2.2.1 Behaviourism

To the behaviourists language is a set of habits. Thus, the process of learning a language follows this principle:

Stimulus Response Reinforcement

According to Skinner's experiments on animals he and his followers generalised their finding to include human verbal behaviour (which is language).

By reinforcing or rewarding the learner, he or she will maintain the correct responses and increase them in strength and frequency. However, such reward/feedback or reinforcement has to immediately follow the response or it will loose its validity.

For a while, behaviourism dominated most of the educational practices due to massive effort in the direction of inventing teaching machines, tokens, laboratories …etc. The most striking results of behavioural psychology, however, are the efforts to specify the outcome of teaching. Behavioural objectives are undeniable significant land-marks for this school. Skinner - himself – said, "there is no way to pick up education from its missy world unless we define objectives behaviouristically". The learner under such climate will pursue his/her objectives gradually and unmistakingly. Any behavioural objective is clearly defined according to its three dimensions:

i. Content What the learner will do.

ii. Condition under what condition.

iii. Criterion to what level of mastery.

Among foreign language teaching specialist, proponents of the audio-lingual methods aim to duplicate first language habits into second or foreign language situation. The influence of descriptive linguistics and behaviouristic psychology is undoubtedly interwoven altogether to make up most of the slogans behind such a method. The basic principles of audio lingual methods are as follows:

1. Language is speech, not writing. Listening and speaking are to be taught prior to reading or writing.

2. A language is a set of habits:

Furnishing a linguistic base, establishing a framework, patterns or phrases automatically mastered with no chance for errors must be accomplished during listening and speaking stages. This background is the platform for whatever activities that follow during advanced stages. Students should come up with aura-oral answers with no thinking employed.

3. Teach the language and not about the language:

Discussion of grammatical or lexical rules are to be avoided. Active aural-oral practice is suffice at this stage.

The dialogue techniques, pattern drills, minimal pairs repetition and memory are the best activities at this stage. The aim is to have students respond automatically and communicate verbally.

4. A language is what its native speakers say, not what someone thinks they ought to say:

Structures in common use, clichés in conversations and dialogue ought to be taught. What native speaks find acceptable should be dealt with, despite traditional grammarians' insistence on rules. I wonna… I am gonna, are O.K.

5. Languages are different:

Grammatical and pronunciation problems are not universal. For each language or each learner there are internal and external problems. Practice should be directed toward, specific problems certain people face when studying a certain language. Contrasting L1, first language with L2, target or second or foreign language will reveal such problems. Drilling and intensified practicing of the problematic/haphazardous areas, with no attempt to translate, will help learners a lot.

The implication of the proceeding slogans indicate that language is communication; so have students just do that using L2. When controlling the conditions students should learn the same at the same time. The language laboratory and audio and visual aids are very helpful. Simple-dull drills, repetition practices, easy tasks, imitation and insistence are ideal procedures for adoption.

In sum, language skills are taught in this order: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Materials are presented in accordance to the sequence of language skills with emphasis on primary stages. Highly frequenced everyday expressions are taught by means of mimicry and memorisation. When dialogues and certain graded pattern are fully mastered or at least very familiarised to learners, they move on to more complex activities with only few mistakes allowed, if allowed at all.

2.2.2 Cognitivism = Mentalism

In the early sixties, many psychologists were turning away from habit-formation studies into perception. The encoding and expression of meaning, information processing, memory and perception all indicate the validity of the mind. The biological side of language as well as the mental processes all are but indication of developed view about language learning and teaching.

Man is equipped by language acquisition device (LAD); an innate ability that only humans have. They don't share with Watson or Pavlov or Skinner's animals. The mind is capable of assimilating information accommodating yet more information which all, when processed will come up with creative things that never existed before. Man is the most complicated organism on earth excelling other species by his experience, abstraction and brain.

The maturational stages and experience that accompany these stages enable humans to do so difficult tasks others cannot do. Cognitive refers to internal, mental operations which are obviously affected by the individual age, attitude background, feelings and so on.

In Piaget's model of cognitive development there are five stages as learners learn, grow and mature. They are:

1. Sensor-motor: From birth – 2 years. Children learn objects and organise their small world.

2. Symbolic thought: From 2 years – 4 years. Children use language and participate in symbolic plays.

3. Intuitive thought: From 4 years – 7 years. Children can reason and reconcile differing beliefs.

4. Concrete operations: From 7 years – 12 years. Children mental and perceptual processes are organised into a logical system. They are not adapting simple trial-and-error learning system which they used to before.

5. Formal Operations: At this stage an individual could hypothesise, deduct and handle abstract conceptual thoughts without reference to concrete objects and examples. As the competence of the individual increases his/her performance gets influenced. He or she digs in deep structures of the language in a very meaningful way. He/she can come up with things, structures, expressions phrases etc. that never heard before.

Creativity of language indicates a sacred place for it within man-mind. It is not just a habit developed by nature and nurture. The relationship between language and thought poses thorny issues and questions.

It has been said that the second time around on something is always easier. This is not true in the case of learning a second language. Our role –as learners- however, is not to refute any theory with another but to pinpoint and find out those points of compromise which will best fulfil our needs and justify our deeds, as well. After all, absoluteness and definiteness do not exist when it comes to our earthy matters.

Cognitivism or mentalism will recommend rules learning, natural language practices and meaningful contextualised texts as the basis for teaching a foreign language. Moreover, they will emphasise the role of learners as selective persons with dignity, freedom and choice. Learners' motivational variables are not to be ignored if we are going to invest time, effort and money; we better make a sense of it. Make use of other theories suggestions and procedures, but always remember that if man is not willing to learn he or she will not learn – the cognitivist will say. They will add that maturation, age and fatigueness have to be taken into consideration if we want to turn schools into human lives and vice-versa. Humans are not machines or animals. That is on one hand, and on the other, language is not only a habit. It is deeper than that. Accordingly, an individual learns and acquires things that are of relevance to him. Any thing else, even if it has been learned, will be kept at the level of shot-term memory and the validity of such a thing will soon evade.