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Overview:

B.F. Skinner was a psychologist that developed the theory of Behaviorism. This idea was an expansion on the theory of learning suggested by John Watson. Watson’s theory of learning was the idea that all behaviors were learned through set habits. Skinner presented a format for the learning of behaviors and applied it to language learning.

The theory that Skinner presented, Behaviorism, was the idea that all and every action committed by a living creature was learned, and can be learned or unlearned. The actions a living creature developed were learned or unlearned through conditioning. In short, language became a habit we learned.

When this theory was presented in a SLA classroom, the process followed an operation called “operant conditioning.” The process started with a stimulus, which would be the foreign language taught. The subjects were the students and their reaction to the language would be the response. Operants are actions/stimulus taken/created to either reinforce or decrease the probability of a response happening again. In a SLA classroom setting this would be seen as either praise or correction by the teacher. This cycle would be repeated

Behaviorists didn’t really focus on the SLA students actually understanding the language they were learning. What was important was correct pronunciation and intonation. Like a child learning to speak for the first time, a student would be presented with a word and if said correctly, praised. The actual meaning of the word wouldn’t matter until it was applied in a sentence. If applied correctly the student would be praised, if applied incorrectly they would be corrected. This form led to a teaching style called Audiolingualism. It consisted of dialogues and repeated drills.

Additional Research:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nelumi-Bandara/publication/381926216_Second_Language_Acquisition/links/66851cc20a25e27fbc20474b/Second-Language-Acquisition.pdf

Notes:

BEHAVIORISM: the theory that all and every action committed by a living creature (or in this case, humans) was learned, and can be learned or unlearned. This was similarly viewed as a form of conditioning.

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING: association of a stimulus with an involuntary response/a previously neutral stimulus came to invoke a specific response by being repeatedly paired with another stimulus that evoked the response.

OPERANT CONDITIONING:

Operants

Reinforcers- ↑probability of a behavior recurring

Punishers-↓probability of a behavior extinguishing

Neutral- Does neither

Process (Specifically in SLA)

Starts with a stimulus (foreign language taught)

Subject (student) responds (learner’s reaction) to the stimulus

Reinforcement (approval/praise/correction by teachers) based on the subject's response which either increases (↑) or decreases (↓) the probability of the response recurring.

This cycle would then be repeated.

Behavioral Psychology + Language Learning = Behaviorist Theory of SLA

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Skinner’s theory stresses the importance of learning in the form of behavioral modification. He sees the best pattern to use as stimulus, response, and reinforcement, in the same way a parent might positively respond to their child when they get a word or behavior right. The idea is that if reinforcement leads to new behavioral developments, learning a language can be successful when you create habits to learn the language. Those who subscribe to this belief about learning also believe that the way one learns their first language will directly affect their ability to learn a second language, so in order to avoid errors, students would be drilled until they got the answer correct. Chomsky argues that language should not be imitated behavior, but rather it is created with rules, and needs innovation in order to communicate outside the classroom. Although behavior repetition may help a student achieve the correct answers, they may fall short when they are faced with questions and words they have not been conditioned to understand.

Personally, I have benefitted from some of Skinner's theory when studying other languages - specifically verb conjugations. Through repetition and positive or negative reinforcement, building a habit of saying or writing verb endings has helped me in real life situations. Although, I understand Chomsky's concern for this type of second language acquisition and see the importance of creativity in the classroom

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Skinner Theory:

The idea is that the behaviorism can help to learn anything. It claims that when we create habits that has a Stimulus, a Response and a Reinforcement (positive or negative) you accomplished the goal of learning something. It is related to behavioral psichology created by Pavlov. Audiolingualism is one example of SLA, it can be a problem because memorization and repetition can be boring. Chompsky sad that "language is not a habit structure", some teachers use the same strategy those days in classroom.

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Skinner believed in a reward system with learning, like Pavlov's dog. He took it a step further and developed the theory of operative conditioning. That is stimulus, response, and reinforcement (question, answer, and positive or negative reinforcement).

I think this would help some people because you'd always be getting feedback on how you're doing. Although I think you would also have to use it in a real conversation not just in the classroom for it to be the most effective.

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I found Stephen Krashen's work to be intriguing as I pondered his ideas in light of my own language learning journey.

