Evaluate the main principles of the behaviourist theory of language acquisition or learning, Evaluate the behaviourist theory of language acquisition or learning, The Behavioursist theory, Behaviorist theory, Behaviourist theory of language acquisition, limitations of the behaviourist theory, Try.Fulfill.
Answer: Principles of the behaviourist theory.
Behaviourist
theory of language acquisition says that humans learn language from the
environment and by following instructions. It might be evident that people
learn through stimulus-response process. For example, if students practise some
simulated (role-playing on real life situations) tasks and activities, they
might develop certain skills to perform the tasks in a real life situation.
According to the behaviourist theory, effective learning depends on reinforcement.
Through positive reinforcement, learners feel encouraged and develop skills. On
the contrary, if learners are negatively reinforced, they will not feel
interested in the learning process, and will not reach the desired goals.
Some of the principles
of the behaviorist theory are important in terms of language teaching and
learning. Teachers can design tasks and activities to try
stimulus-response-reinforcement process to help language learners achieve
adequate proficiency. For example, some dialogue-based scenarios can be
designed and students can play roles. Teachers can also positively reinforce
students' response (i.e. "nice try", "good job", ‘'thank
you") to appreciate their participation. However, the behaviourist
theory has some limitations:
Limitations of the Behaviourist Theory:
i) It does not address the thinking process
of actions or productions. Human beings are not machines or robots; they have
feelings of anger, sadness, happiness, and so forth. There are studies that
demonstrate children learn through mistakes, and can produce sentences they
never heard before.
ii) People have independent thinking and
planning ability. They do not only learn by following others; they develop proficiency
by incorporating their own ways of learning.
iii) Stimulus-response may not always work.
Some people may not learn through this process. Though there are some similarities
between animals and human behaviours, humans appear to have higher order
thinking. It might be true that they would not respond to the repeated stimuli
the same way every time.
iv) Though positive reinforcement work for
some children, negative reinforcement may also work at different contexts. There
are numerous examples in Asian countries where students have performed well
after negative reinforcement from parents and teachers. It seems to be
problematic that students would always perform well if they are positively reinforced:
There seem to be many other reasons that contribute to acquiring knowledge.
From: Approaches and Methods of Language
Teaching.
By Sanjay Banerjee.
Copyright: FBC publication. ( With due
respect to the author.)
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