MARCH 2014
|
Analyse
and link information on the number of youths visiting the dentist and the
reasons for visiting the dentists.
|
NOVEMBER 2013 |
Analyse
and link information on pet ownership and the reasons for keeping pets.
|
JULY 2013
|
Compare
and contrast the dominant pastimes of youths in 2004 and 2009
|
MARCH 2013
|
Analyse
and synthesise the life expectancy and cause of deaths among men and women in
the different regions.
|
NOVEMBER 2012
|
Analyse
qualities of facilities available in three colleges and link information to fees,
scholarships and number of registered students.
|
JULY 2012
|
Analyse
primary and secondary school enrolment in the three regions and link this
with income level.
|
MARCH 2012
|
Compare
and comment on the responsibilities of male and female married professionals
and link the information with the newspaper headlines.
|
YEAR END 2011
|
Analyse
the findings of a survey conducted on consumers’ choice of venues for grocery
shopping and link to characteristics of shopping venues.
|
MID 2011
|
Analyse and synthesise
profile of professionals to their rankings of main goals for the year ahead
according to age group.
|
YEAR END 2010
|
Analyse
and synthesise the number of air travellers by airlines and air travellers’
rating of satisfaction.
|
MID 2010
|
Analyse
and link information on the frequency of visits to three music websites by
teenagers and their promotional activities.
|
YEAR END 2009
|
Analyse
and synthesise rankings of employers’ expectations and applicants’
perceptions of qualities required at the workplace.
|
MID 2009
|
Analyse
and link information about Southern Book Stores’s annual sales and sales of
reading materials
|
YEAR END 2008
|
Compare
and comment on the changes in the modes of transport in three years
|
Tuesday 17 June 2014
BEHAVIOURIST VS MENTALIST IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING
BEHAVIOURIST VS MENTALIST IN
SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING
(Written by S. Gouri Rabindra)
(Written by S. Gouri Rabindra)
1.0
Introduction
Behaviourist and Mentalist theories are two applicable theories in
language learning and teaching. The two main theorists emphasized in this
article will be on Behaviourist, B.F. Skinner and Mentalist Noam Chomsky.
Burrhuss Frederic Skinner who is an influential American
Psychologist, emphasized that animal and people learned through a process of
conditioning. In the behaviourist learning theory, conditioning is the result
of a three-stage process: Stimulus-Response-Reinforcement. Skinner argued that
children learned their first language based on the three stage-process.
In contrary, Mentalist, Avaram Noam Chomsky, an American linguist,
argued that if children learned language by conditioning and imitation, why did
they say things that they have never heard of before? He believed that human
have an innate ability to acquire language.
There are many methods and techniques on how to teach a language
in the classroom. The basis of most of these methods and techniques are
undeniably formulated from these two theories. The focus of Behaviourist is on
how human learn a language. The Mentalist, on the other hand, focuses on
language acquisition. The question now
is which do we choose in second language learning and teaching, if Chomsky is
right about LAD and Universal Grammar, and if Skinner is right that learners
learn by undergoing training and practice through a series of stimulus and
response chains and operant conditioning.
2.0
Literature Review
2.1 Behaviourist Theory
2.1 Behaviourist Theory
Behaviourists focus on how stimuli are transformed into responses.
This I feel is important especially for the teaching and learning of English as
a second language. As teachers, we provide the stimuli and students give their
responses based on the stimuli. Behaviourism called the learning perspective as
a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things which
organisms do such as acting, thinking and feeling should be regarded as
behaviour. According to Skinner’s Operant Conditioning model, human beings like
other living organisms, will pursue a goal because they perceive a reward for
doing so. This reward serves to reinforce behaviour (Brown, H.D.,2001).
According to Skinner, “Teachers must learn how to teach and they should be
taught the more effective ways of teaching”. Skinner stressed that positive
reinforcement is more effective at changing and establishing behaviour than
punishment, in contrary to the then widespread practice of rote learning and
punitive discipline in education.
Behaviourist claimed that learners learned by undergoing training and
practice through a series of stimulus and response chains and operant
conditioning. The environment provides the stimulus and the learner provides
the response. According to Behaviourist theory, reinforcement motivates the
formation of a language habit. (Hergenhahn B.R & Olson,M.,1997). When the
learner learns a language, this learning includes a set of
stimulus-response-reward (S-R-R) chains. Imitation provides the learner with a
repertoire of appropriate and productive responses. The learner learns to
imitate or approximate the productive responses provided by the environment. The
characteristics of human and non human learners include the ability to response
to stimuli in a certain way such as intuitively evaluate the reward potential
of responses, extract the important parameter that made up the stimulus
response (positive reward chains), and generalize these parameters to similar
situations to form classes of S-R-R chains.