My L1 is English and my first word was banana. I was under a year old and could not say banana correctly, it came out more like "Nana! Nana!" That did not matter. My mom knew exactly what I was asking for and my burgeoning language skills of one word got me what I wanted. Krashen believes that language is best learned in a low anxiety atmosphere, such as in the kitchen with my mom, and that it should contain messages students really want to hear and know. If you're hungry, then knowing food words becomes something of high importance!

My L2 learning experiences have been different and sometimes problematic. In high school I took French. I had an excellent instructor in Mr. Benedict, he made learning fun and his class was relaxed, but it was straight from a grammar textbook and there was a lot of rote memorization of vocabulary and verb forms. There was input, but not a lot of output. Krashen believes that input must be comprehensible and that adequate time must be given for L2 students to acquire language naturally, almost unconsciously. No one sat me down and formally taught me "banana", I just seemed to know from hearing it spoken in the home that banana was the name for that delectable fruit. I said "Nana," and my mom probably replied, "Oh, you would like a banana?" Not correcting me, but responding in the positive and using the correct form of the word, one that I eventually acquired. This little resembled those excruciating French exams I had to take periodically, ones that I crammed for and then immediately forgot the information in the following weeks.

The things that did stick years later were hilarious dialogues we memorized and role-played in class and songs that we learned, like the French national anthem "La Marseillaise" (that I can still sing 50 years later). These activities piqued my interest and were done in a relaxed atmosphere of collegiality with my classmates, activities that Krashen would champion.

My second L2 experience was with Spanish. I had one quarter of college level Spanish when I moved to Mexico to live for 6 months. My former mother-in-law owned a little corner store, a tiendita, and would leave me there for a few hours on my own. People were so friendly though! Krashen's "Affective Filter Hypothesis" that states that language is best learned when anxiety levels are low, came into play. Nothing was marked and no prices were listed, and customers came and asked for odd things of which I had no vocabulary, like agujas (needles). In this friendly manner I soon had a whole lot of new words added to my knowledge base. Customers would actually come behind the counter to show me what they wanted and so I learned. As Krashen believes that language acquisition should flow from a natural pace, be centered on key words and high frequency words, then my time in the little store was the perfect place to learn. There was a lot of laughter and teasing, it is a time I still treasure.

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Thoughts on Stephen Krashen's work - Leslie Drury

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Thoughts on Stephen Krashen's work - Leslie Drury

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I found Stephen Krashen's work to be intriguing as I pondered his ideas in light of my own language learning journey.

My L1 is English and my first word was banana. I was under a year old and could not say banana correctly, it came out more like "Nana! Nana!" That did not matter. My mom knew exactly what I was asking for and my burgeoning language skills of one word got me what I wanted. Krashen believes that language is best learned in a low anxiety atmosphere, such as in the kitchen with my mom, and that it should contain messages students really want to hear and know. If you're hungry, then knowing food words becomes something of high importance!

My L2 learning experiences have been different and sometimes problematic. In high school I took French. I had an excellent instructor in Mr. Benedict, he made learning fun and his class was relaxed, but it was straight from a grammar textbook and there was a lot of rote memorization of vocabulary and verb forms. There was input, but not a lot of output. Krashen believes that input must be comprehensible and that adequate time must be given for L2 students to acquire language naturally, almost unconsciously. No one sat me down and formally taught me "banana", I just seemed to know from hearing it spoken in the home that banana was the name for that delectable fruit. I said "Nana," and my mom probably replied, "Oh, you would like a banana?" Not correcting me, but responding in the positive and using the correct form of the word, one that I eventually acquired. This little resembled those excruciating French exams I had to take periodically, ones that I crammed for and then immediately forgot the information in the following weeks.

The things that did stick years later were hilarious dialogues we memorized and role-played in class and songs that we learned, like the French national anthem "La Marseillaise" (that I can still sing 50 years later). These activities piqued my interest and were done in a relaxed atmosphere of collegiality with my classmates, activities that Krashen would champion.

My second L2 experience was with Spanish. I had one quarter of college level Spanish when I moved to Mexico to live for 6 months. My former mother-in-law owned a little corner store, a tiendita, and would leave me there for a few hours on my own. People were so friendly though! Krashen's "Affective Filter Hypothesis" that states that language is best learned when anxiety levels are low, came into play. Nothing was marked and no prices were listed, and customers came and asked for odd things of which I had no vocabulary, like agujas (needles). In this friendly manner I soon had a whole lot of new words added to my knowledge base. Customers would actually come behind the counter to show me what they wanted and so I learned. As Krashen believes that language acquisition should flow from a natural pace, be centered on key words and high frequency words, then my time in the little store was the perfect place to learn. There was a lot of laughter and teasing, it is a time I still treasure.

