language learning is nothing more than the acquisition of new behaviour or knowledge. It takes place when experience or practice causes a change in a person's knowledge or behaviour. Language learning is an external event, because it involves an observable change in behaviour brought about by the stimuli coming from the environment. It does not involve any unobservable change in mental knowledge. All behaviours can be explained without the need to consider internal mental states or consciousness. Only human beings have the capacity for language learning. They acquire a language as discrete units of habits, independently trained, not as an integrated system.

Background of the Theory The behaviourist school of thought ran concurrent with the psychoanalysis movement in psychology in the 20th century. The Behaviourist Theory was first introduced in 1913 by the American psychologist John B. Watson. Watson is credited by some with coining the term "behaviourism". Watsons view was largely influenced by the research of the Russian physiologist Ivan P. Pavlov during the early 1900s. The most influential version of this theory is put forward by B. F. Skinner in 1959. His version of Behaviourism is best known as Radical Behaviourism. Skinner, sought to give ethical grounding to behaviourism, relating it to pragmatism. Types of Behavioural Learning Experiments by the behaviourists identify conditioning as a universal learning process. Conditionings are primarily of two types, each yielding a different behavioural pattern: 1. Classical conditioning: This conditioning was first described by the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, in 1903 through his experiment on dogs. The general idea of Pavlovs experiment is this: Pavlov presented dogs with food to examine their salivary response. He rang a bell just

before serving the food. At first the dogs did not salivate until the food is served. However, when the bell was rung at repeated feedings, the sound of bell alone caused the dogs to salivate.

Thus in classical conditioning an unconditioned stimulus (food) is paired with a conditioned stimulus (bell). When they repeatedly occur in pair, the conditioned stimulus acquires the capacity to produce a conditioned response (salivation). Subsequently, the conditioned stimulus alone can produce a conditioned response.

Subsequently, it was studied in infants by John B. Watson. Like Pavlov, he was originally involved in animal research, but later became involved in the study of human behaviour. Watson believed that humans are born with a few reflexes and the emotional reactions of love and rage. All other behaviour is established through stimulus-response associations through conditioning.

Watson demonstrated classical conditioning in an experiment involving a young child (Albert) and a white rat. Originally, Albert was unafraid of the rat; but Watson created a sudden loud noise whenever Albert touched the rat. Because Albert was frightened by the loud noise, he soon became conditioned to fear and avoid the rat. The fear was generalised to other small animals. Watson then extinguished the fear by presenting the rat without the loud noise. Some accounts of the study suggest that the conditioned fear was more powerful and permanent than it really was.

2. Instrumental or Operant Conditioning: Expanding on Watsons basic stimulus-response model, Skinner developed a more comprehensive view of conditioning, known as operant conditioning.Skinners model was based on the premise that effective language behaviour consists of producing responses (behaviours) to the correct stimuli (situation). When a response is followed by a reinforcer (reward) then it is conditioned to occur again. Thus operant conditioning was used by Skinner to describe the effects of the consequences of a particular behaviour on the future occurrence of the behaviour. Reinforcement and punishment are the core ideas of operant conditioning:

Reinforcement: A reinforcer is a stimulus (encouraging activity) that increases the frequency/occurrence of a response it follows. The act of following a response with a reinforcer is called reinforcement. Reinforcement (prize) can be classified into the following types:

(i) Positive Reinforcement: Positive reinforcement is the encouragement of a desired response (behaviour) by a pleasant stimulus. It increases the probability of the reoccurrence of the same response to the same situation. For example: If the child produces an alternative which is appropriate to the situation, the mother will reward him/her with some sign of approval (such as smiles, hugs, or food). This approval or reward will encourage him to repeat the same response to the same situation.

(ii) Negative Reinforcement: Negative reinforcement is the discouragement of an undesired response (behaviour) by an unpleasant stimulus. It decreases the probability of the reoccurrence of the same response to the same situation. For example: If the child produces an utterance which is inappropriate to the situation, he/she will not be rewarded. Consequently, the child will not repeat the same response to the same situation.