The methods based on the behaviourist theory of language learning emphasize
accuracy and form and not allowing errors.
According to Skinner, in verbal behaviour, language learning is
mainly a question of imitation, reward and habit formation. Children repeat the
sounds they hear around them and are encouraged to do so by positive
reinforcement. In other word, parents reinforce children’s speech by praising
correct words or producing the object desired.
2.2 Mentalist Theory
Mentalist main
focus is on the issue of how inputs are transformed into output. The major
principle of Mentalistic language acquisition theory is that “everybody learns
a language, not because they are subjected to a similar conditioning process,
but because they possess an inborn capacity which permits them to acquire a
language as a normal maturational process (D.A Wilkins, 1972:168 in Demirezen,
1989). According to Chomsky, children must be born with some special built-in
ability to learn language. He called
this special built-in ability, the Language Acquisition Device (LAD). This device supposedly contained the main
rules for all possible human languages.
Chomsky called this set of common rules Universal Grammar (UG). What the child needed was a small sample from
some specific language (e.g. English or Japanese) to be able to add a few
language-specific rules.
Chomsky emphasized that LAD is peculiarly only for human beings
who use language, where as other animals do not. Since all human beings learn
their language successfully, they have to possess same internal capacity for
language learning that other animals do not own; then, this capacity cannot be
acquired socially, therefore, it must be innate. Thus, social factors have
virtually no function at all in learning languages. It is the inborn capacity
which is responsible for the language acquisition.
In a book entitled Aspects of the Theory of Syntax’, Chomsky ( 1956
) claimed that there are innate properties of language because a child masters
his native language in a very short time in spite of the highly abstract nature
of rules. The inborn mechanism for learning in a child’s mind works through a
unique process. After birth, a child is exposed to language utterances which
start to manipulate the learning levels as the child grows. At each learning,
the child subconsciously forms up hypotheses and tests them in his linguistic
formations and thus he induces rules from his data and gradually his hypotheses
become more complex.
CHOMSKY’S LAD
According to Chomsky, all that the child needed to learn is
whether the language was a head first or head last language. This would “set a parameter” (similar to
“flipping a switch”) in the LAD. The
child only needed to set a small number of parameters to “learn” the structure
of the language. For Chomsky, then,
(first) LANGUAGE LEARNING EQUALS
PARAMETER SETTING.
For example, English is said to be a “head first” language because
it builds structures like:
The man
-> who is wearing -> a hat
Japanese, on the other hand, is called a “head last”
language because it builds structures like:
Booshi o
<- kabutte iru <- hito
2.3 Second Language Learning
Wikipedia defines second language learning (SLL) as a process by
which people consciously learn a second language. According to Stephen Krashen
(Bueno K, 2005), there is a difference in language learning and language
acquisition. He added that acquisition is the subconscious process that
children already undergo when they acquire their first language. By contrast,
second language learning is the conscious process of learning, for example
grammar rules. It leads to a conscious knowledge of the learned system. Learning
a second language requires:
- Formal language
instruction in an academic setting.
- Interactions
with second language outside of the classroom
- Pedagogical
practices, strategies and methodologies which facilitate second language
learning
- Teaching the
four language skills; listening, speaking, reading and writing
3.0
Issues & Problems faced in ESL( Second Language Learning)
The big question now to mentalist is the issue of how input is
transformed into output, and to behaviourism, the issue of how stimuli are
transformed into responses.
The obvious question for second language teachers is whether we
learn a second language in the same way as we do our mother tongue or whether
the processes are totally different. I would say it is definitely different as
when babies acquire their first language, they are exposed to target language
every day and in fact every moment that they are in contact with people around
them. The urge to communicate builds in them as they grow as they need to
communicate. Therefore, the acquisition of first language comes in much effort
and tireless repetition and imitation.
The major problem in schools that teach second language is to find
an effective method to enable students to learn and acquire the second
language. English is being taught as a second language is Malaysia Malaysia
In conducting oral tests for form 2 students in my school, I managed
to identify certain facts on my students’ used of second language. These
students hardly or never use English other than during the English lesson.
