Behaviourist Learning Theory

(Habits and Errors)

Presented by

Iffat Jahan Suchona Fariha Tajnoor Aurnee

Course- EL 503M.A (E.L.T)

Department of English

INTRODUCTION

It is important to understand the main tenets of behaviourist learning theory to comprehend the early importance attached to the role of the first language in second language acquisition.

Views of language learning were derived from a theory of learning in general (up to the end of 1960s)

Two key notions

Habits Errors

HABITS

Language learning is a habit formation and habits are strengthened by reinforcement.

Responses take place when particular stimuli are present .

A particular response along with a particular stimulus constitute a habit.

Watson(1924) and Skinner(1957) wanted to know how habits were established.

CHARACTERISTICS OF HABITS

Observable

• Objects that could be touched

• Actions that could be observed

Automatic

• Habits were performed spontaneously

• Were difficult to eliminate unless environmental changes led to the extinction of stimuli

Watson gave a theory of classical behaviourism where the stimulus was said to “elicit” the response.

Stimulus occurred frequently and

sufficiently

the response became practised

then became automatic

Skinner gave a different account of habit development in his neo-behaviourism theory where he played down the importance of stimulus.

He said that it was not possible to state what stimulus was responsible for a particular response.

He emphasized the consequences of the response.

According to Skinner, the learning of a habit occurred through imitation or reinforcement.

It means the learner is able to make a connection with consequences associated with his/her behaviour through positive (rewarding) and negative (punishment) reinforcement.

Theories of Habit Formation could be and were applied to language learning.

In L1 acquisition, children were said to master their mother tongue by imitating utterances produced by adults .Their efforts at using language were either rewarded or corrected.

It was also believed that SLA could proceed in a similar way.

Learners could identify the stimulus-response associations that constituted the habits of L2 by the means of imitation and reinforcement.

Language learning (first and second) was most successful when the task was broken down into a number of stimulus-response links.

Thus it could be systematically practised and mastered one at a time.

Habit formation theory provided a theoretical account of how the learner’s L1 intruded into the process of SLA.

It also explained why the L2 learners made errors.

ERRORS

WHY DO ERRORS OCCUR IN SLA?

• According to behaviourist learning theory,old habits get in the way of learning new habits.

• According to Bright and McGregor,'the grammatical apparatus programmed

into the mind as the first language interferes with the smooth acquisition of the second.'

THE ROLE OF INTERFERENCE

Interference has a central place in behaviourist accounts of SLA.

Interference is the result of what is called "proactive inhibition ".

Here, the previous learning prevents the learning of new habits.

An error is likely to arise in L2 where first and second language share a meaning but expresses it different way.

PATTERNS AND HABITS Sometimes the patterns or

habits of the L1 are as same as L2.

It is quit possible that the means of expressing a shared meaning are the same in the first and second language.

TRANSFER PROCESS

Transfer will take place from the first to second language.

Differences between the first and second language create learning difficulty which results in errors while the similarities between the first and second language facilitate rapid and easy learning.

In behaviourist accounts of SLA, errors were considered undesirable.

There was a danger of errors becoming in their own right if they were tolerated.

Brooks(1960), for instance wrote, “ Like sin, error is to be avoided and its influence overcome…”

Errors , according to behaviourist theory, were the result of non-learning, rather than wrong learning.

There was almost total agreement that errors should be avoided.

Attempts were made to predict when they would occur.