Punishment: Punishment is used to erase undesirable behaviours by presenting a distressing stimulus when the behaviour occurs. Punishment can be classified into the following types:

(i) Positive Punishment: An undesirable stimulus is received after a behaviour occurs. For example, if the learner fails to follow the class then he will be given detention. (ii) Negative Punishment: A desirable stimulus is lost or removed after a behaviour occurs. For example, if the learner fails to follow the class rules then he will not be given any recess hour. Thus, it is quite visible that the Behaviourist Theory (as propounded by Skinner) is represented as a stimulus response reinforcement chain. For better understanding, this chain can be demonstrated in the following illustration:

The Behaviourist Theory explains two major aspects. It firstly explains how the child produces speech. It secondly explains how he/she understands speech. Positive and negative

reinforcement contain various adult utterances which function as discriminating stimuli for the production of the childs responses (behaviours). When the child hears these adult utterances he/she tries to imitate them to produce his/her speech. The child earns the ability to understand a speech when he/she becomes able to produce an utterance which is appropriate to the situation. Reinforcement can come from different sources. The mother is the primary source of reinforcement because she has to take care of the child almost all the time. The people around him/her can also provide reinforcement. Drawbacks Although sound in many ways, the theory is not free from limitations. The shortcomings of this theory are as follows: Firstly, the Behaviourist Theory completely ignores the inborn aspect of human knowledge. Secondly, the theory puts over emphasis on the role of imitation and ignores completely the creativity of the child, making him/her somewhat passive viewer than actor in the process of language acquisition. Thirdly, the Behaviorist Theory seems to be somewhat mechanical in nature, since the child is considered a passive object. Fourthly, it cannot develop the childs problem solving skills. The child may find himself/herself in a situation where the stimulus to the correct response does not occur. In such cases the child wont be able to respond. Fifthly, it fails to explain how the child understands utterances he/she has never heard before, or produces new and unique utterances. Finally, the Behaviourist Theory cannot explain how the child proceeds in his/her journey of language acquisition at such a young age.

Conclusion The Behaviourist Theory came under fierce attack when Chomsky proposed his Innate Theory in 1959. Chomskys theory strongly proved that the child is not a tabula rasa; rather he is born with an innate capability to learn language. Nevertheless, along with all of its limitations, the Behaviourist Theory was able to govern the direction of the psychological explanation of language acquisition quite productively. After its emergence, this theory was passively accepted by the influential Bloomfieldian structuralist school of linguistics and produced some wellknown models of foreign language teaching, most notably, the Audio Lingual Method. For many years, the concepts from the Behaviourist Theory formed the basis of most of the learning theory applied in child rearing and in classrooms. Parents and teachers still find that, in many instances, individuals do learn when provided with the appropriate blend of stimulus, reinforcement, and punishments. Especially with small children and simpler tasks, behaviourist principles are often effective. Thus, the contribution of the Behaviourist Theory as an explanation of child language development cannot be overlooked altogether.

Psycho-analytical framework
Freud's Structural and Topographical Models of Personality Sigmund Freud's Theory is quite complex and although his writings on psychosexual development set the groundwork for how our personalities developed, it was only one of five parts to his overall theory of personality. He also believed that different driving forces develop during these stages which play an important role in how we interact with the world. Structural Model (id, ego, superego) According to Freud, we are born with our Id. The id is an important part of our personality because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met. Freud believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle. In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation. When a child is hungry, the id wants food, and therefore the child cries. When the child needs to be changed, the id cries. When the child is uncomfortable, in pain, too hot, too cold, or just wants attention, the id speaks up until his or her needs are met. The id doesn't care about reality, about the needs of anyone else, only its own satisfaction. If you think about it, babies are not real considerate of their parents' wishes. They have no care for time, whether their parents are sleeping, relaxing, eating dinner, or bathing. When the id wants something, nothing else is important. Within the next three years, as the child interacts more and more with the world, the second part of the personality begins to develop. Freud called this part the Ego. The ego is based on the reality principle. The ego understands that other people have needs and desires and that sometimes being impulsive or selfish can hurt us in the long run. Its the ego's job to meet the needs of the id, while taking into consideration the reality of the situation. By the age of five, or the end of the phallic stage of development, the Superego develops. The Superego is the moral part of us and develops due to the moral and ethical restraints placed on us by our caregivers. Many equate the superego with the conscience as it dictates our belief of right and wrong. In a healthy person, according to Freud, the ego is the strongest so that it can satisfy the needs of the id, not upset the superego, and still take into consideration the reality of every situation. Not an easy job by any means, but if the id gets too strong, impulses and self gratification take over the person's life. If the superego becomes to strong, the person would be driven by rigid morals, would be judgmental and unbending in his or her interactions with the world. You'll learn how the ego maintains control as you continue to read.