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B. F Skinner of Harvard University believed that language learning was based on reaction. This idea originally came from John Watson in 1923 but Skinner took it further. Skinner based his model on this pattern Stimulus (S), Response ® and Reinforcement ®. Such as a child saying ‘Dog’ (stimulus) and the parent responding ‘yes (with a smile)’ (response) which to the child would be ‘due to this positive reaction I'm correct. Let’s do it again’ (reinforcement).

This example is very clear to me as I have a 7 month niece who is starting to communicate slowly. For example she is now aware of her own name. I would call her name Florence (stimulus) and she would look at me (response) and I would smile and hug her which caused her to smile (reinforcement).

The behaviourists see that our first language habits can influence our second language learning as errors. Which are very much unwanted. Errors can’t be made or bad habits will form and you won’t actually learn the language.

I can understand this, as a Briton I can be lazy in how I speak (I try not to) but we don't always pronounce things as they should be. I have tried to say words from the Philippines of my friend but she has said that I need to really work my tongue to get the right pronunciation because I'm making errors. These are my bad habits coming to light. I personally believe it’s not wrong to make mistakes but I feel they should be corrected as soon as possible to stop bad habits conti

nuing.

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- Learning = form of conditioning ( behavioral modification

- result of a set of habits

SRR: Stimulus, Response, Reinforcement

(S) could be a question
(R) could be an answer
(R) could be positive (praise) or negative (correcting)

Extra:

I watched the video about Stella, the dog who can communicate using the sound board. I found it super interesting and noticed that most of the technique that the owner uses is short and sweet repetitive sayings.

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B.F. Skinner was a well known colleague among the masters in psychology; He profoundly impacted the education system with his belief that certain behaviors, which are followed by positive reinforcement, will overtime be repeated. This concept was known as the behavior theory of learning.

This style of learning quickly spread and as a result the learning of languages was also impacted. For Skinner, who took this notion beyond the discovery of John Watson, knowledge and learning happen through a pattern of events: stimulus, response, and reinforcement. It is ultimately the reinforcement which determines whether the behavior is likely to be repeated again in the future. From the behavioral theory audiolingualism teaching was developed. This method consisted of much repetition, drills, and emphasis on pronunciation and intonation. However, this approach to learning peeked in the 1960 as it left many gaps for gaining understanding of knowledge. For one, students would often memorize the answers, but then they did not truly understand what they were even saying, meaning was removed from this style of learning.

Before Skinner entered the scene psychologists knew of classical conditioning. In the 1980’s the russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov did an experiment with dogs. Dogs salivate at the presence of food, Ivan Pavlov would ring a bell every time the dogs were fed and overtime the dogs were conditioned to associate the bell sound with food, and would thus salivate. This was considered classical conditioning. The dogs were trained to respond to what would otherwise have been a neutral stimuli, the bell. Skinner, later coined the term operant conditioning. This type of conditioning, used for humans, has two key components: reinforcement and punishment. Either of these can be positive or negative, depending on whether a stimulus is added or taken away, such as a hug after a child finishes a race, or not having to do the dishes because a child did well on an exam. Skinner believed that people could be trained to behave well.

Compared to Skinner, Noam Chomsky had a differing view about how to best teach language. He did not believe that language can just be learned through repetition, drills, and with a specific structure, rather language is created.

A few of my sources include:
https://youtu.be/2DrnhZ8G6EE?si=rj--tP0G689D_dJp
https://youtu.be/H6LEcM0E0io?si=HmckzLA8iUWKwzBw
https://youtu.be/VvOIbDI2fro?si=dRP1FysRInTrBout

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Skinner’s Theory of Behaviorism: Key Concepts

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Based on what I read, there is more information about this theory which makes it more clear.

Skinner believed that behavior could be controlled and predicted by manipulating the environment. He also believed that all behavior is learned and that people are not born with innate tendencies or predispositions.

Skinner's ideas had a significant impact on psychology and education, and they continue to be influential today.

Finally, I think this theory makes sense when we talk about a natural method of learning like a newborn baby but when we talk about a second language, it'll be difficult for me to learn using this method, but I definitely understand it could be useful for some people.

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BF Skinner

Behaviorism

BF Skinner is often associated with the idea of behaviorism.

