Models of First and Second

Language Acquisition
Four models
 Behaviorism
 Innatism
 Constructionist
Social-interactionist
Cognitive-interactionist

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Theory of learning
Theory of language
Theory of language learning
Theory of second language learning

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Behaviorism
Psychological learning mechanisms in behaviorism

Mind was a tabula Environment plays a

rasa when we were vital role in learning
born Nurture and not
nature that is
responsible for
learning

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Behaviorist theory of learning
Learning is through For perfect imitation
imitation to take place,
Learning is habit accurate modeling is
formation to be provided.
Imitation must
become a habit,
a second nature
Shape the learner

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 How to provide imitation?
Divide the task into manageable subtasks.
Order them into a sequence.
Start with the first subtask in the sequence.
Make the learner master it.
Then add the second task to the first.
Make the learner master the chained tasks as if
they are one task.
Ultimately the learner must be able to perform
the whole task as if it is one task.
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Reinforcements
Negative
Positive

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 Immediate reinforcements
whether it is positive or negative

Why?
The learner otherwise will not remember
Effective
Get it right from the beginning
Perfect execution is the ultimate goal
Acquisition = perfect execution
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Behaviorist theory of language

Speech is primary and writing is secondary.

There is nothing unique about language.

Language can be divided into tiny parts.

There is a finite set of structural patterns

Language is a set of structural patterns. e.g.

subj + be verb + verb + ing

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Behaviorism and language learning
Start with spoken language
Introduce writing very late in your teaching
Provide extensive practice
Provide accurate modeling – be a native
speaker
Nonnative speakers cannot provide
accurate modeling.

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 Extensive practice
How to provide it?
Laboratory like setting
Audio-lingual method
Rote learning even though it is
meaningless
Accurate modeling – accurate imitation
and rote learning through positive and
negative reinforcements through chaining
The whole process is called shaping the
learner
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Execution of the whole structural
pattern by learning it though chaining
the tiny parts, one part at a time.

The structural pattern should become

a verbal habit in the learner
 Teaching Materials

Start from the simple structures and move

on to the most complex one.
Provide extensive practice on each item –
a lot of grammar exercises
Structural tables and substitution tables

Behaviorism 13
 Learning a Second
Language
Behaviorist Perspective
Learning a second language
First language is a set
of structural patterns
First language is one
set of verbal habits
Second language is
another set of
structural patterns
Second language
learning is learning
another set of verbal
habits.

Behaviorism 15
Examples for how prior habits can
affect the learning of new habits:
Moving from California to New York
Driving a stick shift after driving an
automatic or vice versa
The gear shaft – floor model and the
steering model
Prior habits can affect new habits.

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What if L1 and L2 are similar?
Similar structural patterns – no
interference – there may not be any
difficulty
Similarities in syntax, morphology,
phonology, discourse – the learner should
be able to be comfortable
Prior habits are the same and so there
should not be any problem

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What if L1 and L2 are different?
Interference is the source of errors
Differences mean difficulties
L1 influence on the L2
Can we predict?
Contrastive analysis of the languages?
Can we predict difficulties on the basis of
differences between the two languages?

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To be an effective L2 teacher, you
must be familiar with the sources of
errors
What are the sources of errors?
Imperfect learning
Imperfect modeling
L1 based – the differences

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Why did behaviorism
as a model fail?
If imitation is the way one learns a
language, then how are we going to
account for children’s errors such as I
falled down, I buyed a pen, etc.

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Research could not support the
behaviorists’ claim that learners’ L2 errors
are L1 based.

Their ambition to predict led to their

downfall–
 nothing can be predicted so far as human
psychology is concerned.

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