Topographical Model Freud believed that the majority of what we experience in our lives, the underlying emotions, beliefs, feelings, and impulses are not available to us at a conscious level. He believed that most

of what drives us is buried in our unconscious. If you remember the Oedipus and Electra Complex, they were both pushed down into the unconscious, out of our awareness due to the extreme anxiety they caused. While buried there, however, they continue to impact us dramatically according to Freud. The role of the unconscious is only one part of the model. Freud also believed that everything we are aware of is stored in our conscious. Our conscious makes up a very small part of who we are. In other words, at any given time, we are only aware of a very small part of what makes up our personality; most of what we are is buried and inaccessible. The final part is the preconscious or subconscious. This is the part of us that we can access if prompted, but is not in our active conscious. Its right below the surface, but still buried somewhat unless we search for it. Information such as our telephone number, some childhood memories, or the name of your best childhood friend is stored in the preconscious. Because the unconscious is so large, and because we are only aware of the very small conscious at any given time, this theory has been likened to an iceberg, where the vast majority is buried beneath the water's surface. The water, by the way, would represent everything that we are not aware of, have not experienced, and that has not been integrated into our personalities, referred to as the nonconscious. Cognitive Framework: Cognition means a mental process involved in knowing, learning and understanding things. Edward Tolman propounded this theory in 1940s. According to cognitive Framework, cognition precedes response/behaviour and constitute inputs into persons thinking, perception, problem solving and information processing. The theory may be explained as under: Stimulus-Cognition-Response According to Tolman, behaviour of a person is determined by Expectancy, Demand and Intention based on his/her cognition. He developed this theory on the basis of his experiment with white rat. He found that a rat could learn to run through an intricate maze with a purpose and direction towards a goal (food). He observed that at each choice point in the maze, expectations were established. In other words, the rat learned to expect that certain cognitive cues associated with the choice point might eventually lead to food. If the rat actually received

the food, the association between the cue and expectancy was established and learning occurred. In Organizational Behaviour, Cognitive Framework has been applied mainly in motivation. Expectations, attributions, locus of control and goal-setting are all cognitive concepts that represent purposefulness of the subject. Social Cognitive Framework: This framework was developed by Albert Bandura who believes that human behaviour can best be explained in terms of a continuous reciprocal interaction among cognitive, behavioural and environmental determinants. Most of our responses are guided by observation and imitation. According to this theory, human behaviour is determined by five basic capabilities: Symbolizing: An individual associates a symbol to his future responses. Forethought: An individual anticipates the consequences and accordingly makes a choice of responses. Observational: An individual observes others before choosing his/her own responses. Self-regulatory: an individual controls his/her action by setting internal standards (aspired levels of performance) and by evaluating discrepancy between the standard and the performance Self-reflective: An individual reflects back on his/her actions and perceptually determine the causes of success or failure and possible measure to improve the quality of responses.

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY Albert Bandura was born on December 4, 1925, in the small town of Mundare in northern Alberta, Canada. His father was from Poland and mother from the Ukraine. He was educated in a small elementary school and the only one high school (20 students and 2 teachers) in town, with minimal resources, yet a remarkable success rate.