Behaviorism is a system of understanding the behavior of humans and animals.

Skinner further developed the theory of conditioning proposing that learning occurs according to a pattern of stimulus, response and reinforcement.

Stimulus could be a question with the response being the answer provided and the reinforcement might be the feedback(either positive or negative) based on the given response.

Skinner and behaviorists would argue that patterns could be developed based on this cycle with the positive feedback encouraging and oftentimes guaranteeing that the initial behavior will continue while negative feedback would eliminate the initial behavior.

While behaviorists would acknowledge genetics as a part of this learning, their focus would be on the environment of this learning.

A focus of this theory is on not making mistakes. Mistakes are to be avoided.

Much of traditional education can be traced back to these roots of the drill-n-kill and mindless repetition to ensure learning.

This idea/theory then naturally took root within language learning. When learning a language, Audiolingualism reduces it to habit formation. Students are taught verbal behavior by an instructor who then provides feedback on aspects of language acquisition. Incorrect pronunciations, vocabulary and sentence structure are to be avoided, even when learning in order to gain favorable feedback and inturn, repeat the desired behavior or verbal behavior.

Drills and repetition were the focus of this theory of language acquisition. Meaning of what was being said really did not come into play as long as the learner was saying it correctly(repeating it). It also only focused on the verbal aspects of language learning and not until later did writing become a significant part of language learner at the higher levels.

Helpful article to understand relationships between behaviorism and second language acquisition. http://jallr.com/index.php/JALLR/article/view/1080

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B. F. Skinner has a behaviorist view which is the belief that by making a set of habits and following them it will produce the development of the language.

He believes that obtaining knowledge or learning is best done by conditioning the learner through a process that includes a stimulus, response, and reinforcement. An example of this conditioning is when a baby smiles, the parent responds with a praise for the child, and the child learns that smiling will produce a positive reinforcement, so they continue to smile.

Behaviorists believe that the habits learned from someone’s L1 are a hindrance to a person’s L2 because the habits from their L1 directly influence their L2 acquisition through the form of errors.

From the behaviorist theories came audiolingual teaching method. This method included a teacher consistently drilling the students and using positive or negative reinforcement to form good habits. By doing this, students are kept from making any mistakes.

Some results of treating learning as a behavior was that meaning was taken out of the learning process. It was more important for the student to properly say it correctly than to understand what they were saying. This led to students being unable to transfer what they learned in the classroom to real conversations outside.

B. F. Skinner’s behaviorist view differs from Chomsky’s cognitivist view in the way that he believes through forming a set of habits with positive or negative reinforcement is the best way for people to learn another language. On the other hand, Chomsky believes in more abstract theories, like we all have access to universal grammar that allows us to understand the varying forms of all languages. Learners just need to be able to hear the language through a native speaker and then they will easily grasp the language.

I think using positive reinforcement for a student when they say a word or phrase correctly is a good idea. This will encourage and give the students more motivation in continuing to learn the language.

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Skinner outlined his first theories about the role that reinforcement has in behavior, creating from these the principles of the theory of operant conditioning, also known as operant conditioning or instrumental conditioning, which attempts to explain human behavior in correspondence with the environment or the stimuli that surround it.

Using the experimental method, Skinner comes to the conclusion that the appearance of a stimulus triggers a response in the person. If this response is conditioned using positive or negative reinforcers, an influence can be exerted on said operant reaction or behavior, which can be enhanced or inhibited.

There are some criticisms of Skinner´s theory of children’s language acquisition. First, all children, despite location or input, go through a similar pattern of linguistic development at a similar rate. Children go through 4 stages of grammatical development (holophrastic, two-word, telegraphic, and post-telegraphic). Equally, children go through similar stages of phonetic and lexical development.

Secondly, Skinner’s methodology has often been questioned to what extent rats and pigeons can actually tell us about our linguistic behavior. Skinner did not test reinforcement with communication within rat communities, but instead their behavior. In this way, it could be said to be somewhat assumed. that language can be shaped in the same way other behavior can be. https://www.studysmarter.de/en/explanations/english/language-acquisition/behavioral-theory/

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Behavioral Theory (Language Aquisition): ✓ Definition ✓ Explanation ✓ Viewpoint ✓ Skinner ✓ StudySmarter Original

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Skinner in his theory, he says that learning or language acquisition is a form of conditioning, which he also called as behaviour modification. behaviourists also says that language learning is a result of set of habits.  Actually, his view arose from the theory of learning by psychologist John Watson in 1923.