Following are a few sentences spoken by my students during the oral test
conducted recently.
Abeng:
Can I speak with Acap?
Acap:
Yes, I am
Abeng:
Acap, follow me go Alamanda? Can you ask Helmi follow?
Helmi:
What you want?
Acap:
Helmi, Abeng want you follow him to Alamanda?
Helmi:
Okay. Ask Abeng to bring some money?
Acap: Okay.
Acap:
Abeng, Helmi want you borrow money because he want to go cinema.
Abeng:
Okay. I bring more money.
It is obvious that these students could understand what they were
talking about and I too could comprehend this but is it accepted in the
communicative context? This reminds me of Skinner’s principle on errors are
something to be avoided as it is a habit formation. This kind of errors not
only occurs among form two students but also up to form five students. The root
to this problem lies at primary school. I believe that with all the exposure to
L2 the students’ LAD still did not manage to get the rules of English
correctly. Therefore, I believe we should give heavy thoughts to Skinner’s
ideas in order to effectively teach English to students. Learning a second
language in a limited exposure is definitely insufficient to enable students to
acquire the new rules and structure of the language(L2).
In the case of these students and skinner’s intolerance to errors,
if I were to be intolerant to errors I would not give my students even a chance
to try to use the language. This will deprive their chance to use the new
language. If students are given the opportunity to use the language, they will
gradually able to understand the structure of the new language as they progress
in speaking the language. I guess I should give them a chance to register the
structure of the new language. Therefore, I believe in the mentalist concept of
interlanguage. Mentalist views errors as a means of discovering how learners deal
with a second language. Interlanguage is the name given to learner’s knowledge
of the target language at any given stage. Learners do not operate in a totally
haphazard way. In learning a new language they create their own system for it,
based on that of their mother tongue and tested against the input they received.
Now, did Chomsky’s LAD work better for these students? I
believe it did not. The students only managed to apply their L1 structure
registered in the LAD to be applied in their L2. The language used is
grammatically wrong though they are able to construct sentences to fulfill
their communicative needs. I believe this is what Chomsky meant by every human
has innate ability to acquire language. However, errors have to be corrected or
it may be repeated over and over again and becomes their speaking pattern! How
are they going to realize their mistakes if we do not correct them. Therefore,
I believe Skinner is still correct in his view in errors but he should give a
little leniency in his intolerance to errors. I also do not deny in teaching my
students, I do need to apply some principles of behaviourist as it will help me
to determine my goals and set a level appropriateness for my students to
acquire language. Behavioural objectives are essential in teaching as teachers
are able to measure their students learning. Imitation and repetition are also
very important or how else can we teach students a brand new language that is
least exposed to them as compared to their mother tongue.
So, the problem now is which theory contributes to the effective
way in learning a second language. The behaviourist or mentalist? Skinner or
Chomsky?
4.0
Implication and Application in the Second Language Learning
This is not the case in second language learning. The students
already have a mean to communicate to cater their needs. First language is
their primary need or necessity whereas second language is only their secondary
need which they do not see the necessity. So, is the behaviourist idea of
learning a second language more applicable to teach a second language compared
to mentalist?
4.1 Behaviourist Believes That There Are A Few Ways
Learn Second Language
Effectively.
Methods such as Audiolingual Method (ALM), Total Physical Response
(TPR), The Direct Method and Silent Way
Audiolingualism is a form of language learning based on behaviourist
psychology. It stresses listening and speaking before reading and writing. Activities
emphasized are such as dialogues and drills, formation of good habits and
automatic language use through much repetition. The use of target language is only
in the classroom and
translation is forbidden. It emphasizes on immediate reward/reinforcement after every correct response and immediate correction of errors. This
method also focuses in drilling practice.
The principles of TPR are that second
language learning is parallel to first
language learning and should reflect the same naturalistic processes. Total Physical
Response (TPR) is still a valuable tool when teaching newly-arrived ESL
students. Despite the wealth of materials available to us, nothing is more
useful with a newcomer than this very direct and visual instruction. Listening should develop before speaking.
Students are not forced to speak until they are ready. Children respond
physically to spoken language.
According to this method, once listening comprehension has been developed, speech develops naturally and
effortlessly.
