1

By: Muhammad Tahir HaandBehaviourism

Class. Syntax

1

05/02/2023

2

Behaviorism

1. What come to your mind when you listen the word “behaviorism” ?2. How do human being learn? 3. Does only Skinner worked on behaviorism?

3

What is the Behaviourist Theory?Learning is nothing more than the acquisition of

new behaviour based on environmental conditions. linking a new behaviour to a stimulus by providing

reinforcement after the correct behaviour is produced.

3

05/02/2023

4

Ivan Pavlov John B. Watson F.B Skinner

1 2 3

1878-1958

1904-1990

1849-1936

05/02/2023

5

B. F. SKINNER

• Burrhus Frederic (B. F.) Skinner (March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990) was an American psychologist, behaviorist, author, inventor, and social philosopher.• Born in Pennsylvania • Psychology Professor at Harvard University.• Skinner viewed babies as ‘empty brains’ which language had

to be ‘put in to’• He invented the operant conditioning chamber, also known

as the Skinner Box.

05/02/2023

6• operant conditioning. child goes through trial-and-error in other words they tries and fails to use correct language until it succeeds; with reinforcement, punishment, and shaping provided by the parents gestures (smiles, attention and approval) which are pleasant to the child.Reinforcement and punishment may be either positive or negative

7• Skinner in Verbal Behaviour (1957) differentiated between two types of verbal responses that a child makes :

• Verbal behaviour that is reinforced by the child receiving something it wants.

• Verbal behaviour caused by imitating others. They hipothesized that when children imitated the language produced by those around them, their attempts to reproduce what they heard receive ‘positive reinforcement’.The child will continue to imitate

05/02/2023

8 Children are often unable to repeat what an adult says

especially if the adult utterance contains a structure the child has not yet started to use.

Critical period for language acquisition. Children who have not acquired language by the age of about seven will never entirely catch up.

Observational studies of parent-child conversations (Brown and Hanlon, 1970) show that parents rarely reinforce correct grammar in a child’s speech, but instead tend to focus on the truthfulness or accuracy of statements.

9Difference between Chomsky and Skinner theories

Chomsky’s Theory Skinner’s theory

Innate biological ability that all humans possess. He believed that every child has a ‘language acquisition device’.

Learning process involving the shaping of grammar into a correct form by the re-enforcement of other stimulus.

innate learning mechanism enables a child to figure out how the language works

Approaches child as a blank slate that is filled up by knowledge gained through experience.

10

Reference:

Brown, H. Doulas. (2007). Principles of language learning and teaching. USA: Pearson Longman.Freeman, Diane Larsen (2000). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. China: Oxford University Press. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._F._Skinnerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behaviorism