Skinner, he developed his theory further by saying learning is acquired through the following pattern of Stimulus(S), Response(R) and Reinforcement(R). Whereas,
Stimulus(S)  --- is  a Question
Response(R) --- is a Answer
Reinforcement(R)-- is a Reward/ Encouragement, if it is positive
---is a punishment, if it is negative outcome

Thus, Skinner in his theory, says that through reinforcements, behaviour can be modified, language can be acquired.
Behaviorists believe that habits learned by individuals as their L1 developed influence SLA in the form of errors. Errors needed to be avoided! (Please don't make mistakes.)
The Audiolingual teaching method developed from these theories of Behaviorism. The Audiolingual method involves constant drilling of students, followed by positive or negative reinforcement to form good habits.

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Behaviorism is a form to learn really anything but specifically in regards to learning language. This concept conveys that learning is three parts: stimulus, response and reinforcement. The stimulus is a question or statement from the interlocutor and the response is the answer to this first engagement which then produces reinforcement either positive or negative. Examples of this are the baby is asked what is this, and the baby responds “bird” and the mom says “Yes, good job” which is a positive reinforcement for the correct answer or “no, it’s a bird” which is negative reinforcement for the wrong answer. The child is being conditioned to use the correct words for the correct objects or actions. The idea is to learn by drills and avoid making mistakes in the learning process which lead to the audiolingual method of teaching. The method focus on forming habits which lead to correct behavior. In second language acquisition you would see them placing an emphasis on drill activities.

I studied this in psychology class at the university and the four methods of reinforcement in regards to operant conditioning. Positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment and negative punishment were all forms of consequences that could be delivered. Positive reinforcement is giving a stimulus that the person likes and it is a reward for the behavior you want to see. An example of this is giving a child a candy for being good and listening to mom. Negative reinforcement is taking away a stimulus that they don’t like. An example of this would be the child doesn’t have to eat his peas if he sits still at the table. Positive punishment is giving a stimulus that they don’t want, to reduce a behavior. An example of this is giving them a time out or a task they must do that they don’t like. Negative punishment is taking away a stimulus in order to reduce a behavior. An example of this is that the child won’t get dessert today because he was naughty.

In SLA (Second Language acquisition) this positive and negative reinforcement can be overt or covert. When I first arrived in Bolivia, I had basic Spanish and made a lot of mistakes. Positive reinforcement was simply being given what I wanted when I used the correct words “quiero jugo con mi comida por favor – I want juice with my food please). I distinctly remember some words that caused emotional responses from those around me and I learned to not use those words again or to say them correctly because I did not want to be embarrassed again. This embarrassment was the negative reinforcement.

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Above are the notes I took about Skinner's theory. I am mainly a kinesthetic learner, so while I was reading this old memories were coming up.

I also feel, unconsciously, I have used this learning style throughout my life to teach my younger siblings and dogs. Not too differently when you think about it. Rewarding them when they respond in a way that is correct and then negatively responding when they are not.
I found this article about the dog helpful in comparison. The SRR example is one I think most people can logically see being used every day. https://www.intelligentliving.co/dog-talk-custom-soundboard/

In my own life, audiolingual learning can often become bland or lacking. Habits are helpful and often needed, but not everything in language learning is habitual. Some languages have things you just have to memorize but have no pattern.

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B.F. Skinner (1904-90) was an American psychologist who believed free will was an illusion, instead he believed human action was the direct result of conditioning.

Experiment "Skinner Box": animals in a box could press on a bar to receive food or water = environmental conditioning

As a behaviourist, Skinner saw language acquisition as a process of experience from environmental factors.

The behaviourist theory believes that infants learn oral language from other human role models through a process involving imitation, rewards, and practice. Human role models in an infant’s environment provide the stimuli and rewards

The belief is that children learn language through: imitation, prompting & operant conditioning.
Imitation: children imitate adults, their correct utterances are reinforced when they get what they want or are praised which leads to successful utterances being reinforced and unsuccessful ones being forgotten

Prompting/Repetition/Drilling: parents pointing to a picture of a dog and says 'dog, say dog, what is that...yes, dog'

Operant Conditioning: changing behaviour by the use of reinforcement which is given after the desire response

A major principle of the behaviorist theory is the analyses of human behavior in observable stimulus-response interaction and the association between them.
The theory of stimulus-response learning, such as in the operant conditioning model considers all learning to be the establishment of habits as a result of reinforcement and reward.

