REFLECTION 3

I have learnt that there are some different approaches for the first language
acqusition.One of them is behavioristic approach.This approach criticizes
abstract things.Behaviorists believe that observable data can be learned
easily.The most important point I want to say ,reinforcement has also a great
place in behaviorism.Skinner ,the father of bahaviorism ,is well known for
operant conditioning.Thanks to operant conditioning ,by rewarding or
punishing,one ‘s behavior can be increased or decreased.Moreover ,Skinner
says that if we try to explain one’s behavior ,we don’t care his history ,we
should care what is happening at the moment.In other words,environmental
factor is more important than genetic factors.Behaviorists cannot stand
mistakes.In my opinion,this is critical view.I can use this information in my
teaching.If the student doesn’t speak English in class,he won’t make any
mistake but if he speaks ,he may make some mistakes and he will learn how it
is correct by this way ,the teacher can take feedback from the student.The
second approach I have learnt is ‘nativist approach’.According to this
aproach ,children have a capacity of language acqusition innately.Some studies
are focused on grammatical rules such as question formation,negation,word
order.UG (universal grammar) is appearing at this point.For example;children
can do the same mistakes regardless of their stimuli.For nativists,momy socks
can mean a number of different things to a child .It depends on social
context.Lastly,I know children learn as a integrated system .So,if I teach to
children as a series of discrete items,they will have difficulty in learning.The
third one is functional approach.FirstlyI want to say I didn’t take in so much.I
need to focus on this approach more .In this appoach,interaction and discourse
become more important.In contrast to nativists ,functionalists deal with
pragmatics( not the forms of words but the meaning of
words).Consequently,education is really difficult system,but if we learn how
we can deal with all these complexities,I am sure we will be useful teachers for
our students.