In
teaching using The Silent Way method, each language aspect is dealt with one
step at a time. Language learning is usually seen as a problem solving activity to be
engaged in by the students both independently and as a group, and the teacher
needs to stay out of the way in the process as much as possible. Accuracy in pronunciation and oral expression
became vital. The Silent Way
The
Direct Method operates on the idea that second language learning must be an imitation of first language learning,
as this is the natural way humans learn
any language. e.g. a child never relies on another language to learn its
first language. Translation is not allowed. Vocabulary is emphasized over
grammar example of activities such as dictation,
reading aloud and conversation practice. This method places great stress on correct pronunciation and
the target language from the beginning.
Rote learning is also emphasized in behaviourism. It focuses on
memorization. The major practice of rote learning is learning by repetition.
The idea is that one will be able to quickly recall the meaning of the material
the more one repeats it. Rote
learning is widely used in the mastery of foundational knowledge. Examples
include phonics
in reading, the periodic table in chemistry, multiplication
tables in mathematics, anatomy in medicine, cases or statutes in law and basic
formulas in any science. Rote learning, by definition, avoids comprehension,
however, and consequently, it is an ineffective tool in mastering any complex
subject at an advanced level. Repetitive or learning by
drilling do give students the opportunity for ‘safe’ practice;
accuracy can be focused on as the students get a chance to rehearse language”.
Skinner suggests that skills can be taught
using his 5 principles:
1. Have small steps
2. Work from most simple to most complex
tasks
3. Repeat the directions as many times as
possible
4. Give immediate feedback
5. Give positive reinforcement
4.1.1 Some Things To Remember When Incorporating
Behaviourist Principles
Into Your
Teaching:
l Write observable and measurable behavioural learning outcomes
l Specify the desired performances in advance (the learning outcomes
serve this purpose) and verify learning with appropriate assessments
l Emphasize performance, and practice in an authentic context
l Use instructional strategies to shape desired skills
l Reinforce accomplishments with appropriate feedback
l The principles of behaviourism can be useful in facilitating
learning within the classroom.
l However, they do not account for the motivation or thought behind
actions taken.
4.2 Can Second Language Learners Use Chomsky’s
LAD?
Even if we accept that Chomsky is right about LAD and Universal
Grammar in first language acquisition, there are still some big questions
regarding how his ideas fit into second language learning. Four possible hypotheses have been proposed
(Galasso Joseph,1999) :
1) No access hypothesis.
UG is only used in first language
acquisition. L2 learners have to use
other ways of learning.
2) Full access hypothesis.
UG can be used in first AND second language
learning. In essence, it is possible to
learn an L2 the same way we learn an L1.
3) Indirect
access hypothesis.
UG is not directly
involved in L2 learning. But the learner
can use what he or she knows of UG in their L1 to aid them in learning an L2.
4) Partial
access hypothesis.
Some aspects of UG are
usable but others are not. The learner
can use UG for some things but not for others.
Teachers who accept the no
access hypothesis might feel that it is impossible for learners to
acquire a second language naturally. On
the other hand, teachers who believe the
full access hypothesis might feel that learners can acquire language
naturally if exposed to lots of communicative activities.
5.0
Which is relevant to SLL?
Although the behaviourists experimented with animals but the
findings do have an impact in the learning process. The learning process
involves human beings who have feelings and emotion. Therefore, this theory has
to be given a serious thought by teachers in the classroom. In applying the behaviourist
theory in the classroom, teachers would be giving emphasis in motivating the
students towards learning.
I do not agree to Chomsky’s statement that “social factors have
virtually no function at all in learning languages”. I believe that society and
environment do play an integral role in language learning. This is obvious as
the way a person speaks a language reflects the background and the society he
originated. If society has no function, regardless wherever we are, our
language will remain the same.
There is much debate as to how children
learn to talk. Some theorists support the natural view such as Chomsky with his
innate theory while others on Skinner’s belief that language is nurtured and a learnt
behaviour. However both theories appear to agree that it is important for
parents to provide a sufficiently rich language environment. Without such environment,
a child has no platform to start learning. Even with Chomsky's innate theory
the child is still required to be taught vocabulary to which it can apply
grammatical rules.
How will someone make the unknown or the newly
learned language such as vocabulary or structures, mastered completely? This is
when; the use and influence of imitations and reinforcements cannot totally be disregarded
in such areas like vocabulary learning and structural patterns by saying that
they destroy the possible creativity in language learning. As long as the
imitation and repetition is reasonable and not over emphasized it is the best
way to teach second language.