4-Term Contingency Skinner believed was the basis of language development:
-Motivating operations
-Discriminative stimuli
-Response
-Reinforcing stimuli

"The law of effect" : Learning that employs rewards & punishments
Rewards: increase the behaviour by

positive reinforcement (favourable outcome such as a reward or praise eg. applause after a performance = I'll do it again)
or negative reinforcement (removal of unfavourable outcomes eg. students with perfect attendance do not need to write a final exam)

Punishment: decrease a behaviour by

positive punishment (giving something to someone such as prison, spanking, scolding eg. hand project in late and boss scolds infront of co-workers)

negative punishment (removal of some positive stimulus eg. teen not cleaning up bedroom so parents take phone away for a day)

Behaviorist theory stresses the fact that human and animal learning is a process of habit formation. A highly complex learning task may be learned by being broken down into small habits. If these are formed correct they are rewarded or incorrect punished punished.

Behaviour Theorists focus on:
-spoken language (language is primarily what is spoken, secondarily what is written)

-habit formation: all learning is the establishment of habits as the result of reinforcement and rewards

-stimulus-response chain

-each person can learn equally if the conditions for learning are the same

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“Stimulus Response Reinforcement” - key phrase

Overview:
- imitation
- reinforcement
- habits

Conditioning and behaviour modification
Audio-lingual drill & method dialogues
First language influence (L1) for repeating errors/learning

Examples:
- “repeat after me …”
- baby smiles, parents praise, baby smiles again (demonstrates the stimulus response reinforcement modal)
- Pavlov’s work with dogs salivating after hearing a bell following repeated training that the bell indicates that they will be fed
- modern day language app Duolingo where users lose hearts when mistakes are made and gain points when completing levels

Possible Strengths:
- peak in 1960’s using this method

Possible Weaknesses:
- students unable to transfer skills well & found method boring
- punishment/lack of rewards
- pressure to avoid mistakes
- meaning of language less important in early stages
- written language less important early on

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Skinner believed in a "behaviorist" view, that we're conditioned and trained through our failures and successes as we grow up and are taught our first language.

He compared building a set of habits with a baby learning a new language, how they learn to behave and what to say based on the positive or negative feedback. Those options of feedback generally being praise or feedback.

His theory is big on reinforcement, where you give praise as a positive reinforcement and correction (or withholding praise) for the negative reinforcement.

By becoming aware of your flaws and weaknesses in your first language (L1), you can intentionally rewire your mind and retrain habits to avoid those pitfalls in your second language (L2).

Chomsky opposed Skinner's ideas, arguing that humans have a language acquisition device that is unique to us as humans. This being part of the reason babies begin to acquire a language.

Chomsky believed that we're hard wired to organize linguistic structures as children, so he opposes the idea of a "blank slate" from birth.

Skinner pushed the idea of different associations with the outcomes as crucial and learned. When a child makes a certain sound and then is given milk or picked up, it takes mental note and then often repeats the sound for the desired outcome.

Compared to Skinner, Chomsky believed in a universal grammar that we all share around the globe.

Krashen believed that we have two ways of developing competence in a second language: Learning and acquisition.

For me personally in my ventures with learning other languages, the ones that have stuck the most have been the ones that seemed to be an "accident" which would probably fall under the category of acquisition.

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Personally in my own language learning I think I’ve seen more of Chompsky’s ideas regarding a natural ability to acquire language and as I’ve exposed myself to more languages I’ve noticed my “palate” for different sounds has greatly increased. Krashen also brings in the idea of acquisition versus learning and I relate to that as well, I studied French in the classroom in more of a “learning” style and enjoyed the class, but have hardly retained anything of the spoken language. Then later as I’ve exposed myself to new languages and been around native speakers, church services etc. I have picked up on some things that are appropriate to do in certain settings through acquisition. Since it was acquired through an experience or just doing life it has been easy to remember as well. That may also play into learning styles as well, seeing as I am a multimodal learner, but very high in the kinesthetic category.

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This link leads to a video that explains the relationship between behaviorism and language learning:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0Hi00phL30

I think that Skinner's theory has some value to it, but I believe that Chomsky was right to consider the importance of the internal processes used in learning a language. As a teacher, I will use repetition, and I believe that reinforcement is necessary; however, I will be considering more of how the internal world and emotions play into learning.

