TSLB3033

Principles & Practice in English

Language Teaching:
Theories in Language Learning

BEHAVIORISM
 Contents:

1. Introduction
2. What is Behaviorism?
3. What is Classical Conditioning?
4. What is Operant Conditioning?
5. What is Observational Learning?
6. Roots of Behaviorism – Major Characters
(Pavlov, Thorndike, Watson, Skinner)
7. Criticism of Behaviorism
8. Conclusion
9. Bibliography & Web links
 1. Introduction
What is Learning?

 Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior that is the

result of experience.

 During the first half of the twentieth century, the school of thought
known as behaviorism rose to dominate psychology and sought to
explain the learning process.

 The three major types of learning described by behavioral

psychology are:
classical conditioning
operant conditioning
observational learning
 Rationalists - humans have an innate capacity for
the development of language, and that we are
genetically programmed to develop out linguistic
systems in certain ways.

 Empiricists - the learner’s experience is largely

responsible for language learning. Language
learning is seen as the result of external forces
acting on the organism rather than the
programmed unfolding of language through internal
biological mechanisms.

BEHAVIORISM
is the chief empiricist theory of learning.
 2. What ist Behaviorism?
DEFINITION
 Behaviorism is an approach in psychology which
attempts to explain all behaviour in terms of
learning. This reductionist approach largely
focuses on overt behaviour and ignores internal
mechanisms such as cognitions (e.g. thoughts).

 Behaviorism is a theory of animal and human

learning that only focuses on objectively
observable behaviors and discounts mental
activities. Behavior theorists define learning as
nothing more than the acquisition of new
behavior.
 3. Classical Conditioning
What is Classical Conditioning?

 Classical conditioning is a learning process in which an

association is made between a previously neutral
stimulus and a stimulus that naturally evokes a response.
Classic conditioning occurs when a natural reflex
responds to a stimulus.

 The most popular example is Pavlov's observation that

dogs salivate when they eat or even see food.
Essentially, animals and people are biologically "wired"
so that a certain stimulus will produce a specific
response. In Pavlov’s classic experiment, the smell of
food was the naturally occurring stimulus that was paired
with the previously neutral ringing of the bell. Once an
association had been made between the two, the sound
of the bell alone could lead to a response.
 4. Operant Conditioning
What is Operant Conditioning?
 Behavioral or operant conditioning is a learning process
in which the probability of response is increased or
decreased due to reinforcement or punishment.
So, operant conditioning occurs when a response to a
stimulus is reinforced.

 First studied by Edward Thorndike and later by

B.F. Skinner, the underlying idea behind operant
conditioning is that the consequences of our actions
shape voluntary behavior.

 Basically, operant conditioning is a simple feedback

system: if a reward or reinforcement follows the response to
a stimulus, then the response becomes more probable in
the future.
 5. Observational Learning
What is Observational Learning?

 Observational learning is a process in which

learning occurs through observing and imitating
others.

 As demonstrated in Albert Bandura’s classic

“Bobo Doll” experiments, people will imitate the
actions of others without direct reinforcement.

 Four important elements are essential for effective

observational learning: attention, motor skills,
motivation, and memory.
 6. Important People

The following are some of the major figures

associated with learning and the behavioral
school of psychology.

 Ivan Pavlov
 Edward Thorndike

 John Watson

 B.F. Skinner
 Ivan Petrovich Pavlov
 Most famous of the Russain researchers

 It was in 1900 that he began studying reflexes,

especially the salivary response.

 In 1904, he was awarded the

Nobel Prize in physiology for his
work on digestion, and in 1921,
he received the Hero of the
Revolution Award from Lenin
himself. * 1849  1936
Pavlovian (or classical) conditioning
 We begin with an unconditioned stimulus and an
unconditioned response -- a reflex!

 We then associate a neutral stimulus with the

reflex by presenting it with the unconditioned
stimulus.

 Over a number of repetitions, the neutral stimulus by

itself will elicit the response!