The mentalist theory seems rather
theoretical and less practical and their claims on behaviourist seem baseless.
This is because without adequate drilling, guided rule learning, inefficient
repetition and reinforcement under free conditions that provides correct
utterances into the mind of the students, nothing can be achieved.
Mentalist has stressed that a meaningful
learning presupposes a treatment of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences
but no explanations were made on how meaning should be taught.
Finally a new discovery in language
teaching is generated by Mentalist that incorporates mental activities of the
learners and the impact of the external factors such as imitation,
reinforcement, environment and the impact of internal and external factors.
This is where both behaviourism and mentalism meet each other as two complementary
theories to unearth the riddles involved in learning and teaching languages.
Behaviourist language learning theory has analyzed the surface levels but
mentalist has added to this concept by analysing the deep structures of the
language.
In second language teaching and learning process, the
focus should be on how human beings who have already acquired a language and
are comfortable communicating with that language will be able to learn another
language. I believe the learners’ intrinsic desire for the need to communicate is
not as strong as how it was when he learnt his first language during infancy.
Therefore, it is important for teachers to focus on the effective ways in
teaching in order for the learners to learn the language. It is not a matter
for teachers on what is actually happening in the LAD but what is actually
being fed into the LAD. Therefore, the methods used to effectively feed the
knowledge are undeniably essential. What is in the LAD is important for the
learners to deduce the L1 and L2.
Chomsky
stresses on innateness and how we teach the rules of new language differs from
their first language in order to set a parameter for the learners, however
based on my experience it is not as simple as that. I have explained numerous
times on the difference of noun phrases between the English and Malay languages
to my students and yet they make the same mistakes. E.g fried nice as rice
fry,–nasi goreng.
But I noticed that they are not wrong in
saying Fried Chicken. I believe this is because of the repeated hearing and
using of Kentucky Fried Chicken. I guess Skinner is right to certain extent on
the use of repetition.
Finally one might enquire the answer to the earlier mentioned question; which do we choose in second
language learning and teaching, if Chomsky is right about LAD and Universal
Grammar, and if Skinner is right that learners learn by undergoing training and
practice through a series of stimulus and response chains and operant
conditioning.
The answer to this question is definitely on the one who gave
teachers a clear direction on what is required to be executed in an ESL
classroom to achieve the target of the day. I believe Skinner has contributed
ample through his findings and his theory in second language teaching and
learning. His ideas such as repetition and drilling may sound unappealing but
with a little modification we could definitely make them effective tools in the
ESL classroom. Taking into consideration the situation in Malaysia Malaysia
REFERENCES
Brown H.D. (2001). Teaching
by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language
Pedagogy.
New York
Bueno, K. (2005). Glossary
of teaching Terms. Retrieved 12 August, 2008 from
Fromkin,V and Rodman,R.
(1998). An Introduction to Language (6th ed.). USA
Galasso, J.
(1999) A working Paper on Second Language Acquisition Research: Some
notes
on Theory and Method. San Diego State
University
2008 from http://www.csun.edu/-galasso.
Hergenhahn B.R
& Olson,M.,(1997). An Introduction to Theories of Learning. 5th
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Lim,K.B. (1975). An
Introduction to Linguistics for the Language Teacher. Singapore
Thompson,L.(1991).
Theoretical Aspects of Grammar.Copendium A Handbook for ELT
Teachers.
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Widdowson,H.G. (1996).
Linguistics. Oxford : Oxford University
Yule,G. (1985). The Study of
Language-An Introduction. Cambridge : Cambridge
University
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Paula Voshell., (2000). The Educational Theory of Noam
Chomsky, Retrieved August
12,
2008 from http://www.newfoundations.com/GALLERY/Chomsky.html
Web definition
of B.F. Skinner’s Behaviourism, Retrieved August 12, 2008, from
Reese, H.W. ( 2001).
Review Of The War Between Mentalism and Behaviorism: On the
Accessibility of Mental Processes By
William R. Utall. Retrieved August 12, 2008.
Demirezen, Mehmet. (1989) Mentalistic Theory and Language Learning
Retrieved
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Naoko Takahashi, A New Model of Second
Language Acquisition: Cognitive
Perspectives. http://www.jcss.gr.jp/iccs99OLP/p1-04/p1-04.htm.
State University
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