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B.F. Skinner and Second Language Acquisition

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B.F. Skinner and Second Language Acquisition

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B.F. Skinner was a behavioral psychologist who believed that human action, including learning, depended on consequences of previous actions.  He coined the term “Operant Conditioning” also called Stimulus-Response (S-R) Theory to describe a behavior pattern where voluntary changes in behavior result from an individual’s response (R) to external stimuli (S) that occur in the environment.

A key element in his theory is Reinforcement.  Reinforcers can be Positive, meaning that giving a reward produces a desired response.  A Negative reinforcer exists when removing a stimulus increases the desired response.  This is not the same as Punishment, which is a negative stimuli causing a  reduction in the desired response.  So, if a reinforcement or reward consistently follows a stimulus and learned response, then that learned response is more likely to occur frequently in the future, thus becoming a habit.

Skinner believed that in Second Language Acquisition, negative influence of L1  on learning a L2 could be decreased by “conditioning” the learner through Audiolingual stimulus-response methods to develop new habits and achieve Mastery in L2.
See the following references for more details regarding Skinner’s work:

Video: Behaviorist Theory of Second Language Acquisition

Operant Conditioning (B.F. Skinner) - InstructionalDesign.org

In one of my first language learning experiences, a strong audiolingual focus was used with drills, dialogues and memorization.  Although this was supplemented by many other types of learning, the audiolingual aspect was a benefit to me, especially in learning correct pronunciation and intonation.  They also gave frequent immediate feedback, empowering me to either develop a habit or to correct a mistake. Even receiving corrective feedback was a positive experience for me, because the way they did the correction was positive.

After studying about Skinner’s S-R theory including the importance of repetition and positive reinforcement in developing habits, it was interesting to hear about Dr Kuhl’s study of how babies’ can be stimulated to learn to make various sounds.  Her research included giving stimuli in forms of repeated sounds but a baby’s response was also highly influenced by actual human presence and positive reinforcement that helped a baby to reproduce sounds. The linguistic genius of babies - Patricia Kuhl - YouTube

Although Skinner’s operational theory has been criticized for putting excessive dependency on the teacher’s involvement in stimulating the learning experience, his emphasis on the benefits of positive reinforcement is a principal of learning that can still be applied today.  As a future ESL teacher, although making correction is still important, I want to emphasize positive reinforcement to reward effort and progress, which can increase the chances that he will continue to work hard in his studies and not give up. Building on what he IS able to achieve will spur him on.

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Behaviourism: Skinner

learning-> form of conducting/behavioral modification. After Ps John Watson shared this theory in 1923 Skinner developed the theory further, proposing knowledge or learning occurs through patern: Stimulus (S) e.g. question Respons (R) e.g. answer and Reinforcement (R) e.g.positive or negative. Errors needed to be avoided! The Audiolingual method involves constant drilling of students, followed by positive or negative reinforcement to form good habits. Students are, thereby, protected from making mistakes.

instructional design.org:
Application

Operant conditioning has been widely applied in clinical settings (i.e., behavior modification) as well as teaching (i.e., classroom management) and instructional development (e.g., programmed instruction). Parenthetically, it should be noted that Skinner rejected the idea of theories of learning (see Skinner, 1950).

Example

By way of example, consider the implications of reinforcement theory as applied to the development of programmed instruction (Markle, 1969; Skinner, 1968)

1. Practice should take the form of question (stimulus) – answer (response) frames which expose the student to the subject in gradual steps

2. Require that the learner make a response for every frame and receive immediate feedback

3. Try to arrange the difficulty of the questions so the response is always correct and hence a positive reinforcement

4. Ensure that good performance in the lesson is paired with secondary reinforcers such as verbal praise, prizes and good grades.

Principles

1. Behavior that is positively reinforced will reoccur; intermittent reinforcement is particularly effective

2. Information should be presented in small amounts so that responses can be reinforced (“shaping”)

3. Reinforcements will generalize across similar stimuli (“stimulus generalization”) producing secondary conditioning

Reinforcement is the key element in Skinner’s S-R theory. A reinforcer is anything that strengthens the desired response. It could be verbal praise, a good grade or a feeling of increased accomplishment or satisfaction. The theory also covers negative reinforcers — any stimulus that results in the increased frequency of a response when it is withdrawn (different from adversive stimuli — punishment — which result in reduced responses). A great deal of attention was given to schedules of reinforcement (e.g. interval versus ratio) and their effects on establishing and maintaining behavior.

