Why Are Learning A Second Language?

Behaviorism and humanism are two theories of learning. Both theories are very important, and have many good qualities, which makes it difficult to say that one is better than the other. When it comes to learning, behaviorism does not consider mental processes, rather it looks at our response to stimuli in our environment. Whereas, humanism sees learning as personal, and is dependent on each individual self. Even though the two theories seem completely opposite of each other, there are some similarities between them pertaining to learning.

Behaviorism believes that when we are born, our mind is a sort of blank slate, and over time our experiences and environment influence a persons behavior over time, this is where things such a classical conditioning comes in to play. For example if we receive positive reinforcement for an action, we are statically more likely to repeat that action as we have now associated the behavior with a positive reinforcement, the same would apply to a action that we received a negative reinforce or punishment for, we would then be less likely to repeat that behavior or action because we have now associated it a negative reinforce or punishment.

Behaviorism is one of the most used theories in education. Due to it can fit in both a classroom setting and at home. Educators had sought out the reason why for many years. But due to each child learns a different way so should the educator. Behaviorism was study by many great Psychologists over the years. Just to name some that had done work and publish books on the subject are, John Watson, Ivan Pavlov, Clark Hull, and B.F. Skinner.

Behaviorism is a theory that is driven off conditioning or repetition of something. The behaviorism theory might be a good theory for the younger grades because they are still trainable per se. Even though this theory might be great for children in the younger grades that react well to color charts and behavior chart it might have the opposite effect on children that have disorders or mental disabilities as these children do not react well to with just repetition and conditioning. In reading the article “My way or the Highway: Beyond Behaviorism” I found some very eye opening things that show how applying this theory alone is unsuccessful, but when applied with other theories it can be beneficial. Let us take a closer look.

Another example of behaviorism learning is learning to understand the word no. Child A reaches for something he is not supposed to have, the parent states no in a stern voice and gives a smack on his hand. After a couple of times reaching and hearing the word no followed with a smack on the hand, child A associates the word no with pain, he then learns that no means stop what he’s doing otherwise pain will be inflicted, this is operant conditioning.

Interactionist focus on what expect focus emphasizes the role of biology. Learning theory is when language develops based on behavior theory of learning. Environmental views this approach views language as a behavior that people learn just like any other skills. Learning theory believes that specific language training governs language development and the biological dose not play an important role in development. Operant conditioning is the process of shaping reinforcing certain behaviors while ignoring others. (Cook, & Cook,

The primary ideology within behaviorism is the principle of stimulus and response, whereby an individual will respond to a stimulus (Cranton, 2014). In other words, individuals will respond either positively or negatively to a stimulus. In turn, they will learn from this based on positive or negative feedback. Positive feedback is seen as a reward, which reinforces the behavior, contributing to repetition of the behavior. Conversely, negative behavior may be ignored, or a form of punishment may be present. In this case, the behavior will cease (Cranton, 2014). The basis of this theory is that every individual desires positive reinforcement, and will avoid the negative (Spencer & Lange, 2013). Learning is observed through a change in behavior (Cranton,

Behaviourists believe that learning a language is no different from learning anything else. It becomes a habit by the stimulus-response-reinforcement-repetition process (Cook, 2001). The behaviourists also claim that we learn by imitation and by association (Lightbown & Spada, 2006). However, psycholinguists argue that imitation is not enough because it is not only the mechanical repetition but also natural exposure that children acquire language (Cook, 2001).

“Behaviorism is predominantly concerned with evident and measurable aspects of human behavior. In defining behaviour, behaviourist-learning theories emphasise changes in behavior that result from stimulus-response links made by the learner. Behaviour is directed by stimuli. An individual selects one response instead

In the other hand, behaviorists view language as complex and leaned skill, much like playing piano and dancing. B.F. Skinner argued that language represents nothing more than chains of responses acquired through reinforcement. Putting differently, children learn though process of reinforcement. For example, baby babbles “mama” the mother happily reward the baby with a hug and kisses and eventually will push the baby to say “mama” more and more; due to these reward children are motivated to repeat the behavior, thereby shaping their language and ensuring their development. Children’s language is being built up, this describe a way in which children environmental experiences influence and improve their language skills. Also that’s why parents

According to Eggen and Kauchak (2012) behaviorism is a theory that explains learning in terms of observable behaviors and how they’re influenced by stimuli from the environment. It defines learning as a relatively enduring change in observable behavior that occurs as a result of experience (Schunk,

Behaviorism is the point of view where learning and behavior are described and explained in terms

The term behaviorism referred to the school of psychology founded by John B. Watson based on the proposition that all things which organisms do — including acting, thinking and feeling—can and should be regarded as behaviors (Staddon, 2001) . And this behavior could be researched scientifically . According to Pavlov, "Respondent Conditioning” resulted from the association of two stimuli, such as causing dogs to salivate at the sound a tuning fork. Consequently, Skinner developed “Operant Conditioning” where the “Stimulus-Response” association was elicited through selective reinforcement (rewards or punishments) to shape behavior. In this regard, behaviorism assumed that a learner was a passive recipient and responding to environmental stimuli. When applying the tenets of Behaviorism to teaching, Skinner asserted that the learner started off as a blank slate, and then his behavior was shaped via positive or negative reinforcement. Behaviorist

The learning theory (behaviorism) approach to language acquisition proposes that language is learned through reinforcement and conditioning. An early explanation for the acquisition of language was given by behaviorist and psychologist B. F. Skinner. Skinner explained the phenomenon of language development as a result of environmental influence. He argued that children learn language due to behaviorist reinforcement by associating words with meaning. He attributed learning to positive reinforcement given to correct utterances, such as asking for milk and receiving it. Children will find the outcome of receiving what they have asked for rewarding, which will enhance their language development. Behaviorism does not fully explain language development as children are able to come up with unique sentence structures on their own and not just those that have been specifically reinforced. It is possible that reinforcement, imitation, and modeling are supplementary to language acquisition instead of the rule.

If you look ant Contrastive Analysis you can see its roots in behaviorism and more specifically habit formation. The main principle of the theory is transfer, or the idea that one habit will influence another habit or action. There are two types of transfer in this theory; positive transfer and negative transfer, which is also referred to interference (Folder, 60). Positive transfer is the idea that habits formed in the native language assist the development and acquisition of another language. For instance, if a native Swedish speaker is learning