 At this point, the neutral stimulus is renamed the

conditioned stimulus, and the response is called
the conditioned response.
The first and the second signal system

The first signal system is where the

conditioned stimulus (a bell) acts as a
“signal” that an important event is to occur
-- i.e. the unconditioned stimulus (the meat).

The second signal system is when

arbitrary symbols come to stand for stimuli,
as they do in human language.
 Edward Lee Thorndike
The learning theory of Thorndike
represents the original
S-R framework
of behavioral psychology:

Learning is the result of associations

forming between
stimuli and responses.

*1874  1949 Such associations or "habits" become

strengthened or weakened by the
nature and frequency
of the S-R pairings.
 John Broadus Watson
 In 1913, he wrote an article called
"Psychology as a Behaviorist
Views It" for Psychological
Review.
Here, he outlined the behaviorist
program.

 This was followed in the following

year by the book * 1878 1958
Behaviorism: An Introduction to
comparative Psychology.
In this book, he pushed the study of
rats as a useful model for human
behavior.
 Most importantly, Watson denied the existence of
any human instincts, inherited capacities or
talents, and temperaments.

 This radical environmentalism is reflected in what is

perhaps his best known quote:

„Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own

specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to
take any one at random and train him to become any type
of specialist I might select -- doctor, lawyer, artist,
merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief,
regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities,
vocations, and race of his ancestors.“

(In Behaviorism, 1930)

 Burrhus Frederic Skinner
 Neo-behaviourism is represented first
all by B. F. Skinner, who followed the
tradition of Watson and added a unique
dimension to behaviouristic
psychology: operant conditioning.

 Operant behaviour is behaviour in

which one "operates" on the
environment. Within this model the
importance of stimuli is deemphasized.
* 1904  1990 Operants as classes of specific
responses must be positively
reinforced.
This process consists of three stages:
stimulus (S) - response (R) - reinforcement (R)
 Skinner designed an
apparatus, called
a Skinner box, that
allowed him to formulate
important principles of
animal learning.

 An animal placed inside the box is rewarded with

a small bit of food each time it makes the desired
response, such as pressing a lever or pecking a
key. A device outside the box records
the animal's responses.
 7. Criticism
There have been many criticisms of behaviorism,
including the following:
 Behaviorism does not account for all kinds of learning,
since it disregards the activities of the mind.

 Behaviorism does not explain some learning--such as

the recognition of new language patterns by young
children--for which there is no reinforcement
mechanism.

 Researches have shown that animals adapt their

reinforced patterns to new information. For instance, a
rat can shift its behavior to respond to changes in the
layout of a maze it had previously mastered through
reinforcements.
 8. Conclusion
 The behaviorist approach has had a major influence in
psychology and has contributed to our understanding
of psychological functioning and has provided a
number of techniques for changing unwanted
behaviour. It is also argued that its use of rigorous
empirical methods has enhanced the credibility of
psychology as a science.

 However behaviourisms reductionist approach tends to

overlook the realm of consciousness and subjective
experiences and it does not address the possible role
of biological factors in human behaviour. Individuals
are seen as passive beings that are at the mercy of
their environments. This emphasis on environmental
determinism leaves no room for the notion of free will in
an individual.
 9. Bibliography & Web links
 Boroš J.; Ondrišková E.; Živčicová E.: Psychológia.
Bratislava: IRIS, 1999.
 Haluškova, A.; Repka, R.: A Course in English Language Didactics.
Bratislava: RETAAS, 2005
 Skinner, B. F.: About behaviorism. New York: Knopf, 1974.
 Zuriff, G.: Behaviorism: A Conceptual Reconstruction.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1985.

INTERNET

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-30
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Behaviorism&printable=yes
http://www.learnpsychology.net/g/29
http://www.personalityresearch.org/behaviorism.html
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/skinner.html
http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/eischens.html
http://psych.athabascau.ca/html/Behaviorism/Part1/sec2.shtml
http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/f/behaviorism.htm
http://www.iep.utm.edu/b/behavior.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxKfpKQzow8
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