During summer vacations he worked in several places acquiring carpentry in Edmonton skills and filling holes protecting the Alaskan Highway in the Yukon. While, dealing with lot of people and a horrifying encounter with bears, he developed appreciation for psychopathology of everyday life. In search of understanding human nature he received his bachelors degree in Psychology from the University of British Columbia in 1949. He went on to the University of Iowa, where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1952. It was there that he came under the influence of the behaviorist tradition and learning theory. While at Iowa, he met Virginia Varns, an instructor in the nursing school. They married in 1952 and later had two daughters, Mary (1954) and Carol (1958). After graduating, he took a postdoctoral position at the Wichita Guidance Center in Wichita, Kansas. In 1953, he started teaching at Stanford University, and became full professor as well. While there, he collaborated with his first graduate student, Richard Walters, resulting in their first book, Adolescent Aggression, in 1959. He became the president of the American Psychology

Association (APA) in 1973, and received the APAs Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions in 1980. At 80 years of age, Professor Bandura continues to research and teach at Stanford University to this day. Banduras Social Learning Theory posits that people learn from one another, via observation, imitation, and modeling. The theory has often been called a bridge between behaviorist and cognitive learning theories because it encompasses attention, memory, and motivate Basic Concepts 1. Observational LearningThe Social Learning Theory says that people can learn by watching other people perform the behavior. Observational learning explains the nature of children to learn behaviors by watching the behavior of the people around them, and eventually, imitating them. With the Bobo Doll experiment(s), Bandura included an adult who is tasked to act aggressively toward a Bobo Doll while the children observe him. Later, Bandura let the children play inside a room with the Bobo Doll. He affirmed that these children imitated the aggressive behavior toward the doll, which they had observed earlier. After his studies, Bandura was able to determine 3 basic models of observational learning, which include: a. A Live Model, which includes an actual person performing a behavior. b. A Verbal Instruction Model, which involves telling of details and descriptions of a behavior. c. A Symbolic Model, which includes either a real or fictional character demonstrating the behavior via movies, books, television, radio, online media and other media sources. 2. The state of mind (mental states) is crucial to learning.In this concept, Bandura stated that not only external reinforcement or factors can affect learning and behavior. There is also what he called intrinsic reinforcement, which is in a form of internal reward or a better feeling after performing the behavior (e.g. sense of accomplishment, confidence, satisfaction, etc.) 3. Learning does not mean that there will be a change in the behavior of an individual.

MODELING PROCESS People learn through observing others behavior, attitudes, and outcomes of those behaviors. Most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action. (Bandura). Social learning theory explains human

behavior in terms of continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioral, and environmental influences. Necessary conditions for effective modeling: 1. Attention various factors increase or decrease the amount of attention paid. Includes distinctiveness, affective valence, prevalence, complexity, functional value. Ones characteristics (e.g. sensory capacities, arousal level, perceptual set, past reinforcement) affect attention. 2. Retention remembering what you paid attention to. Includes symbolic coding, mental images, cognitive organization, symbolic rehearsal, motor rehearsal 3. Reproduction reproducing the image. Including physical capabilities, and selfobservation of reproduction. 4. Motivation having a good reason to imitate. Includes motives such as past (i.e. traditional behaviorism), promised (imagined incentives) and vicarious (seeing and recalling the reinforced model) Bandura believed in reciprocal determinism, that is, the world and a persons behavior cause each other, while behaviorism essentially states that ones environment causes ones behavior, Bandura, who was studying adolescent aggression, found this too simplistic, and so in addition he suggested that behavior causes environment as well. Later, Bandura soon considered personality as an interaction between three components: the environment, behavior, and ones psychological processes (ones ability to entertain images in minds and language). Social learning theory has sometimes been called a bridge between behaviorist and cognitive learning theories because it encompasses attention, memory, and motivation. The theory is related to Vygotskys Social Development Theory and Laves Situated Learning, which also emphasize the importance of social learning.