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Behaviorism or behavioral modification; language development is the result of a set of habits.
S.R.R
Stimulus; Can be a question.
Response; Can be an answer.
Reinforcement; Can be a positive or negative depending on the wanted outcome.
Example: A conversation of Father and his son  Father: What color is the house?
Son: It’s orange.
Father: Good job, son, it is orange (Positive reinforcement). So close, son, but it’s yellow (negative reinforcement). Habits: language developed influence second language acquisition in the form of errors and Errors needed to be avoided!
Audiolingual;  method involves constant drilling of students, followed by positive or negative reinforcement to form good habits. Students are  protected from making mistakes.

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Skinner’s theory sees learning as a form of conditioning or habit formation. This behaviorist view of language acquisition simply claims that language development is the result of a set of habits.  It proposes that knowledge or learning occurs through the pattern of: Stimulus (S), Response (R) and Reinforcement (R). The Stimulus may be a question, the Response an answer and the Reinforcement may be positive (encouragement, praise, or desired outcome achieved) or it may be negative (punishment or desired outcome not achieved). Practically, dialogues and drills form the basis of learning. Dialogues are used for repetition and memorization of correct pronunciation. Also stress, rhythm and intonation are emphasized.

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"This theory can account for how babies learn to communicate."

While I was reading about this theory a lot of things came to my mind. As I started comparing my experience as an English teacher for many years and now as a dad teaching my son how to speak, I can see how crucial it is when it says that language development is the result of a set of habits.

Behaviorists believe that habits learned by individuals as their first language developed influence second language acquisition in the form of errors. Early SLA studies compared the similarities and differences between languages. They predicted that differences between learners’ first and second languages would cause predictable problems, such as there would be "negative transfer" between languages.

My son is now 2 and a half and he speaks 3 languages mainly because my wife and I speak English to each other, I speak only Portuguese with him and my wife only speaks Polish with him. So the Stimulus, Response and Reinforcement have been used with him since birth.

It is interesting to see how learning one language sometimes plays a tricky part in my son's mind. The errors or mistakes he makes sometimes are the results of the way his first or second language are.

Now when it comes to my students both from Brazil and Poland I could tell exactly the mistakes that were common due to the way the grammar rules go in their first language. But one thing I know for sure, the younger there were the easier and quicker they were able to learn.

I found this article below and it says: "We learn new behavior through classical or operant conditioning (collectively known as'learning theory'). Therefore, when born our mind is 'tabula rasa' (a blank slate)."

I love this tabula rasa concept.

I have posted the pdf file below for you all to use.

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I found this video helpful re response rates and extinction rates of behaviour.

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Skinner is largely responsible for the development of the 'behaviourist theory' in learning psychology, and its application to second language acquisition (SLA). Two important premises for all of Skinner's work are: the idea that learning is a "function of change in overt behaviour" (https://bit.ly/3fWpREI) and that behaviour is determined by its consequences.

Skinner's theories were prominent during the 1960's (in the US), and sought to branch away from  Pavlov's more simplistic 'classical conditioning method' (https://bit.ly/39n2hyC) towards an 'operant conditioning' approach which emphasises inputs (or the causes of an action) and an action's consequences, as the primary drivers of learning.

Central to Skinner's work is the belief that reinforcement will promote the formation of a habit.

Positive reinforcement might involve a reward, while negative reinforcement might involve a means to escape an uncomfortable situation(e.g. removal of something causing pain). Reinforcement can be given by teachers (e.g. a prize for speaking correctly), or can be the natural result of a behaviour (for example, the fact that a native understands your speech and responds may in itself be satisfying). Most teachers today readily recognise the effect of reinforcement in learning.  However, Skinner's original theories avoid emphasis on teaching the meaning of words- channelling total focus on the importance of inputs and consequences to increase the probability of a (habitual) response. Acquisition of language arises from the intermittent reinforcement of "operants"  (in effect habit).

Dr Kuhl's research on babies (https://bit.ly/3fTx605) investigates native language learning as a type of habit formation, disconnected from the meaning of words, in the first 12 months of human development. While Skinner's view of SLA - which favours learning through aural repetition and dialogue - is no longer the primary influence in teaching throughout the US, recent studies such as Kuhl's confirm that aural repetition remains critical for habit formation in infants.

As language teachers, one obvious application of Skinner's insights on human behaviour is to reward (when appropriate) students when they memorise or repeat new vocabulary correctly.